This article is part of our On Target series.
Week 1 went about as swimmingly as a snitch with concrete shoes; the ugly Cincinnati-Baltimore game was all over Red Zone, we had pick-sixes every five minutes, David Johnson got injured in the third quarter and Le'Veon Bell had his worst ever career fantasy game. The format of this column will be different depending on the week and what I think is most helpful for you all, but this week we will be doing a simple "Stock Up, Stock Down" where I will look at 10 players who improved their fantasy outlook, or whose stock seems worse after one game.
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Diggs and Thielen were probably the biggest revelations of Week 1 in terms of absolutely smashing their expectations. They combined for over 55 percent of the Vikings' total targets, and a narrow passing game is exactly what we want in fantasy. Thielen caught nine of his 10 targets and Diggs caught seven of his eight as well as converting two touchdowns. Granted, this game was against the Saints, but the narrow volume of the Vikings passing offense has me sending trade offers out and heavily investing in daily fantasy for both of them.
Davis has barely practiced, got no preseason reps with Marcus Mariota and was probably only about 80 percent healthy, and still led the Titans in targets. There was no rapport between Mariota and Eric Decker, and it appears that Decker is clearly behind Davis in the pecking
Week 1 went about as swimmingly as a snitch with concrete shoes; the ugly Cincinnati-Baltimore game was all over Red Zone, we had pick-sixes every five minutes, David Johnson got injured in the third quarter and Le'Veon Bell had his worst ever career fantasy game. The format of this column will be different depending on the week and what I think is most helpful for you all, but this week we will be doing a simple "Stock Up, Stock Down" where I will look at 10 players who improved their fantasy outlook, or whose stock seems worse after one game.
Trending Up
Diggs and Thielen were probably the biggest revelations of Week 1 in terms of absolutely smashing their expectations. They combined for over 55 percent of the Vikings' total targets, and a narrow passing game is exactly what we want in fantasy. Thielen caught nine of his 10 targets and Diggs caught seven of his eight as well as converting two touchdowns. Granted, this game was against the Saints, but the narrow volume of the Vikings passing offense has me sending trade offers out and heavily investing in daily fantasy for both of them.
Davis has barely practiced, got no preseason reps with Marcus Mariota and was probably only about 80 percent healthy, and still led the Titans in targets. There was no rapport between Mariota and Eric Decker, and it appears that Decker is clearly behind Davis in the pecking order. I was really unsure of what the base formations for the Titans would look like but it is clear that Davis was being undervalued in the offseason and in Week 1, given that we immediately saw his prodigious talent have an on-field impact.
Every year, there is at least one wide receiver on a truly terrible team who falls into 100 targets. The targets are not super valuable in and of themselves, but in deeper leagues, Kearse is likely not even owned. He led the Jets in targets in Week 1 and if I had to handicap the race for the rest of the season, Kearse would be the leader in the clubhouse. Robby Anderson has been more of a deep threat in his time in New York, whereas Kearse plays a little closer to the line of scrimmage and his routes take a shorter time to develop. In 14-team leagues and deeper, I'm making Kearse a priority add and think he is a cash-viable punt play in DFS.
Cobb was just awful last year, there is no way around it. However, reports were that he was playing injured for most of the season and that resulted in the lowest yards per target of his career. However, he looked truly back to form against Seattle in a matchup in which it was clear Green Bay planned on using him as a primary weapon. I was pretty invested in Cobb in seasonal leagues so I am not having to make massive changes to my personal valuations, but I think it is important to buy in to his Week 1 performance. The slot wide receiver in an Aaron Rodgers offense is inherently valuable and Cobb seems ready to embrace that role with full health, finally. Rumors of his fantasy death seemed to have been exaggerated.
Casual fantasy football players may not be familiar with Kupp, but he played at small-school Eastern Washington and has an 88th percentile agility score. He flashed in Week 1, catching a really nice touchdown pass in the end zone over the middle but most importantly, Jared Goff looked serviceable. Playing out of the slot is so valuable in PPR formats and if Goff is able to throw for 3,800 yards or so this year, Kupp should get to 900 yards and five or so touchdowns, which is really interesting if it comes with 80 receptions.
Last week I wrote that a situation to monitor was how Agholor did against the Redskins with Alshon Jeffery being blanketed by Josh Norman, and he passed the test. The 58-yard touchdown reception was icing on the cake but Agholor did well on a few specially designed plays. The surrounding offense taking some pressure off of him is likely to be a net positive even if his target volume doesn't reach where he was last year.
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This does not really have much to do with Fitzgerald himself, but I think it is impossible to overstate how devastating the loss of David Johnson is to the Cardinals offense. They will have less first downs, less sustained drives, less red zone opportunities and less touchdowns, all of which will have the trickle down effect of limiting Fitzgerald's weekly upside. None of that is to mention that Carson Palmer is now just completely dust, looking awful on all of his drop backs in Week 1, which will additionally limit what Fitzgerald is capable of doing.
Benjamin in and of himself is a paradoxical player, a guy who has very good projected volume and looks like a real NFL WR1, but the results have honestly never been there. He has only four career 100-yard games and 16 touchdowns on 268 targets, and if Cam Newton continues to look this shaky as a passer, there is no way Benjamin can justify his seasonal price tag or how much he costs in daily fantasy. This offense will continue to be ground and pound and full of short throws, which doesn't leave much room for Benjamin to grow.
Last week, Wright was touted as an add in deeper leagues and as a great DFS punt play and let's just be clear: it is not going to happen. More than half of the Bears' 40 pass attempts went to running backs and tight ends. Wright only played half of the snaps in the first half before Kevin White got injured, and with Markus Wheaton likely returning from his finger injury this week, the Kendall Wright era lasted about one quarter before crashing back down to Earth.
