Fantasy Football: Things we learned, might've learned, and didn't learn in Week 1

Things We Didn’t Learn

Who the Chiefs' WR1 is

The Chiefs’ receivers had a night to forget in Week 1, and they certainly didn’t help us figure out who the fantasy-relevant players will be moving forward. Rashee Rice and Noah Gray led the team in targets, but even they only combined for six catches and 60 yards (Rice did have a touchdown catch). The guys expected to be bigger producers, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Skyy Moore, and Kadarius Toney, combined for 10 targets, three catches, and 49 yards (with 34 of those yards coming from a single MVS catch).

Along with the severely underwhelming stats, the trio had multiple dropped passes. It wasn’t pretty and didn’t instill any confidence in fantasy managers. I do expect them all to rebound and have their big games throughout the season, but they did nothing in terms of showing which one (if any) will break out into a weekly producer. With Travis Kelce trending towards playing in Week 2, maybe the pressure will be off the receivers, and they can play closer to what we expected from them. 

Who will be the RB1 in Baltimore post-Dobbins injury

Another unfortunate injury for JK Dobbins has ended his season. In his wake is a mess of a running back room that could be a nightmare for fantasy managers to figure out. After Dobbins' injury, there was a near-even split between Gus Edwards and Justice Hill. It wouldn't be so bad if it were just those two in the equation. However, the Ravens already activated Melvin Gordon from their practice squad, less than 24 hours after the end of their game on Sunday. While he isn’t likely to take over a massive role in the offense, taking a handful of touches from a split workload could be even worse for the other two. There are also a couple of free agents that could add a much-needed boost to the now-depleted group.

Edwards saw all eight of his carries after Dobbins went down, so it would make sense that he is the incumbent to the bigger workload moving forward. However, Hill got all three goal-line carries in that time and turned them into a pair of scores. Neither of them saw a single target, so nothing separates them in that category either.

Unfortunately for fantasy managers, my guess is a committee approach moving forward. Edwards will likely see the biggest portion of the carries. Gordon and Hill will split the rest, with Hill seeing most of the goal line and short-yardage work. If that’s the case, there likely won’t be a reliable option in this backfield on a week-to-week basis. However, if one of them does take over the role that Dobbins appeared to have (all but one running back carry before the injury), they could easily become a league-winning pickup.