It’s not that fantasy managers were eager to start Allen this week, but his absence would open up more routes and potential targets for Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez, who are listed as co-starters on Jacksonville’s Week 1 depth chart. Both C-Rod and Tuten would be slightly better options if Allen is sidelined this weekend.
Mims gets a starting slot alongside Courtland Sutton and Jaylen Waddle for the Broncos’ season opener against Kansas City. It’s quite the stunner after Pat Bryant — listed as a second-team wideout — drew consistent praise from Denver coaches this offseason both as an intermediate and downfield pass catcher. Mims, who has bene used primarily as a gadget guy, was targeted on 20 percent of his routes last season and ended the year with 322 yards over 15 games. Bryant’s usage will be something to monitor in Week 1.
Dobbins will once again start the season as Denver’s presumed lead back, though he’s unlikely to see much pass-game involvement. That should belong (for now) to RJ Harvey, who’s listed as the team’s RB2. Harvey last year was targeted on a strong 27 percent of his pass routes and ended the season with 47 receptions for 365 yards and six receiving scores. Rookie RB Jonah Coleman will start the year as the Broncos’ RB3. He profiles as a sneaky stash option in 12 and 14-team formats.
Taylor reportedly functioned as the Jets’ top tight end throughout training camp with Kenyon Sadiq (hernia) sidelined. Taylor, whose blocking ability recently drew praise from head coach Aaron Glenn, worked with Geno Smith two or three times a week in the offseason, developing chemistry with the veteran journeyman. Last year Taylor saw a target on 20 percent of his routes and logged a lowly 1.11 yards per route run in the low-octane New York offense. He’ll be a sneaky deep league option in Week 1 against the Titans.
Monken has stressed explosive plays as an important part of the Cleveland offense headed into the 2026 regular season. “Obviously having explosive players helps that,” Monken said. “Being able to scheme it up against certain looks and then being able to execute because your protection has to hold up when you get those opportunities. I’m confident in Deshaun and our ability to push the ball down the field, otherwise we wouldn’t be starting him.” That confidence might be misplaced considering Watson completed just 1-of-6 attempts for 20 yards and an interception on downfield passes in the preseason and was among the league’s worst deep ball passers in 2024, when he threw downfield on a career-low 27 percent of his attempts. Once an elite deep ball thrower, Watson will look to regain form coming off two torn Achilles, entering his age-30 season. Perhaps rookie WR Denzel Boston will be a boon for Watson’s downfield game in 2026.
Collins tore his patellar tendon during the 49ers’ first Australia practice last night. It’s an unfortunate break for the 2025 second-round pick, set to start Week 1 for the 49ers defensive line against the Rams. Collins’ biggest play last season was forcing a goal-line Kyren Williams fumble in Week 5. He will instead need knee surgery and begin a journey back from injury for 2027. The 49ers will reach into their defensive tackle depth and may activate Kevin Givens or Sebastian Valdez from the practice squad for Week 1 in Australia against the Rams.
According to Garafolo, the Steelers made an offer to Porter but it is “not good enough” for a contract extension to be imminent. This seems to be the first offer Pittsburgh has made to the 26-year-old, so there are at least negotiations happening. With both Devon Witherspoon and Christian Gonzalez getting top-of-market deals done, all eyes are on Porter as last among the big cornerback extensions to get done. Garafolo adds the Steelers will not negotiate into the season past Week 1, so both sides have a few days to get a deal done before talks are tabled until the end of the season.
Kittle continues to work his way back from an Achilles tear in January and is seemingly on track to play Week 1. He practiced on Monday and gets in a limited practice again on Tuesday. Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak was confident in Kittle’s availability this week, saying the 32-year-old looked good while the team practices in Australia. The entire 49ers offense practiced in some capacity Tuesday. Kittle’s chances of playing are trending upward; he’s a low-end TE1 if he plays against the Rams this week.
Garrett was a non-participant in practice Tuesday, but it looks to be a load management day with other Rams players listed as DNP due to rest and head coach Sean McVay saying Tuesday he expects Garrett to play Week 1. Though the team will be without Aaron Donald for opening day, the Rams are still expecting to have Garrett good to go against the 49ers.
Henderson did not practice at any point this week and should be considered questionable heading into Week 2’s games. Rhamondre Stevenson will get the bulk of the load against Seattle and should factor into the RB2 equation despite a tough matchup on paper. The Patriots also ruled out Ben Brown (knee), who did not travel with the team to Seattle.
He practiced in full on both Monday and Tuesday and seems set to go for the Wednesday opener. We’ll keep an eye on Barmore’s practice status going forward but the 27-year-old is definitely a candidate to get vet days this season.
The Buccaneers apparently reached out to Mayfield’s agent over the weekend; deadline do drive action after all. Mayfield is now under contract through his age-34 season. It’s not exactly a curious move for the Buccaneers — they didn’t have much of an avenue to find another quarterback given where they usually pick and rookie UDFA Jalon Daniels is their current backup. It is still a little surprising they let it twist in the wind as long as it did. Mayfield likely will be near the $50 million average annual value club once all the figures come in. (Some of this will be folded into the already-existing one-year contract.) He’ll be a reasonable superflex QB2 with a shot to rebound now that last year’s injuries are behind him.
He’s still “working himself into football shape,” per Rapoport and Adam Schefter. We think the Rams D/ST will manage with merely Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie as major additions heading into Week 1’s showdown with the 49ers in Australia.
Heavily load-managed in the offseason, Garrett will enter his age-31 season fresh and ready to try to top last year’s 23-sack season in a new defense. We won’t be surprised if Garrett continues to be listed on the injury report going forward, but if he’s going to play through this there’s probably no need to be concerned about the report unless new concerns arise.
One of Seattle’s other projected starters on defense, Ty Okada, was ruled out with a hamstring injury. It would certainly be a boon to Rhamondre Stevenson’s value if Emmanwori can’t go on Wednesday. Emmanwori had surgery on his ankle in July and opened camp on the PUP list. He’s generally been regarded as more doubtful-than-questionable, but there’s a chance he’s able to go based on this listing.
Even if Horton does play, he’s unlikely to be more than the fourth receiver behind Rashid Shaheed, Cooper Kupp and all-world Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The second-year receiver looked great early in 2025 but has dealt with a ton of injuries ever since, leading the Seahawks to their midseason trade for Shaheed last year.
Fagnano completed 56-of-75 passes for 509 yards and three touchdowns in preseason action while taking just one sack. Last year’s major UDFA winner among the quarterbacks was Max Brosmer, so don’t go thinking Fagnano needs to be on your dynasty bench or anything, but him making the 53-man roster was interesting and this adds a little flavor as to why that was.
The 24-year-old former seventh-round pick — the other Jaylon Jones that plays cornerback — started 29 games in three years for the Colts. He’ll look for a fresh start after ending last year on injured reserve.
Sure, that’s what Patrick Mahomes wants to see. Josh Simmons (back) is unlikely to play, leaving the Chiefs with Jaylon Moore at right tackle and Benson, who would become the first UDFA rookie to start at tackle in Week 1 since Desmond Harrison was with the Browns in 2018, on the blind side. “If he has to be the left tackle, then he’s the left tackle and we roll with it,” Reid said. “That’s just how it goes.” Inspiring stuff!
Seems unideal. The No. 3 overall pick in the draft is dealing with an ankle injury that may or may not have him in real trouble as far as playing in Week 1. Allgeier seems like he’ll at least have a real role in this backfield even if Love is healthy. This has not been a great early runout for those who picked Love early in fantasy drafts this offseason.
Shipley hedges a bit by noting that there’s a chance that one back simply carries the momentum early in the season forward and never lets up, but ultimately falls on the idea that neither back is likely to hit 1,000 rushing yards in 2026. “I think there is a more likely chance we see both running backs hit 750+ yards than one of them hit 1,000,” Shipley writes. Such a split would probably lean towards Rodriguez at the goal line, making him slightly more fantasy-valuable on a weekly basis barring big plays from Tuten. If this prediction comes true, both backs might have trouble cracking the weekly RB2 ranks.
Bell is yet another young wideout in Miami — along with Caleb Douglas — who could make a fantasy impact right away as the Dolphins deal with what looks on paper to be an extremely rough defense. Bell only just shed his non-contact jersey in late August, so we’re expecting a slow start, but his Week 1 performance could certainly throw him on waiver wire columns if he starts and plays most of the snaps.
“He has a (back) issue there he’s working through. Josh is rehabbing. He’s working his tail off. This isn’t anything other than him having an issue with his back,” Reid said, asking what about his ‘My left tackle has a back issue he’s working through” t-shirt was unclear. Simmons’ status appears to be in some short-term doubt and we wouldn’t rule out an IR stint for him ahead of the opener.
Johnson added that he was “hopeful” Odunze would go on Sunday. Check back on Wednesday to see if he actually hits an injury report, but Odunze hasn’t practiced yet this week and that’s certainly not a great sign even if we’re not rushing to rule him out just yet.
We would be very surprised if Mahomes didn’t start Week 1 given how this has trended this offseason, but Reid left it in some doubt, adding “Most likely, he’ll be the guy that’s out there.” Justin Fields would be the starter if Mahomes couldn’t go, we doubt we’ll be talking about that possibility seriously on Friday or Saturday ahead of Kansas City’s MNF opener.