Good morning, evening or night, whenever your eyes may fall upon this fantasy football rant with a splash of analysis. Week one has come and gone but what matters is how our players ended up performing for us after their long-awaited debut. Some low performances graced my presence this weekend: the unfortunate Doug Baldwin went down in the Super Bowl 48 repeat, Trey Burton after his noticeable preseason, and the pair of LeSean McCoy along with Derrick Henry, summed up to a fat four points. Luckily for the two fantasy leagues, I’m in, I managed to get the victories. Enough about my troubles, let’s get down to brass tax, some reactions to Week One.
Fantasy Football Week One Over And Under Reactions
First our top performers in Week One by position:
QB
NO Drew Brees
LAC Philip Rivers
RB
NO Alvin Kamara
PIT James Connor
NYJ Isaiah Crowell
CIN Joe Mixon
WAS Adrian Peterson
WR
KC Tyreek Hill
TB DeSean Jackson
MIA Kenny Stills
TB Mike Evans
TE
OAK Jared Cook
SEA Will Dissly
IND Eric Ebron
WAS Jordan Reed
Some sore thumbs that stick out are Fitzpatrick, Connor, the two Tampa Bay receivers and Ebron’s leap to the top. These would be some of the players that you want to be mindful of and not “Overreact” on. Fitzpatrick, though having the game of his career, is fairly unlikely to have another game as he did this past weekend, especially with the Eagles coming to the Raymond James Stadium; the Eagles held Matt Ryan and Julio Jones to a close game, practically a 10 Round fight, but still came out with the victory.
With Fitzpatrick, there is Jackson and Evans. Mike Evans is a clear top 10 receiver but DeSean Jackson hasn’t been relevant since leaving Philadelphia a long time ago. Luck was not in Jackson’s ring this weekend as he went down with a concussion but even if he weren’t concussed, I don’t suppose he would be able to hit his Week One margins again, ask Atlanta’s number two receiver Mohamed Sanu.
James Connor, Le’Veon Bell’s backup, reminds me of Shane Falco from The Replacements. He gives the fans life but reminds players of their stability within their profession. The numbers speak for themselves, he has the look to keep up but can he win the game for the team?
Finally Eric Ebron, the poor tight end from Detroit that never got the touches, finally lands on a team that checks down to the tight end. The only problem, Andrew Luck has only had one preseason and training camp with the man, whereas he and Jack Doyle have been playing together for a couple seasons and have their own “chemistry.” Luck can be the guy to share the love but it is hard to say whether or not Ebron would be worth getting the start on your fantasy team.
The Under Reactions of Week One come from the guys we used our single-digit draft picks for, the guys we all knew would be amazing but just didn’t pan out in the season opener.
LeSean McCoy for example, probably a second to fourth-round pick, performed like a fifteenth. But he did start against a rough Baltimore D as well as got blown out on the other side of the ball, so there’s still life on the McCoy train.
DeAndre Hopkins had a rough week as well, being a high draft pick must not have been on he or Desean Watson’s priority list this weekend since his 11 targets went for a lousy seven points. Still believing in Hopkins means you have to be on the Watson bandwagon.
To send us off, Zach Ertz, possibly the only other tight end to be selected in the first or second round behind Gronk, had a struggle against the Falcons, totaling 10 targets but only four points. Things may look up since the Eagles have the Bucs coming up and they’re fresh from being carved a new one by Drew Brees.