Week 1 in fantasy football is always tough. On one hand, it’s easy to overreact to guys you want to jump on the waiver wire (remember when Kenny Golladay started out the year with 18 fantasy points in Week 1 last year and then only scored once the rest of the year?).
But, if you want to find the next breakout rookie, you have to act fast. There was no shortage of mixed signals over the past week when it came to this rookie class, but I’m here to help you try to sort through all of the action and go over the new guys who you should keep an eye on and who may have lost fantasy relevance.
Here are three rookies whose stocks went up in Week 1, and three whose stocks went down.
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Stock Up
Sam Darnold (QB – NYJ)
Darnold’s career couldn’t have started out much worse — he threw a pick-six on his first-ever NFL attempt. But boy, did he turn things around.
Darnold led a Jets offense that totally embarrassed the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football, going on to complete 76.2 percent of his passes and throwing two touchdowns. His yardage total would have been higher, but the Jets were up by so much in the fourth quarter that they ran the ball and didn’t have to stretch the field at all.
Now, this doesn’t make Darnold an every-week starter in fantasy, but it does make him a viable option in two-quarterback or superflex leagues. He outscored the likes of Deshaun Watson, Jimmy Garoppolo and Matthew Stafford in standard leagues, so there’s no reason to not at least stash him for now. His performance should also make Robby Anderson and Quincy Enunwa owners optimistic.
Dante Pettis (WR – SF)
Pettis is a certainly a fallback option depending upon how deep your team’s free agency pool is, but as of Wednesday afternoon, he is only owned in 5 percent of Yahoo leagues.
With Marquise Goodwin going down with a quad injury, Pettis immediately took over as the slot guy in San Francisco’s offense and caught its only touchdown of the game against the Vikings – a very impressive catch, may I add.
If Goodwin misses significant time, Pettis is definitely worth a pickup. He was targeted five times in Week 1 and registered two long receptions. The second-round pick out of Washington showed great speed in the preseason, too, averaging 23.2 yards per reception on five receptions in three appearances.
Phillip Lindsay (RB – DEN)
Heading into the season, most fantasy owners were eyeing Broncos running back Royce Freeman, a third-round choice out of Oregon. But it was Lindsay — an undrafted free agent from Colorado –who stole the show in Denver in Week 1. He had almost an identical rushing stat line to Freeman against the Seattle Seahawks (17 carries, 71 yards), but shined in the passing game, catching two passes for 31 yards and a touchdown.
I’m not saying Freeman owners should panic, but I am saying that he and Lindsay both deserve to be owned.
Stock Down
Rashaad Penny (RB – SEA)
Remember that time that I argued that Ronald Jones II (RB – TB) should be drafted ahead of Penny? Well, turns out they are both useless in fantasy (for now).
Penny was a hot item in the offseason before eventually being overtaken by Chris Carson as the better fantasy option and the Seahawks starting running back. Penny supporters will point to the fact that he and Carson had the same number of carries in Week 1 (seven), but he was far less efficient, only picking up eight yards on those carries.
Meanwhile, Carson picked up 79 total yards and scored eight fantasy points in PPR leagues. Seattle trailed for the majority of the game against Denver, so they never really had a chance to establish the run, but it would seem as if Carson will be the favorite to be featured in its offense going forward.
Calvin Ridley (WR – ATL)
By the time fantasy draft season ended, Ridley’s average draft position had moved up to 47th among receivers, according to our consensus rankings, ahead of guys like Chris Godwin (WR – TB), DeSean Jackson (WR – TB) and John Brown (WR – BAL), who all scored touchdowns in Week 1.
Meanwhile, the first-round pick out of Alabama was held without a catch in Week 1 and was only targeted twice — the fifth most on the Falcons. The Falcons will also face the Carolina Panthers this week, who gave up just 138 passing yards to the Cowboys in Week 1 and kept all of their pass-catchers out of the end zone.
Mike Gesicki (TE – MIA)
Like Ridley, Gesicki was a popular name for owners to grab late in drafts, but after Week 1, it appears like he may only be worth a roster spot in dynasty leagues. He caught one pass in his NFL debut against the Titans and was on the field for only 34 percent of the Dolphins’ offensive snaps, according to FootballGuys.com.
It seemed like the second-round prospect from Penn State could carve out a role in Miami after presumed starting tight end MarQueis Gray was placed on injured reserve during the preseason, but quarterback Ryan Tannehill instead targeted his backs and receivers far more than any of the tight ends on the roster. Gesicki’s value appears to be far more long-term at this point.
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Jon Munshaw is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Jon, check out his archive and follow him @jon_munshaw.