The season has begun!

What a game! Rashee Rice scored the Chiefs’ first touchdown of 2023 in his first NFL game. Brian Branch had a pick-six in his first career game. And the Lions wowed us all by beating the reigning champions on opening night! What a game!

We’ll go over a recap of Thursday night from a fantasy perspective, then go over the Travis Kelce injury and some names you can add this week to fill in the gap while he’s gone. Lastly, we’re going to quickly dive into the things I’m looking at and watching for during the first week of football. Let’s get to it!

Thursday Night Fantasy Recap

For starters, it’s easy to overreact to a single game, especially in Week 1. But Rashee Rice should be on your bench unless you’ve got just a stacked roster. A receiver had to emerge out of that room, and Rice is looking like the man to do it. And my gosh the rest of their receivers looked like absolute garbage. So many drops! Keep an eye on Clyde Edwards-Helaire too, he had more work than most thought he would and the Chiefs may be leaning toward a committee approach.

For the Lions, while we didn’t get quite as much Jahmyr Gibbs as we might have wanted, the dude is explosive and could be what D’Andre Swift never was in Detroit. Marvin Jones got more opportunity than I thought he would but I don’t feel it’s worth going after him. If anything I’m targeting Josh Reynolds to hold the No.2 role while Jameson Williams is out. Sam LaPorta had a great first game, and he’s only going to get better.

Help! I’m without Kelce for Week 1!

It sucked not seeing Kelce out there, for sure. And unfortunately, you can’t replace that kind of production. But you can still find some guys to help you get through the week until he comes back. The guys I would target are (if available) Tyler Higbee, Gerald Everett, Juwan Johnson, Isaiah Likely (if Andrews misses), Chig Okonkwo, and Logan Thomas in that order. Deeper than that I would go with Hayden Hurst or Cade Otton.

Things to look out for in Week 1

• Several backfields could see some clarity on opening week. Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, and Seattle.

• 🦅 Philadelphia is by far the worst because of the way they listed every back as a starter. My gosh. Swift is probably who ends up on top, but that doesn’t keep me from holding out hope that Gainwell is more involved than we expect. Penny I just can’t get there.

• 🏴‍☠️ Rachaad White is the lead back in Tampa, but Sean Tucker is no slouch. All else equal, I prefer Tucker. I think Sean Tucker is the better player. But White was drafted, and Tucker is a UDFA, so his path to success is much much tougher.

• 🐆 Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne sparked a lot of heated debates over their projected usage this offseason. Will Tank be used as a goalline back and leave Etienne as a between the 20’s back? Jacksonville made it known they don’t want to give Etienne a workhorse role, but what exactly does that mean for Bigsby?

• Does Seattle use Zach Charbonnet as a pass catcher and goal-line back? Is KW3 just a between-the-20s guy? Or is it an even mixture of both? I lean towards the pass-catcher/goal-line situation, but Pete Carroll is loyal to his veterans.

• For Carolina, Adam Thielen and DJ Chark are either limited or DNP. If Chark sits and Thielen is on a bit of a snap count, that makes Jonathan Mingo much more interesting. I don’t want to start him if I can help it, but it will be interesting how the chemistry works between the rookie WR and rookie QB of Bryce Young.

• Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs are both dealing with injuries. Watson missed Thursday’s practice, but Doubs returned. If one is out and the other plays, you start them. If both are out, Jayden Reed is the Packers’ WR1. Which is kind of scary for Jordan Love. Aaron Jones would get a boost though.

• 🎖️ I’m all in on the Commanders’ offense against Arizona. Brian Robinson should get a ton of work on the ground. Jahan Dotson and Terry McLaurin should have no trouble beating up Arizona’s secondary. I love Sam Howell for DFS and the year but I don’t think he’ll need to do much in this game so he’s probably best as a QB2.

• Despite facing the Broncos’ talented secondary led by Patrick Surtain, I’m not scared of starting Davante Adams this week. Not that you were sitting him anyway. He’s the clearcut top target in Las Vegas and he scored 19.5 and 33.1 PPR points in two games against them last season.

• I am a little scared of Stefon Diggs’ matchup against the Jets though. Against the Jets in 2022, he combined for 8 receptions, 130 yards, and no scores against them and will face Sauce Gardner. A 10.5 fantasy point average isn’t bad, but it’s nothing special.

That’s all for this week! Make sure to look at my Week 1 rankings when making lineup decisions for the week! Or don’t it’s up to you. But I would love it if you did 😊 

Football is back!