What Stood Out in Week 1

Stats pulled from:
ESPN Fantasy Football Statistics
JJ Zachariason: @LateRoundQB
Dwain McFarland: @dwainmcfarland

Detroit Lions at Kansas City Chiefs: Our 2022 season started off with one of the biggest upsets of the week as the Lions defeated the Chiefs. With Travis Kelce being a late game scratch, the Kansas City receivers were a nightmare with terrible performances from Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore. What’s interesting is Toney only had 10 routes run despite being on the field so often and was targeted five times which indicates he is being schemed to get the ball in his hands if he can catch the ball. The story for the Lions was the electrifying rookie Jahmyr Gibbs who recorded 60 yards on 9 touches (7 carries, 2 receptions). The best stat was on 9 touches, he recorded SIX broken tackles. As head coach Dan Campbell said shortly after the game, the plan is to ease Gibbs into the offense and get him more work as the season progresses and he can truly showcase his dynamic playmaking ability.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Minnesota Vikings: It looks like Alexander Mattison is a workhorse back as advertised. With 73% snaps and 7/7 goal to go carries, his biggest competition for work is Ty Chandler who could be a high value handcuff and also had a role with some receiving work. Tampa Bay’s defense was as good as advertised and both receivers, Evans and Godwin, looked healthy together for the first time in a while. Analysts may have prematurely predicted the end of times for Tampa and if Baker can be mediocre, there is going to be some great fantasy value in this pass game.

Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons: There’s not a whole lot to mention from Carolina which looks like a fantasy football graveyard. Atlanta meanwhile is filled with up and coming fantasy superstars all stifled by lackluster quarterback play. Drake London led the team with a 90% snap count and 20 routes run but had a goose egg on just one target. Third year Kyle Pitts did not fare much better with just 3 targets and 4.4 fantasy points (which in a tight end abysmal week landed him at TE10 in standard scoring). The running back splits were much more interesting: Allgeier led Robinson with 60% RB share while Robinson profiled much more as a versatile weapon, lining up 25% of his snaps as a receiver and leading the team with 6 targets and a massive 35% target share. The versatility of Patterson and Robinson will see some interesting lineups and usage but it looks like Allgeier is locked into a running back only role. Bijan and Tyler also played 10 snaps together.

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens: The story for Baltimore was Zay Flowers. The rookie was one of the more impressive break out performances of Week 1 as he hauled in 9 of his 10 targets and also got 2 carries. As Flowers continues to improve his chemistry with Lamar Jackson, he could be one of the great steals in fantasy in 2023. 

Jacksonville Jaguars at Indianapolis Colts: You and I probably have something in common; we were way too low on Calvin Ridley coming into this season. Let’s look at Ridley’s usage on Sunday: 97% routes run rate, 35% target share, 49% air yards share and 50% end zone target share. If these numbers aren’t screaming elite WR1 at you, then you do not understand how dominant of a season Ridley is poised for. We are talking top 5 upside in the area of Stefon Diggs and CeeDee Lamb. Etienne dominated with 80% snap count share, but lost one goal line touchdown carry to Bigsby.

Miami Dolphins at Los Angeles Chargers: For fantasy and offense lovers, this was the game of the week. The Miami Dolphins offense is a ferrari going 300 miles per hour downhill while on fire. Tyreek Hill led all receivers with a dominant 150 yard, 2-touchdown performance and everything went as expected. I want all the players on these two NFL teams for my fantasy teams. With Raheem Mostert sitting out practice on Wednesday as I’m writing this, how will the running back situation shake out? Salvon Ahmed was second in line with 19 snaps to Mostert’s 47 and rookie De’Von Achane may be activated and I predict he will overtake this backfield as the season progresses.