Hey guys, Pete Overzet here with another newsletter. Matthew has me pondering an interesting question this morning.
With everyone anticipating the A.J. Brown exploded, it was instead Corey Davis (7 catches for 101 yards) who popped off for the Titans on MNF.
Week 1 is tricky because if you underreact you fail to snag the surprise performers before they go on to banner years (think Terry McLaurin last year).
On the other side of the coin, you open yourself up to getting burned by a small sample size performance (think Sammy Watkins going for nearly 200 yards and 3 TDs in Week 1 and then proceeding to score zero times the rest of the regular season).
Davis went 5th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, had a WR3 (Top 36) finish in his second season, and is eerily similar to Parker as a breakout. I think Matthew is onto something.
WHO ELSE IMPRESSED LAST NIGHT
- JuJu Smith-Schuster (69 yards nice and 2 TDs)
- Darius Slayton (102 yards and 2 TDs)
- Benny Snell (19 rushes for 113 yards)
- Noah Fant (81 yards and 1 TD)
- Not Stephen Gostowski (3 missed field goals and an extra point)
THE INJURY ROUNDUP
- Phillip Lindsay is dealing with turf toe after leaving the game early on Monday night. Royce Freeman would be the add in deeper leagues if Lindsay misses the game vs. the Steelers.
- With Marlon Mack having ruptured his Achilles, Frank Reich says it’s wheels up for rookie Jonathan Taylor. You might have overpaid for him in drafts, but Taylor is a league winner. Enjoy.
- James Conner is dealing with a sprained ankle, but the team expects him to return soon. Snell looked good in relief.
- Bad news out of New Orleans with Michael Thomas diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain. He might play through it, but those sprains are always nasty. Tre’Quan Smith will be the guy to step up alongside Emmanuel Sanders in his absence.
- DeVante Parker (hamstring) will begin rehabbing his hamstring injury. Preston Williams has the profile of alpha WR in his absence.
- David Njoku has a sprained MCL and is expected to miss three weeks. No excuses for Austin Hooper now (except that Baker Mayfield is his QB).
- Miles Sanders is “day-to-day” with his hamstring. Earlier in the offseason he was “week-to-week” so this is progress. I’ll let you know when he’s hour-to-hour.
- Deebo Samuel is eyeing Week 4 for his return, although Brandon Aiyuk is set to return for Week 2. Kyle Shanahan will need to start scouting WRs at the local high schools if not.
- Le’Veon Bell could miss a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. Looking for a completely deep sleeper? How about this guy who just burst onto the scene.
WE’RE ON TO WEEK 2
- The crew over at Rotoviz has you covered on the waiver wire for Week 2, including recommended bid sizing for each waiver target.
- I tried to sum up the quick hitters, but Jene Bramel of Footballguys has a deep dive on the current injury landscape.
- My pal Ben Gretch’s column Stealing Signals is one of my favorite data-packed things to read after each week of NFL action.
- If you want to review your Week 1 DFS performance, Rototracker is a great tool that allows you to easily upload and sync your results from the major DFS sites and breakdown the data by sport, content size, and a bunch of other different subsections. Access Rototracker via RotoPassDaily.com Promo code LAUNCH gets you 15% off. RotoPass Daily also includes Numberball, ESPN+, and Rotowire.