The Market Report is your one-stop Monday shop for all the movement from a big weekend of NFL football.
These are the players who stood out for fantasy-relevant reasons — the good, the bad, and the in-between.
UPGRADES
Players about whom we’re feeling more optimistic based on recent play, injuries, or news.
Quarterbacks
Justin Herbert (LAC) – Had the most impressive performance by a quarterback in Week 1. Herbert typically struggled against the Chiefs, but he was electric in Brazil. Herbert threw for 318 yards and 3 TDs while adding 7/32 rushing, most of which came on his game-icing scramble. Beyond his performance, what’s most encouraging is that the Chargers went extremely pass-heavy (+13% more than expected). This is a continuing trend. Los Angeles was the sixth-most pass-heavy team over their final 12 games last season after Herbert got back to 100% health after foot/ankle injuries early in the season. The Chargers schedule until their Week 12 bye (at LV, vs. Den at NYG, vs. Was, at Ind, vs. Mia, at Ten, vs. Pit, at JAX) is filled with burnable matchups.
Justin Fields (NYJ) – The Steelers still have one of the best defenses in the league on paper, but that didn’t matter in Week 1. Fields and the New York offense absolutely shredded Pittsburgh. Fields went 16-of-22 passing for 218 yards (1 TD) and he didn’t turn the ball over. Once again, Fields is showing much-improved accuracy. According to our Fantasy Points Data team, 64% of Fields’ throws were perfectly accurate and 77% were catchable. Most importantly for fantasy, Fields did a wonderful job at evading pressure and scrambling to keep drives alive. Fields added 12/48/2 as a runner. Fields has finished as a top-10 scoring QB by fantasy points per game in three straight seasons as a starter, and it looks as if he’s on his way to another year inside of the top-10. His legs will do the majority of the lifting here, but this offensive infrastructure looked great in OC Tanner Engstrand’s first game as the play caller.
Running Backs
Christian McCaffrey (SF) – What calf injury!? McCaffrey was immediately loaded up with 31 (!) touches in Week 1, turning his 22 carries and 10 targets into 142 scrimmage yards. This performance was classic CMC. He scored 20+ PPR points without scoring a TD because he’s a bell cow to the highest degree. Based on his role, McCaffrey’s role was worth a whopping 30.1 expected Half-PPR points. This was RB1-worthy on the week, by a mile. Bijan Robinson (22.8 XFP), Jahmyr Gibbs (18.9), Jonathan Taylor (18.9), and Chase Brown (18.2) rounded out the top-5.
