Kareem Hunt, Tarik Cohen and Leonard Fournette wrote all the headlines with standout NFL debuts, while Tom Brady and Le’Veon Bell had disappointing opening games.
Whether you won or lost, there’s no equal to the excitement of a brand-new fantasy football season.
Much of that is from following how your team gets to its outcome: That fourth-round pick that drops an NFL debut performance for the record books in the Thursday opener, that late-round sleeper that you had to start in your 16-team league, or that „ironclad lock“ you selected No. 2 overall who completely let you down.
Yes, they’ve all happened so far in Week 1, and right here, we’ll recap these winners and losers from a fantasy perspective, complete with applicable game and historical data. Check back after the conclusion of the 1 and 4 p.m. ET (and, when applicable, Sunday Night Football) games for our picks of the week’s best and worst.
Dazzling debuts by rookie running backs were the story of Week 1, as three of them — Kareem Hunt, Tarik Cohen and Leonard Fournette — managed to scale the 20-point PPR (point per reception) fantasy plateau. That makes this only the second week since 1950 during which as many as three running backs managed at least that many PPR fantasy points in their NFL debuts, joining 1980 Week 1 (Billy Sims, 41.7; Earl Cooper, 36.8; and Joe Cribbs, 28.1) .
Kareem Hunt, RB, Kansas City Chiefs: Hunt’s 45.6 PPR and 40.6 non-PPR fantasy points in the NFL Kickoff game on Thursday night set new records for a player in his NFL debut, breaking Sims‘ 37-year-old marks of 41.7 and 39.7. Hunt came within one point of setting a new mark in the NFL Kickoff game; he narrowly missed Peyton Manning’s mark of 46.5, set in 2013. Hunt also managed the third-most PPR fantasy points by a running back of any experience level, trailing only Jamaal Charles‘ 59.5 (2013 Week 15) and Priest Holmes‘ 55.7 (2002 Week 12) , and the fourth-most non-PPR fantasy points by a Chiefs running back, trailing Charles (51.5,2013 Week 15) , Holmes (48.7,2002 Week 12) and Larry Johnson (42.1,2006 Week 8) .
Hunt was being drafted 35th on average (ADP: 36.5) in the seven-day period leading into Thursday’s kickoff, but by Sunday’s kickoff, his ADP for the seven-day period leading into the day had risen to 19.1 and 16th overall.
Tarik Cohen, RB, Chicago Bears: Though his 13 total touches were fewer than those of any of the four other running backs with at least 20 PPR fantasy points, Cohen made them count, with 25.3 PPR and 17.3 non-PPR fantasy points. The former earned him a place within the top 20 performances since 1950 in an NFL debut. Cohen had runs of 46 and 15 yards as well as a 19-yard touchdown reception that in the fourth quarter drew the Bears within three points of the visiting Atlanta Falcons, flashing the kind of shiftiness that earned him the nickname „The Human Joystick“ during his days at North Carolina A&T. He is available in 97.7 percent of ESPN leagues and will be one of the top adds in PPR formats entering Week 2 — and rightfully so.
Leonard Fournette, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars: The most familiar name from this year’s rookie class, Fournette was always forecast to be one of the — if not the — top fantasy rookies of 2017, and he made a great first impression on Sunday after missing a large chunk of the preseason recovering from a foot injury. He joined Hunt and Cohen as the 40th, 41st and 42nd running backs since 1950 to score at least 20 PPR fantasy points in an NFL debut, but much more important, Fournette’s 26 rushing attempts easily paced the position (through the 1 p.m. ET games, at least) . He also received six rushing attempts in the Jaguars‘ eight offensive plays within 10 yards of the goal line, and three of the four carries within three yards of the line, which were great signs in a game during which Chris Ivory was active that Fournette is this team’s every-down back.
Antonio Brown, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers: More fantasy points! More fantasy points! We fantasy players can be a greedy bunch, especially when we see stat lines like what Brown, the game’s best at his position, put forth in Week 1. For the sixth time in his career, he managed at least 10 receptions and 20 PPR fantasy points despite failing to score a touchdown, and five of them have occurred within the past three calendar years. Brown’s 29.2 PPR fantasy points were his 18th-best performance in his 102 career NFL games, and they were the second-best performance he has had while failing to score a touchdown (45.6 PPR, 28.6 non-PPR in 2015 Week 9) .
Alex Smith, QB, Chiefs: Another standout from the Thursday NFL Kickoff, Smith managed 31.0 fantasy points as a visiting player against the New England Patriots, and that was nearly a new personal best for him. In fact, if not for Smith’s three kneels at game’s end — these totaled minus-6 rushing yards — he’d have exceeded the 31.2 fantasy points he scored in 2013 Week 15 at Oakland.
Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions: His was quite the comeback, as his first pass attempt of the season was a pick-six, returned 82 yards by Arizona Cardinals cornerback Justin Bethel, and he was unable to get anything going while his Lions fell behind by 10 points before he managed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Jones Jr. more than 26 minutes into the game. Stafford completed three more touchdown passes, however, en route to a 27.1 fantasy point performance, his most since Week 6 of last season and his 11th best in 110 career NFL games.
Jesse James, TE, Steelers: Vance who? Clearly sensing competition for targets following Vance McDonald’s acquisition, James made the most of a sizable opening-week opportunity, reeling in six of his eight targets for 22.1 PPR and 16.1 non-PPR fantasy points. Both were easily career highs, and they greatly increase the chance that he should remain the team’s go-to tight end in the Steelers‘ passing game, at least for another week.
Mike Gillislee, RB, Patriots: His Patriots debut was an exceptional one, as he managed 22.5 PPR (and non-PPR) fantasy points on Thursday, easily setting new personal bests in both departments. More important, he received all four carries on Patriots plays within three yards of the goal line, cementing his status as the replacement for LeGarrette Blount in that role.
Kenny Golladay, WR, Lions: He was one of the reasons for Stafford’s comeback performance, and Golladay’s 22.9 PPR and 18.9 non-PPR fantasy points were the most by any wide receiver in an NFL debut since Allen Hurns‘ 27.0 and 23.0 in 2014 Week 1 and the 19th- and 17th-most by a debuting wideout since 1950. Though there was some chatter that TJ Jones might cut into Golladay’s snaps to begin the season, Golladay squelched those worries, making him a likely top Week 2 pickup in the 95.4 percent of ESPN leagues in which he is available.
Austin Hooper, TE, Falcons: Though more than three-quarters of his fantasy production came on one play, that an 88-yard receiving touchdown on which he was left wide open in the middle of the field, Hooper’s 20.8 PPR (and 18.8 non-PPR) fantasy day was one of note. That lone play earned him more fantasy points than he had in any individual game during his rookie year of 2016, though it’d be nice to see his target total increase from two in the coming weeks.
Nelson Agholor, WR, Philadelphia Eagles: With Josh Norman causing Alshon Jeffery some headaches on Sunday, Agholor found more room in the Washington Redskins‘ secondary, kicking the scoring off with a 58-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter and finishing with 20.6 PPR fantasy points. It helped Agholor set a new career high — his 14.6 non-PPR fantasy points doing the same — and makes him likely to be one of the top pickups in the 98.9 percent of ESPN leagues in which he is available. That’s too low a percentage to make a „sell-high“ case, and in fact he’s probably a viable matchup-play pickup, but this was probably a more matchup-driven output than the start of a true breakthrough.
Le’Veon Bell, RB, Steelers: Thirteen touches? Thirteen?! That was the second-lowest total of his 48-game NFL career, trailing only the 12 he had before he tore the MCL in his right knee in 2015 Week 8 — and even in that game, he scored more PPR (7.
