Ashton Jeanty Makes The Leap Among Week 1 Fantasy Football Surprises

There are a million things to discuss after a wild day of football—and trust me, we will cover it all over the next couple days—but for now I want to focus on the surprises.

Sure, Josh Allen (33.7), Derrick Henry (34.8), and Jahmyr Gibbs (31.1) nuking is great, but that’s more or less what we expected them to do.

Instead, let’s focus on the performances very few saw coming …

Week 1 Surprise Performances

💥 Bryce Young (32.4) and Jalen Coker (29.8) went wild. When we last saw Coker in action, he dropped 9-134-1 on the Rams in the Wild Card Round. He picked up right where he left off vs. the Bears with 8-138-2.

When Ben Johnson said the Bears were going to score a billion points this year, he was only telling half the story … because they are also going to give up a billion points this year.

🚀 Zay Flowers (23.5) looks like this year’s JSN … if he can stay healthy. Flowers had 5-150-1 before exiting with a hamstring injury. We really need him to stay healthy because he looked electric every time he touched the ball.

It’s not just Flowers, either. Rookie WR Ja’Kobi Lane—who was getting peppered in the red zone—also left the game early with a wrist injury.

🙏 The prayer circle worked for Ashton Jeanty (29.7). Apparently it really was the lowest high-ankle sprain of all time. Jeanty touched the ball 29 times vs. Miami and racked up 147 yards from scrimmage, 6 receptions and 2 TDs.

He won’t get the Dolphins every week, but let’s just be thankful that the Lord heard our prayers.

🤦 The Chargers lost to who? The Los Angeles Chargers were the biggest favorite on the week (-9.5), so naturally they got handled by the Cardinals 26-14 and detonated a bomb across Survivor pools.

Adding insult to injury: Ladd McConkey left the game with a chest injury.

🤷‍♂️ No Kyler, no problem? Kyler Murray suffered a concussion early, but the Vikings offense didn’t miss a beat with Carson Wentz. Just about everyone scored here—Justin Jefferson (x2), Jordan Mason, Aaron Jones and TJ Hockenson.

DWAIN & IAN ARE BACK WITH THE WEEK 1 RECAP SHOW

Watch Your Fantasy Team In Action On Fire TV

On football Sundays, isn’t it best when you can watch your fantasy players live? Josh Allen throwing and galloping his way to multiple TDs. Ja’Marr Chase taking the top off the defense on a long bomb. Jahmyr Gibbs blazing past defenders as if they’re standing still. Even better, how about watching without endless scrolling to get to the correct apps? If so, you need Fire TV.

It organizes all your live games from your favorite teams in one place across apps, right on the home screen. No more searching.

Find where the game’s playing and easily subscribe to that streaming service (as needed)—all from one tab on your home screen.

JUST SIT DOWN & TURN ON … FIRE TV

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Around the Watercooler

The latest fantasy and NFL gossip, news, memes and more from your favorite football nerds …

🙀 Three-leg parlay looking scary? Not to cooterdoodle.

🔮 One more Week 1 game. How does MNF shape up?

🐧 Jaylen Waddle is facing a tough debut with the Broncos. See what the projections say.

🏈 Caleb Williams or Josh Allen QB1 for Week 1? Quite the race up the leaderboard.

💪 Sonny Styles is ready for the league. Say hello, Saquon.

🤢 Tough start for Ja’Marr Chase managers. Better days ahead.

💸 Parker Washington’s agent made a call right after this … guaranteed.

😡 The Strib Club is closed … for at least a month.

🙏 The Raiders’ game plan was complicated. Um, not really.

Week 2 Waiver Wire: Cokeheads Unite!

One thing we learned other than the Bears are going to be one of the most fun offenses this season—start your Bears weekly!—is that teams are going to be playing catchup against that offense. And when that happens, players are going to pop. Look at Jalen Coker in Week 1, when he went for a scintillating 8-138-2. Is this a sign that more than one pass catcher is fantasy viable in Carolina?

Alex Cupps released the FREE edition of our waiver wire column, with recommendations at all four position groups. If you’re looking at stopgap flex options to fill in for injuries, Cupps has some recommendations.

TARGET ARGUABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT HANDCUFF RB

Winners/Losers From Week 1: Prime Bucky is Back

Remember a few months ago when Tampa Bay HC Todd Bowles speculated that Bucky Irving’s return from injury could happen in late summer or fall? That was so before the leaves started putting on their fall colors (still to come). Pretty fun to have your guts churn at the thought of the 2024 sensation missing any part of this season. Looks like Week 1 may have put some of that chatter to rest.

Now that we’ve almost got the complete slate of Week 1 games in the books, it’s time to take a quick look at the winners and losers of Week 1 with our amigo Joe Metz.

RB HEADACHES COMING ON IN JACKSONVILLE?

Published Sep 14, 2026, 6:00 AM ETUpdated Sep 14, 2026, 9:10 AM ET