Week one of the NFL season is here! And you definitely shouldn’t already be looking for some punch off the waiver wire. That is, unless you have Brock Bowers… or AJ Brown… or TreVeyon Henderson, Sam Darnold? De’Zhaun Stribling? Good Lord, the season just started; how are we already here? There have been literally two football games! Anyway, if you think your lineup needs some extra punch, please find below our humble wares: two players at each position are available in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues, and one player is available in at least 90%.
QUARTERBACKS
Tyler Shough at Detroit (42% rostered)
Tyler Shough’s first start in 2025 came in week nine at the Rams. It wasn’t an exciting effort: 15/24 for 176 yards, one touchdown and one interception passing, and one rush for two yards. Little did we know that from that point to the end of the season, Tyler Shough would be the QB12 in fantasy points per game. Per game, he was seventh in passing yards (250.7), and while he ranked only nineteenth in touchdowns per game (1.44), he protected the ball (22nd in interceptions), and ran more than folks give him credit for. He was ninth in rush attempts per game (4.7), just a hair behind Bo Nix in that timeframe, and his 19.3 rushing yards per game chipped in enough fantasy points to matter. That came out to 17.85 fantasy points per game, and QB12 among quarterbacks who started at least four games in the second half of the season.
The Lions are a primo matchup for quarterbacks, as they might quite literally not have a defensive backfield. Terrion Arnold is a potential felon, Brian Branch & Kerby Joseph won’t play in week one, and there are articles about how literally Rock Ya-Sin is the lynchpin of this secondary. This will be a team that will allow the Saints to throw on them, and the Saints will need to throw on them to desperately try to keep up.
Malik Willis at Las Vegas (42% rostered)
We still aren’t sure if Malik Willis is a good real-life NFL quarterback. However, we do know that he can (and will) run the rock when given the opportunity. Willis has six career starts, and he’s run the ball at least five times in all six starts. With the exception of his first career start (5/12), he’s rushed for at least 40 yards in every start. If you strip out his first career start, he’s averaging 51.4 rushing yards per game and has four rushing touchdowns in those five games.
The Raiders are a perfect defense to attack with a rushing quarterback, too. Last season, they allowed the third-most rushing touchdowns to quarterbacks and gave up four fantasy points per game rushing to quarterbacks.
Jacoby Brissett at L.A. Chargers (7% rostered)
The Cardinals are not going to win this game; no way, no how. But that doesn’t matter for the Tank Commander, Jacoby Brissett. He got a raise this offseason, and his WR1 received a three-year contract extension. Brissett spent all of last season in this exact situation: an overwhelming opponent and permission to sling it in the second half of the game.
In Brissett’s starts last season, he averaged 280 passing yards, two touchdowns, and a pick, while rushing for 14 yards per game (and scoring once). That’s a nice baseline for a quarterback who nobody is rostering because they think he will get benched for Carson Beck. Well, Beck isn’t taking his job in week one, and while the Chargers are a formidable opponent (third-best in stifling opponent fantasy points), Jacoby Brissett will let that thing fly in the second half and pass for multiple touchdowns for the sixth time in the last seven games, and for the eleventh time in his thirteen games as Arizona’s starter.
RUNNING BACKS
Keaton Mitchell v Arizona (42% rostered)
There was much hooting and hollering this offseason both inside and outside the Los Angeles Chargers facility when Mike McDaniel ended up with Keaton Mitchell in his backfield rotation. Prior to free agency opening, he reportedly printed up Old West-style wanted posters for Mitchell and put them up around the Chargers’ offices. The Chargers got their man, and Mike McDaniel got his pass catching back to attack teams through the air.
And the Cardinals are a team that you can attack through the air at running back. They did very little to help their team situation this offseason, and they were a mess down the stretch last season. They allowed 26 receptions and 247 yards to running backs through the air in the last five games last season, which ranked sixth and second among defenses. This makes for the perfect matchup play for week one.
Tyjae Spears v N.Y. Jets (42% rostered)
If there’s one thing that we’ve seen from the Brian DaBoll & Cam Ward Era, it’s that the Titans are focusing on him getting the ball out of his hands as quickly as humanly possible (a nice way to say that they’re piss scared of letting him rip it downfield). In the preseason, he set up with a ton of short-area throws. Per Zachary Kreuger of Rotoworld, Cam Ward’s average depth of target on completed passes came out to 1.2 yards downfield this preseason, which means a lot of dinks and a ton of dunks. This is where Tyjae Spears comes into play. Spears ranked ninth in running back target share last season, with 12% of the Titans’ targets going to Spears. That wasn’t a small amount, either; Spears was twelfth in the league with 50 targets in just 13 games. His 65-target pace over a full season would have put him between RJ Harvey and Ashton Jeanty, target-wise.
The Jets were a decent team against the run, but they were a sieve against opposing running back targets. To wit: they allowed seven receiving touchdowns to running backs in the last five games of 2025, which was #1 by a wide margin, with the Broncos and Dolphins tied for second while allowing only three such touchdowns apiece in the last five weeks.
Malik Davis at N.Y. Giants (4% rostered)
I anticipate this game being a bloodbath, and that isn’t just referring to the stuff leaking out of Jaxson Dart & Cam Skattebo’s ears in the blue tent. The Cowboys are going to run away with this one in a laugher. That makes for a lot of opportunities for the backup running back in this game, and that is Malik Davis (rest in peace, Jaydon Blue). The Giants ranked fourth in fantasy points allowed to running backs last season, and they traded Dexter Lawrence. They added Arvell Reese, who should help offset that, but one linebacker does not make a defense.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Ja’Kobi Lane at Indianapolis (19% rostered)
The Ravens’ rookie receiver was the buzz of training camp, with some beat writers comparing him to Michael “Slant Boy” Thomas (non-derogatorily). With Declan Doyle on board and the Ravens likely to move closer to a league-average pass rate, which speaks to taking both Lane and Elijah Sarratt in the draft. The rookie will hopefully get 5-6 targets in this game, and you’re really banking on getting something along 4-50 with two touchdowns. This is a pretty good matchup to take advantage of the Colts. While they have Sauce Gardner, he will have his hands full with Zay Flowers, and the other DBs were no great shakes last season, as they allowed the second-most fantasy points to wide receivers in the last five games of 2025.
Adonai Mitchell at Tennessee (16% rostered)
Let me be clear: Adonai Mitchell was not “good” or “productive” in his time with the Jets last season, as he averaged three catches for 38 yards last season in his half-year with Gang Green. But he did have something that you can’t teach: air yards. And baby, if you’re in an air yards league, then Adonai Mitchell was a first-round pick this year. In his time with the Jets last year, he averaged 105.8 air yards per game, which is astounding. The league leader last season, Chris Olave, averaged 115.1. So, given that air yards are the best measure of opportunity, he has more opportunity ahead of him than pretty much anyone else down here. With a quarterback upgrade in Geno Smith, he should convert far more of his air yards than he did in 2026.
The Titans are a great starting matchup, as Robert Saleh should shore up their defense, but they probably still won’t have the horses to stop opposing wide receivers. They finished 2025 allowing the ninth-most fantasy points to wide receivers in the last five games of 2025.
Germie Bernard versus Atlanta (2% rostered)
The rookie out of Alabama was one of my draft crushes, as he plays a bit like a stouter Robert Woods. He’s a great short-area target who frequently wins off the line of scrimmage and is great at contested catches. Though they are both expected to play, DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman are both banged up, so I anticipate a decent amount of Germie Bernard this weekend against the Falcons (who might not have a quarterback anymore?). Bernard’s short-area dominance will work far better with Aaron Rodgers than Michael Pittman or, quite frankly, DK Metcalf. Rodgers ranked first in quickest time to throw last season, meaning that his goal is to get the ball out as quickly as possible, and that is Germie Bernard’s music.
TIGHT ENDS
Chigoziem Okonkwo at Philadelphia (40% rostered)
As part of the #JustDraftChig vanguard, this roster rate is, frankly, heartening. My big, beautiful boy will finally get to show the world what he has in store for it. Okonkwo quietly dominated on a per-route basis last year. Among the 23 tight ends with at least 300 routes, he was twelfth in targets per route run, fourteenth in yards per route run, and most importantly… second in yards after the catch per reception. The problem? He was on the dang Tennessee Titans. Now he is with the Commanders, who will have no choice but to toss him the Zach Ertz role. That role came out to 26.4 routes per game last year, which was one more route per game than George Kittle, who gets plenty of opportunities to produce.
The Eagles are a tough draw off the rip for the #JustDraftChig movement, to be honest. They allowed the second-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends last season and the second-fewest in the last five games of last season, meaning they were dominating the position from tip to tail. This doesn’t really concern me, as the Commanders will struggle to get the Terry McLaurin routes to develop (thanks to the Laremy Tunsil injury), and will likely resort to dumping off to Big Chig to move the ball. Remember folks, if you’re streaming tight end, you’re looking for a four-catch, 40-yard baseline, and anything else is a bonus.
Michael Mayer versus Miami (16% rostered)
This is the free space this week, with Brock Bowers on the shelf with a knee meniscus repair. Mayer is an extremely talented tight end in his own right and was a second-round pick in 2023, AKA the year right before they drafted Brock Bowers. He never got a chance to fly because he has one of the league’s best tight ends in front of him. Well, he has Bowers ahead of him no longer (for the time being). With a late notice for whichever myriad Kubiak runs the Raiders (Klunk, right?), a copy-paste of a Brock Bowers-heavy game plan is definitely in the cards for Mr. Mayer. This will be a repeat of last season where Mayer played in three of the five games that Brock Bowers missed, and he averaged 13.9 PPR points in those games. The Dolphins are the worst team in the NFL from top to bottom (quick, who is their second-best player behind De’Von Achane? Trick question: they don’t have one). They allowed the third-most fantasy points per game to tight ends last year and didn’t do anything to rectify that issue other than hiring Jeff Hafley to run the team and defense. Speaking of the Dolphins…
Greg Dulcich at Las Vegas (10% rostered)
The Dolphins are bereft of talent options in their passing game, with two rookie wide receivers and Malik “Not Parker” Washington headlining their receiver corps. In come @PFF_Bobby (offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik) and Jeff Hafley (from Green Bay), who will likely utilize a heavy tight end target volume, as evidenced by Slowik’s heavy Dalton Schultz usage in Houston, and Hafley (while a defensive coordinator in Green Bay) seeing a Tucker Kraft-focused game plan work out well. That leaves Greg Dulcich to soak up targets. The Raiders, like the Dolphins, are poised to be one of the worst teams in the league. This one is going to be a hilarious you-know-what show, and Greg Dulcich is probably going to fall into the end zone.
