Strange operated as the Jaguars’ primary receiving tight end, seeing three targets on the day. In a loaded passing attack, he still found opportunity in what is a very fantasy friendly offense. Strange caught a 14-yard touchdown in the second quarter and was mostly quiet in a second half where the Jaguars were already up by four scores. The Jaguars wide receivers will take much of Lawrence’s targets but Strange has a role over the middle of the field; he profiles as TE2 for Week 2 against the Broncos.
He let two of the other three non-catches glance off his hands. Marie Kondo loves mess, so she’d love this Texans WR2 situation. Hutchinson led the four non-Collins receivers with 44 snaps. This should not be confused with him being a desirable fantasy football play.
Wilson’s six targets tied him for second on the team and also don’t include a defensive pass interference penalty he drew on a deep ball in the first half. Wilson also had a near touchdown when a deep pass was broken up as he was going to the ground with the ball. Despite having so many more targets than Michael Pittman Jr., Wilson ran 29 routes to Pittman Jr.'s 42, so Wilson remains the clear WR3 in a potentially low-scoring offense.
Boerkircher was drafted to primarily be a blocking tight end. The 25-year-old played 38 snaps in his rookie debut, 26 of them coming for run blocking. With Brenton Strange operating as the receiving tight end, its unlikely Boerkircher achieves fantasy relevance within his role.
Allen did all of his damage in the short area of the field, as the veteran receiver never totaled more than nine yards on any of his six catches. Allen averaged fewer than four air yards per target on the day and will be hard to trust even in the deepest of fantasy leagues if this is the kind of production we will have to come to expect. It’s far too early to say Allen can be dropped from fantasy rosters, but there’s no need to jam him into your lineups in Week 2 against the Chiefs.
It was neither an efficient nor prolific day for the Bengals’ lead back, but he found the end zone and out-touched No. 2 Samaje Perine 21-8. It was a full “as expected” day in the Bengals’ backfield. Brown will remain in the RB10-14 range for Week 2 against the Texans. That’s a tough defensive matchup, albeit one the similarly offensive-minded Bills just handled with ease.
Warren’s underwhelming line can be blamed on the offense’s struggle to move the ball all afternoon. The second-year tight end tallied two receptions in the first half, both for two yards, with his longest play coming on a nine-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. His five targets were good for second-most on the team, but the Colts offense left a lot to be desired this week. The expected volume will keep Warren in the TE1 mix for Week 2 against the Chiefs.
Freiermuth had a down season last year, but the Steelers had talked about getting him more involved this year. The big tight end played on 49 of the team’s 67 snaps and ran a route on 36 of their 46 dropbacks. He was clearly the third option in the passing attack behind DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. and is a focal point in the red zone. Freiermuth is likely a solid TE2 option for the season who will flash TE1 weeks.
Williams was unstoppable in this one. His two rushing scores come after he had just four rushing touchdowns in 2025. Williams showed off his underrated speed time and again, including on an untouched 29-yard rushing score in the second half. Williams carved up the Carolina secondary, hitting the sort of intermediate passes that gave him trouble in 2025. He was 15 percent over his expected completion rate. To the surprise of folks who drafted Luther Burden and Colston Loveland, Williams targeted Kalif Raymond a team-leading nine times against the Panthers. Probably that won’t gold up going forward. Williams should remain in all lineups next week against the Vikings.
Boutte managed just 36-of-79 snaps, third-most among Texans wideouts, as they ran weird platoons that had Jared Wayne, Jaylin Noel, and Xavier Hutchinson all on the field for at least 24 snaps. Until someone conclusively wins this job, or at least we start getting some juice that someone might win the job, it’ll be hard to start any of these receivers in fantasy football.
Little was kicking extra points often, with the Jaguars jumping out to a 24-0 lead by half time. The 23-year-old sank both his field goals on the day and converted all four extra points for a good fantasy kicking day. Kicking for one of the best offenses in the league, Little will frequently be ranked among the top fantasy kickers this season.
The Saints got off to a slow start and it looked like Olave, along with the rest of the offense, was going to have a bust of a fantasy day. Instead, Tyler Shough turned the corner in the third quarter and started peppering Olave with intermediate and deep shots. Olave had two gains of 40+ yards and four of 20+ yards. Olave gets another potential shootout next week when he takes on the Ravens. He will be in the WR1 mix.
With the Jets in the unusual position of dominating a game from whistle to whistle, new QB Geno Smith dropped back just 24 times. Translation, Wilson coming away with seven targets was actually a pretty good outcome. The Jets’ blocking appeared much improved, but this was not a true test, even if it came on the road. That will come in Week 2 for the Jets’ home opener against the Packers. Wilson will remain a solid WR2 whose high floor will hopefully be accompanied by more ceiling efforts this season.
Judkins was the workhorse back for the Browns, getting the majority of the team’s backfield opportunities. In a game where the Browns struggled to even get into the red zone, those opportunities were not high leverage, leading to a less-than-ideal fantasy day for the 22-year-old. The Browns offense is lethargic with Deshaun Watson at the helm, capping Judkins’ fantasy ceiling. Volume puts him in the low-end RB2 range for Week 2 against the Buccaneers.
Etienne was taken off the field a surprising amount, ceding nine carries to Kendre Miller and another two to CJ Donaldson. Donaldson also logged two targets. While his role on the ground was concerning for fantasy managers, a nine-target outing cushioned the blow slightly. In PPR leagues, Etienne did enough. Unless the Saints are going to play in overtime shootouts every week, Etienne will need to take on more rushing work to be a weekly RB2. With Alvin Kamara potentially returning next week, Etienne will sit on the RB2/3 border for his date with the Ravens.
Irving’s eight carries look bad on paper, but they were a function of the Bucs falling behind 21-3 midway through the second quarter thanks to a deluge of turnovers. That includes a lost Irving fumble where he entered a scrum one-handing the ball. Not good, though he was not punished for the mistake. He ended up tying a career high with his seven receptions, with supposed pass-catching back Kenneth Gainwell catching the ball only one time. Nothing went the way the Bucs drew it up this afternoon, so we would not count on that usage simply carrying over to Week 2, but it is certainly a good start from a usage perspective for those who took the plunge on Irving as their RB2. It is worth nothing that PFF charted Irving as out-snapping Gainwell just 35-26. There’s a long way to go here, but we will have Irving in the top 24 for Week 2 against the Browns.
Sanders entered the game after Dylan Sampson (knee) was ruled out. The 24-year-old had a couple explosive kickoff returns, including a 74-yard return in the second half. He caught three passes filling the Brown’s receiving back role and showcased some burst by taking those receptions for 25 total yards. Sanders is an intriguing handcuff to pick up off waivers, pending Sampson’s status heading into Week 2.
Bizarrely, Egbuka was not targeted after the break in a game the Bucs trailed 24-10 at the half and 27-10 early in the third. He nevertheless led the Bucs’ wideouts and tight ends in targets, though Bucky Irving led the team with seven. The Bucs were all out of sorts thanks to four lost fumbles, setting up short fields for the Bengals and limiting the Bucs’ overall play volume. The good news is, Egbuka looked healthy and springy. The downtrodden Browns are on tap for Week 2.
It was the fourth 300-yard outing of Young’s NFL career and it came in a wild back-and-forth affair with a Chicago offense that did whatever it wanted to against a pathetic Carolina defense. The Panthers had to abandon their run-heavy offense in the first half, leading to 44 Young drop backs. Young targeted Jalen Coker relentlessly and connected with Coker for two touchdowns — one of them in garbage time. Young, who was 7 percent above his expected completion rate, made a handful of impressive throws under duress and found his way into the end zone on a short rush in the first half. Young will be a premiere streaming option in Week 2 against a middling Atlanta defense.
Some had suggested you might want to bench Josh Allen against the Texans defense this week. Instead, Allen absolutely decimated last year’s top defense with a game-winning stick throw to the post for Josh Palmer to take a late five-point lead. He did his typical witchcraft out of structure, the best of which was probably a floater in his own end zone with a man in his face that landed directly on Dalton Kincaid’s hands. He also owned the ground game in the red zone. It was the first Bills win in Houston since the JP Losman Era. Allen, as always, will be in the QB1 overall discussion against the Lions in Week 2.
Perhaps Rush was still feeling the effects of the back spasms that he experienced on Saturday, but the veteran did not look good on Sunday. He attempted just five passes longer than 10 yards downfield and was 2-for-5 on those passes. Even when the pocket was clean, Rush wasn’t really driving the ball down the field, even with the Steelers daring him to do it. The Falcons gained just 238 yards on the day, and it’s tough to have any confidence in the pass-catchers with Rush under center. He’ll look to bounce back with an easier game against the Panthers next week.
Ward also took three sacks for 13 yards. His touchdown was a too little, too late 11-yard strike to Elic Ayomanor with the Titans trailing 23-3 at the 2:42 mark of the fourth quarter. As was the case down the stretch last season, Ward did a good job of avoiding turnovers, but he struggled to generate positive plays of any kind. He was besieged by pressure, but he just wasn’t making anything happen. That could come in time — there’s a new experienced play-caller in Brian Daboll and several new weapons in the skill corps — but this was a highly discouraging start to the year at home vs. a not-exactly-amazing Jets defense. It was certainly confirmation that Ward is on the outside looking in of top-24 status in superflex leagues for the time being. The Eagles are a rough Week 2 matchup, though also at home.
Cook had two yards on the game’s first drive, but the game eventually skewed pass-heavy for the Bills and Josh Allen had the game’s only two rushing touchdowns. Per PFF’s early charting data, Cook had 41 of the 57 snaps and almost all the work ahead of Ray Davis and Frank Gore Jr. Assuming Ty Johnson remains out on a short week against the Lions in Week 2, Cook will remain a touch-dominator on the RB1 line and will have a chance for a better touchdown runout.
To say Bijan Robinson was the majority of the team’s offense would be an understatement. He had 173 of the team’s 238 total yards and 29 of the 43 touches by any skill player. He played on 47 of the team’s 61 total snaps and only lost carries to Brian Robinson because the team couldn’t possibly continue to ride Bijan Robinson any more than they were. His involvement in the short passing game, especially given who will be at quarterback, makes Bijan Robinson seemingly matchup-proof for fantasy purposes.