Tennessee Titans vs. Seattle Seahawks
Date/Time: Sunday September 19, 4:25pm ET
BettingPros Consensus Spread: Seahawks -5.5
BettingPros Consensus Over/Under: 54 points
Implied Vegas point totals: Seahawks 29.75, Titans 24.25
Quarterbacks
Ryan Tannehill: As noted by PFF, Tannehill used play action at a higher rate than any other starting quarterback in the league last year under former Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, and that play-action rate was way down in Week 1 under new Titans OC Todd Downing. The Smith system really suited Tannehill, who’s not the sort of quarterback who can pick defenses apart a la Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers. The play-action game set up Tannehill for success, and I hope the Titans get back to it. Tannehill was 21 of 35 for 212 against the Cardinals last week, with one touchdown and one interception. He also had two carries for 17 yards and a touchdown to salvage his weekly fantasy total.
Russell Wilson: It’s a big thumbs-up for Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s system after a one-game trial. Waldron let Russ cook, but in an efficient way – no fancy garnishes or unnecessary food waste. Wilson was a tidy 18 of 23 for 254 yards, with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Now he gets a date with a Tennessee defense that just gave up 34.6 fantasy points to Kyler Murray – the highest total of Week 1.
Running Backs
Derrick Henry: It’s strange to see Henry locked down for an entire game, but the Cardinals managed to keep the reigning two-time rushing champ under wraps in Week 1, holding him to 58 rushing yards on 17 carries. All but 20 of those yards came on a single third-quarter drive … which ended with a strip-sack of Titans QB Ryan Tannehill. The Seahawks allowed the fifth-fewest rushing yards in the league last year, limiting opponents to 3.9 yards per carry. They also did a reasonably good job of keeping Jonathan Taylor and the Colts’ running game in check last week.
Chris Carson and DeeJay Dallas: Carson was his usual rock-solid self in Seattle’s opener, rushing 16 times for 91 yards and catching three balls for 26 yards. He dominated snaps, playing on 78% of Seattle’s offensive plays. Rashaad Penny is expected to miss at least two weeks with a calf strain, leaving DeeJay Dallas as the apparent No. 2. Tennessee has been a middle-of-the-road run defense. Consider Carson a top-end RB2 this week.
Wide Receivers
A.J. Brown: The Tennessee passing game was largely dysfunctional in a Week 1 loss to the Cardinals, but Brown kept his fantasy managers afloat with a 13-yard TD catch in the third quarter, salvaging an otherwise forgettable day. Brown appeared to show no ill effects from the knee issues that he’s been dealing with lately. And despite the offseason arrival of Julio Jones, Brown still led the Titans in target with eight. There are no real reasons for concern here other than the general sluggishness of the Titans’ passing game last weekend.
Julio Jones: There’s no other way to put it: Julio’s Titans debut was a dud. He saw six targets and had nine catches for 29. Titans No. 3 receiver Chester Rodgers had the same number of targets and finished with 62 yards. Jones also aggravated his new head coach, Mike Vrabel, by drawing a 15-yard penalty for shoving a Cardinals player at the end of a first-quarter Derrick Henry run. That turned a 3rd-and-1 into a 3rd-and-16 that Tennessee failed to convert. “That’s absolutely nothing we coach or teach. So that would fall under the category of doing dumb s–t that hurts the team,” Vrabel told ESPN after the game. Jones is expected to face Seattle CB Trey Flowers on a majority of snaps Sunday. It’s a matchup Jones is capable of winning, though Flowers is no pushover.
D.K. Metcalf: The big man was quiet early in Week 1 but came on late and finished with four catches for 60 yards and a touchdown. This week, Metcalf will primarily be matched up against (checks notes) Jackrabbit Jenkins, formerly known as Janoris Jenkins. The Cardinals’ DeAndre Hopkins primarily lines up on the left side of the formation, same as Metcalf, and Hopkins victimized the Jackrabbit multiple times last week en route to a two-TD game.
Tyler Lockett: Lockett finished Week 1 as the WR6 in fantasy scoring after hauling in a 23-yard TD and a 69-yard TD in the Seahawks’ 28-16 win over the Colts. Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s system emphasizes quicker, shorter throws, which would seem to be right up Lockett’s alley. So far, so good. The Titans gave up two TDs to Cardinals slot man Christian Kirk last week.
Tight Ends
Anthony Firkser: Firkser only played 48% of the Titans’ offensive snaps, sharing TE snaps with Geoff Swaim and MyCole Pruitt. Firkser did see four targets and had three catches for 19 yards. With the amount of oxygen that A.J. Brown and Julio Jones are going to suck up in an offense that probably isn’t going to produce stratospheric passing totals, Firkser isn’t a very appealing TE option.
Gerald Everett: He only drew two targets in his first game with Seattle, but Everett has 20 yards and a touchdown. Seattle’s new offense seems like a nice fit for Everett, but we’d like to see him get more than two targets in Week 2.
Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Chargers
Date/Time: Sunday September 19, 4:25pm ET
BettingPros Consensus Spread: Chargers -3
BettingPros Consensus Over/Under: 55 points
Implied Vegas point totals: Chargers 29, Titans 26
Quarterbacks
Dak Prescott: So much for the concerns about the fitness of Dak’s arm. Prescott launched an aerial assault against Tampa Bay in the Thursday-night opener, completing 42 of 58 throws for 403 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception. Now, Prescott and the Cardinals head west for another potential shootout with the Chargers. The foot injury to Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence could lead to weekly shootouts, since Lawrence was such an integral part of the Dallas pass rush. The Cowboys’ cornerbacks aren’t good, and without a credible pass rush, opponents are going to race up and down the field. If Prescott repeatedly finds himself in O.K. Corral game scripts, he could throw for 5,500 yards this year.
Justin Herbert: What can the rookie sensation do for an encore? Herbert’s first start of 2021 wasn’t spectacular, but it was solid. Against a tough Washington defense, Herbert completed 31 or 47 passes for 337 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and led the Chargers to a quality road win in the sort of game they usually lost in the past. This week, Herbert gets a home date against a Dallas defense that just lost ace pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence to a foot injury. The Dallas secondary has major holes, and without a decent pass rush, Herbert has a chance to pick the Cowboys apart.
Running Backs
Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard: The folks who spent a top-six draft on Elliott might feel panicky after Zeke laid an egg in the Thursday-night opener, but they shouldn’t. The Buccaneers had the stingiest run defense in the league last year and make it nearly impossible to do any business between the tackles. Expect Elliott to rebound against a Chargers defense that gave up 90 rushing yards to Antonio Gibson last week. Zeke dominated snaps in Week 1. He had an 84% snap share, while Tony Pollard was only on the field for 20 of the Cowboys’ 83 offensive plays. Pollard has no stand-alone value with such a tiny snap share.
Austin Ekeler and Larry Rountree: In the Chargers’ season opener against Washington, Ekeler carried 15 times for 57 yards and a touchdown, producing decent fantasy numbers even though this pass-catcher extraordinaire didn’t see a single target. It was the first time Ekeler had gone targetless since November 2018. That seems like an anomaly, particularly since Herbert targeted his backs 156 times in 2020. Rountree, the rookie from Missouri, appears to have won the battle for the RB2 job. He played 22 snaps, Justin Jackson played 11, and Josh Kelley didn’t play.
Wide Receivers
CeeDee Lamb: He wasn’t especially efficient with his targets, but Lamb turned his 15 targets into seven receptions for 104 yards and a touchdown, and he looked very much like the budding superstar he is. Now Michael Gallup is going to miss a month or so for the Cowboys. That could mean No. 4 receiver Cedrick Wilson gets into the mix, or it could mean more targets for Lamb and Amari Cooper. And as I noted in the blurb about Dak Prescott, the DeMarcus Lawrence injury could REALLY pump up the passing volume for Dallas. Lamb should be regarded as a low-end WR1.
Amari Cooper: Coop went berserk in the Thursday-night opener, catching 13 of 17 targets for 139 yards and two TDs. The Chargers mix up coverages, so it’s not clear who Cooper is going to be facing on any given play. But with Michael Gallup on IR with a calf injury, Cooper is going to be a critical part of the Cowboys’ offensive gameplan every week.
Cedrick Wilson: With Michael Gallup on the shelf with a calf injury for a month or more, Wilson slides into the No. 3 receiver role. He caught 3 of 3 targets for 24 yards in Week 1. Last year, in the Cowboys’ early-season shootout with the Seahawks, Wilson erupted for 107 yards and two touchdowns. I don’t think he’s playable this week, but in an offense as potent as the Cowboys’ Wilson is capable of a surprise outburst.
Keenan Allen: Allen was his typically prolific self in Week 1, catching 9 of 13 targets for 100 yards. He now gets a mouth-watering matchup against overmatched Dallas slot corner Jourdan Lewis. This is NOT a good week to be up against Allen in your fantasy league.
Mike Williams: I’m not the first one to note this – Ben Gretch pointed it out in his excellent Stealing Signals article – but it’s probably a good sign that Williams’ average depth of target in Week 1 was 9.8 yards. His aDOT numbers in his first three NFL seasons: 14.8, 17.8, 14.5. Sure, it can be nice to get those high-value targets deep downfield. But those deep throws tend to be completed at a much lower rate, and receivers with big aDOT numbers tend to be streakier than we’d like ( e.g., DeSean Jackson). Against Washington in Week 1, Williams had a career-high eight receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown. He had 12 targets, the second-highest total of his career. The usage is very encouraging and could point to a career year for Big Mike.
Tight Ends
Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz: Jarwin was the more popular Dallas tight end during draft season, but Schultz might be the more valuable asset. Schultz out-snapped Jarwin 57-48 in the opener, catching all six of his targets for 45 yards. Jarwin caught 3 of 3 targets for 20 yards. It’s possible that the Michael Gallup injury funnels a few extra targets to the Cowboys’ tight ends in the weeks to come, but the relatively even allotment of snaps could damage the value of both.
Jared Cook: Need a tight end? Cook is only 36% rostered in Yahoo leagues, and his Week 1 usage was encouraging. He only played six more snaps than Donald Parham but was targeted eight times and had five grabs for 56 yards. Buccaneers TE Rob Gronkowski lit up Dallas for 90 yards and two TDs in Week 1.
Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens
Date/Time: Sunday September 19, 4:25pm ET
BettingPros Consensus Spread: Chiefs -3.5
BettingPros Consensus Over/Under: 55 points
Implied Vegas point totals: Chiefs 29.25, Ravens 25.75
Quarterbacks
Patrick Mahomes: The season-ending injury to CB Marcus Peters just a few days before the start of the season was crushing for the Ravens. With Peters healthy, Baltimore could deploy an excellent 1-2 cornerback tandem of Peters and Marlon Humphrey. Without Peters … well, David Carr just dropped 435 yards on Baltimore, and the Raiders got some splash plays late in that game to help them pull out the win. Now, the Ravens have to try to deal with Mahomes, who threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 1 win over the Browns. Without Peters, the Ravens will be hard-pressed to stop Kansas City’s aerial onslaught.
Lamar Jackson: In Monday night’s overtime loss to the Raiders, Jackson completed 19 of 30 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown, and he ran 12 times for 86 yards. Jackson has faced the Chiefs in the regular season every year since he came into the league in 2018. In his three games against Kansas City so far, he’s averaged 169.3 passing yards and 65.3 rushing yards, and he’s had three TD passes and one TD run. All in all, the Chiefs have done a pretty good job of defending him.
Running Backs
Clyde Edwards-Helaire: CEH had a ho-hum opener for the Chiefs, rushing 14 times for 43 yards and catching three passes for 29 yards. Surely there are better games ahead for the second-year back, but Edwards-Helaire investors may have to reckon with the reality that Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are the offense, and the other skill-position guys are mostly just window dressing. The Ravens held Las Vegas running backs to 45 rushing yards on 16 carries Monday night.
Ty’Son Williams, Latavius Murray, and Devonta Freeman: This is a hard backfield to discern. Williams played 51% of the offensive snaps on Monday, Murray played 31%, and the Ravens promoted Freeman to the active roster Thursday. Williams looked like he had more juice than Murray. Williams had a nice 21-yard gain on a catch in the flat early on. He exploded through the middle on a 35-yard TD run. Murray had a touchdown too, but Williams averaged 7.2 yards per carry, Murray averaged 2.8. On the other hand, Williams whiffed badly on a couple of blocks. The second whiff led to a sack and a fumble, giving the Raiders the ball for what turned out to be the game-winning drive. No doubt John Harbaugh was disappointed with Williams’ effort on those plays. As of now I have Williams ranked RB25, Murray RB49, and I still haven’t decided where I’m going to slot Freeman. I’ll be trying to read the tea leaves on this backfield all the way up to kickoff on Sunday.
Wide Receivers
Tyreek Hill: How are the Ravens going to handle Hill without CB Marcus Peters? Hill had 11 catches for 197 yards and a touchdown against the Browns in Week 1. Believe it or not, that performance fell 72 yards short of Hill’s single-game high in receiving yardage – a 269-yard, three-TD outburst against the Buccaneers last November. But clearly, Hill is primed for another good season, and a Baltimore defense that’s normally better equipped than most to defend him is now without a pivotal defender.
Mecole Hardman: As long as the speedy Hardman is on the field enough, good things should eventually happen, right? Uh, maybe. Hardman played a respectable 69% of the Chiefs’ offensive snaps in Week 1. He caught 3 of 3 targets for 19 yards. Hardman has had fewer than 50 receiving yards in nine consecutive regular-season games.
Marquise Brown: With a touchdown in the opener in Las Vegas, Brown has scored seven touchdowns in his last seven regular-season games. In two career games against the Chiefs, Brown has been woefully ineffective, catching 4 of 15 targets for 62 yards and no touchdowns
Sammy Watkins: Revenge game! Watkins faces his old team Sunday night in Baltimore. In the loss to the Raiders, Watkins’ 82% snap share led all Ravens receivers, and he had a team-high eight targets and 96 receiving yards. It’s a nice start with his new team, but Watkins has teased us before only to disappear for long stretches or get hurt.
Tight Ends
Travis Kelce: “Zeus” opened the season with a bang, catching 6 of 7 targets for 76 yards and two touchdowns. The second score was classic Kelce: run 5 yards, settle into a cranny of the defense, catch a pass and power past three defenders into the end zone. In four career games against the Ravens, Kelce has never had fewer than 73 receiving yards.
Mark Andrews: In a Monday-night affair where Raiders TE Darren Waller saw 15 targets and finished with 105 yards and a touchdown, the Ravens’ pass-catching tight end was strangely quiet. Andrews was targeted five times against Las Vegas and had three catches for 20 yards. As with teammate Marquise Brown, Andrews doesn’t have an illustrious record in games against Kansas City. In three meetings with the Chiefs, Andrews has caught 6 of 17 targets for 37 yards and no touchdowns.
Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers
Date/Time: Monday September 20, 8:15pm ET
BettingPros Consensus Spread: Packers -11.5
BettingPros Consensus Over/Under: 48 points
Implied Vegas point totals: Packers 29.75, Lions 18.25
Quarterbacks
Jared Goff: Goff’s Week 1 numbers wouldn’t have been very interesting if not for some unusual circumstances: an onside kick recovery that gave the Lions an extra possession late, then a 49er fumble that gave the Lions another possession. Quintez Cephus made consecutive circus catches, first on a touchdown, then on the two-point conversion. The Lions somehow ran 81 plays even though they were down big for most of the game. The bottom line is that Goff, the man no one wanted in fantasy drafts, wasn’t terrible. He averaged only 5.9 yards on his 57 pass attempts, but he threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception. He’s probably looking at a negative game script in a road game in Green Bay, which could mean another game with heavy passing volume.
Aaron Rodgers: This feels like a bounce-back game, doesn’t it? Rodgers, a man known for taking perceived slights to heart, will have had eight days to dwell on an embarrassing loss to the Saints, listening to people talk about how terrible the Packers were. Oh, and the Lions just lost their best cornerback, Jeff Okudah, to a ruptured Achilles. It’s a pretty good spot for Rodgers in fantasy, and perhaps he’ll avenge that abysmal Week 1 showing.
Running Backs
D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams: Swift and Williams both had strong performances in Week 1, but it’s Swift’s usage that warrants attention. He played 63 snaps to Williams’ 32 – this after a report that Williams was going to be the leading man. Swift carried 11 times for 39 yards. He was targeted 11 times and had eight catches for 65 yards and a touchdown. That’s 24.4 PPR points – not a bad day at the office. Williams made the most of his lesser snap count, carrying nine times for 54 yards and a touchdown, and turning nine targets into eight catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. That’s 25.0 PPR points. Touché, Mr. Williams. There won’t be 36 touches for these two to divide every week, but there’s room for both to be fantasy assets.
Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon: Week 1 gave us nothing new to chew on here. Jones is still the lead guy, Dillon is still the supporting guy with upside, and that’s that. The Lions gave up a league-high 27 touchdown runs last year, and they just gave up 104 rushing yards and a touchdown to rookie Elijah Williams.
Wide Receivers
Tyrell Williams, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Quintez Cephus: Williams would usually be considered the lead receiver here, but he has a concussion and may not play. Here’s how the snap percentages for the Lions’ receivers looked in Week 1 (not counting Williams): Kalif Raymond 75%, St. Brown 64%, Trinity Benson 53%, Cephus 35%. I didn’t list Raymond and Benson here because they aren’t rosterable (at least not yet). St, Brown is probably the best bet to lead the Detroit wide receivers in targets and catches this week if Williams is out. Cephus may have gained some steam with his acrobatic TD and two-point catches late in the loss to the 49ers. But the bottom line is that you’re not considering any of these guys unless you play in the deepest of leagues.
Davante Adams: Adams had five catches for 56 yards in the debacle against the Saints. Heaven help the Lions in their efforts to stop this guy without Jeffrey Okudah. The leading candidates to try to cover Adams: Ifeatu Melifonwu and Amani Oruwariye. Lotsa luck, fellas.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling: There was a lot of buzz about MVS in training camp this year, but he can be wildly inconsistent, alternating big plays with egregious drops. Like many of his teammates, Valdes-Scantling was quiet in Week 1, catching three passes for 17 yards.
Tight Ends
T.J. Hockenson: We’re into Week 2 already, but it should be noted that in three career Week 1 games, Hockenson has 19 catches for 284 yards and three touchdowns. He looked terrific against the 49ers, catching 8 of 11 targets for 97 yards and a score. If he stays healthy all season, Hockenson is probably going to lead the Lions in targets and receptions.
Robert Tonyan: All things considered, the Lions did a pretty decent job of covering George Kittle in Week 1, holding him to four catches for 78 yards. After his surprise 2020 season, Tonyan began his 2021 campaign by catching two balls for eight yards.
New York Giants vs. Washington Football Team
Date/Time: Thursday September 16, 8:20pm ET
BettingPros Consensus Spread: Washington -3
BettingPros Consensus Over/Under: 40.5 points
Implied Vegas point totals: Washington 21.75, Giants 18.75
Quarterbacks
Daniel Jones: The schedule makers did young Mr. Jones no favors, presenting him with the tough Denver and Washington defenses right out of the gate. Jones acquitted himself reasonably well in the Giants’ opener, completing 22 of 37 passes for 267 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions. The bad news is that the Giants scored only 13 points, and Jones coughed up another fumble. He’s fumbled 30 times in 28 career games, losing 18 of them. (Yikes … is he eating greasy finger food right before kickoff?) In two 2020 games against Washington, Jones threw for 324 yards and two TDs, though he did have a 74-yard rushing day in the earlier of the two meetings. It’s not a very good spot for Jones. He’s the QB26 in my rankings this week.
Taylor Heinicke: Ryan Fitzpatrick has a right hip subluxation (meaning his hip was jolted partially out of its socket), resulting from being blasted head-on by the Chargers’ Uchenna Nwosu. That leaves Heinicke as the Washington starter for the foreseeable future – probably into November at least. That shouldn’t be a disaster for Washington: Heinicke is considered one of the better backups in the league. He isn’t quite the swashbuckler Fitzpatrick is, so Terry McLaurin investors might be mildly disappointed. But Heinicke is likely to have fewer multiple-interception games than Fitz would have. After Fitzpatrick went down in the second quarter, Washington went fairly conservative, with Heinicke completing 11 of 15 throws for 122 yards, with one touchdown (to Logan Thomas) and no interceptions. That’s understandable, with Heinicke having had few reps in the week leading up to the game and with RB Antonio Gibson capable of doing the heavy lifting for the Washington offense. Heinicke should get more chances to throw this week, and I have him ranked QB25, just out of QB2 range.
Running Backs
Saquon Barkley and Devontae Booker: The Giants handled Barkley with kid gloves in his first game back from a major knee injury, limiting him to 48% of the team’s offensive snaps. He had 10 carries for 25 yards and a single catch for one yard. It would be nice to think this will be the last time Booker’s name appears in this space, with Barkley returning to absolute primacy in this backfield, but Booker had only five fewer snaps than Barkley in the opener and may continue to have a significant role until the Giants are confident Barkley is completely fit. For now, Barkley has to be considered an RB2 until he starts seeing RB1 usage again.
Antonio Gibson and J.D. McKissic: Gibson sustained a minor shoulder injury in Week 1 but has been practicing and should be good to go for Week 2. He also lost a costly fourth-quarter fumble inside his own 5-yard line that set up the Chargers for the game-winning touchdown. Still, Week 1 was encouraging for Gibson stakeholders. He carried 20 times for 90 yards and added three catches for 18 yards. He also played 65% of Washington’s offensive snaps, a percentage he reached in only two games last season. And J.D. McKissic saw just one target while Gibson saw five. Gibson has already proven to be a dynamic runner, and we know he can catch. Expanded usage in the passing game is the key to his rise to stardom. This isn’t an easy matchup for Gibson, though. The Giants gave up the 10th-fewest rushing yards in 2020, and their Week 1 run defense was reasonably good other than a fourth-quarter lapse that led to a 70-yard TD run by Melvin Gordon.
Wide Receivers
Terry McLaurin: No doubt McLaurin’s 4-64-0 stat line was a disappointment to his fantasy managers, but the mid-game injury to Ryan Fitzpatrick was largely to blame, forcing Washington into a conservative second-half gameplan. If McLaurin hadn’t made a fine 37-yard catch of a slightly underthrown ball early in the third quarter, things would have looked worse. Will McLaurin see shadow coverage from James Bradbury, the Giants’ ace cover man? Probably not, but McLaurin is likely to face coverage from Bradbury on, say, 10 to 20 snaps. McLaurin’s two games against the Giants last year: 12 targets for 7-74-0, and eight targets for 7-115-1. McLaurin looks like a mid-range WR2 this week. There’s certainly WR1 upside here, and I doubt there are many fantasy managers in America debating whether to start McLaurin this week, but the QB change should temper expectations a bit.
Dyami Brown: The surface stats were terrible – one catch for minus-2 yards – but Brown’s usage in his NFL debut was exciting. He was on the field for 51 of Washington’s 55 offensive snaps, playing 18 snaps more than No. 3 receiver Adam Humphries. Brown was targeted four times in a game where Washington attempted only 27 passes. With Curtis Samuel on IR and out indefinitely with a groin injury, Brown has a golden opportunity to make a splash. It didn’t happen for him in Week 1, but if he keeps seeing snap shares of around 90%, he’ll have big days. I think Brown would be a sneaky-good addition to fantasy rosters this week.
Sterling Shepard: The sixth-year veteran has only had five career games where he’s gone over 100 yards and scored a touchdown, but he’s now done it in two straight games. Shepard dropped 112 yards and a touchdown on the Cowboys in Week 17 last year, and he opened the 2021 season with 113 yards and a touchdown against a tough Denver defense. With Kenny Golladay having missed valuable training-camp reps with his new team and his new quarterback due to a hamstring injury, Daniel Jones might continue to lean on Shepard early in the season. Shepard is likely to see a lot of snaps against Washington slot corner Kendall Fuller on Sunday. Fuller isn’t bad, but Chargers slot man Keenan Allen had a 100-yard day against Washington last week.
Kenny Golladay: It might take time for Golladay to build chemistry with QB Daniel Jones after missing much of training camp with a hamstring injury, so all things considered, Golladay’s 4-64-0 debut with the Giants wasn’t a bad start. Golladay saw fewer targets (6) than Sterling Shepard (9) and Darrius Slayton (7), but his average depth of target was a very Golladay-esque 15 yards downfield. When the targets are that high-value, you don’t need double-digit target totals every week to pay dividends. Expect Golladay to see a lot of William Jackson III, a good outside cornerback who had his ups and downs last week against another big receiver, the Chargers’ Mike Williams.
Darrius Slayton: With TE Evan Engram out, the Giants used a lot of three-receiver sets in week 1, and Slayton was in for 70% of the Giants’ offensive snaps. He caught 3 of 7 targets for 65 yards, the highlight being a 42-yarder where he beat Denver’s Kyle Fuller after the Broncos jumped offside and Daniel Jones took advantage of the free play. With Engram likely to miss another week, Slayton should again see ample playing time, and with his plus speed, he’s always a threat to connect with Jones on a big play or two.
Tight Ends
Logan Thomas: Washington’s lone Week 1 touchdown belonged to Thomas, who made a nice high-point grab of an 11-yard throw from Taylor Heinicke. Thomas wasn’t especially effective in two games against the Giants last year (3-42-1 and 3-28-0), but those were a pair of midseason games played before Thomas caught fire down the stretch.
Kyle Rudolph: Even with Evan Engram out last week, Rudolph finished with two catches for eight yards. Nothing to see here.
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