The 2025 NFL season is upon us and Week 1 is teeming with fantasy implications for the remainder of the year. These are the 10 things I think you need to know before Week 2 kicks off.
1) Harold Fannin Jr. is the truth
Two rookie tight ends tied for seven catches apiece, giving them each the honor of earning the most catches for a tight end in their first game in NFL history. It’s not stunning that Tyler Warren was one of them. The No. 14 overall pick caught over 100 passes in his final season at Penn State and was immediately installed as an every-down right end. He’s going to be a top-half TE1 as a rookie. Harold Fannin Jr., on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski used him as a queen chess piece, moving him around the formation on every play. Fannin saw snaps at inline tight end, wide receiver, slot receiver, fullback, and even quarterback. He earned a 22 percent target share and was targeted on an absurd 29 percent of his routes. Fannin cemented his TE1 status with one game. Now his sights are set on a top-five ranking if he keeps this usage up.
Harold Fannin’s record-setting debut has him at the top of the waiver wire priority coming out of Week 1 while Hollywood Brown headlines a strong list of wide receiver adds.
2) New look Lions struggle
The Lions experienced more turnover in their coaching staff than any other team during the offseason and also lost multiple starters along the offensive line. That combo was readily apparent in Week 1.
| Motion Rate on Passes |
The Lions used fewer of the bells and whistles in every category. That is partially based on game script. Play-action in particular isn’t going to be as effective when a team is trailing in the fourth quarter. Part of it, however, is the loss of Ben Johnson.
The line might be an even more pressing issue. Not only was Goff pressured more often, but he was also worse under pressure, receiving PFF’s second-worst passing grade under pressure for Week 1. The stuff rate (how often a back got hit at or behind the line of scrimmage) could be crippling for Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.
3) Attempts are a Justin Herbert stat
The Chargers were a team everyone expected to return to basics with a ground-heavy approach. After signing Najee Harris and drafting first-round running back Omarion Hampton, that was a foregone conclusion. No one told Jim Harbaugh and he came out guns blazing in Week 1 with a +14% pass rate over expected.
The Chargers used three or more wide receivers on 88 percent of their passing plays, up from 77 percent in the previous season. Herbert aced the test and threw for 318 yards and three scores in a win over the Chiefs. This approach will provide enough attempts for all three of Ladd McConkey, Keenan Allen, and Quentin Johnston to pay off their ADPs.
4) Trio of No. 1 picks flop in Week 1
The Jags and Bears both hired new head coaches who were renowned for their offensive genius in an effort to save their former No. 1 overall picks. Carolina already had that man in place with Dave Canales and he appeared to work his magic in the second half of the 2024 season to save Bryce Young’s career. All three of Young, Trevor Lawrence, and Caleb Williams struggled in their Week 1 openers.
Young’s accuracy rate, which ranked top-10 in Week 1, was juiced by a high completion percentage on his easy throws. He went 4-of-13 on attempts farther than 10 yards downfield. There’s still hope for him, but his Week 1 was the most concerning of the three quarterbacks.
Williams is next in line for concern levels after coming up just one spot short of last place in the accuracy charting. Williams also struggled with accuracy issues as a rookie and that hasn’t changed in his second season. The good news is that he only took two sacks and posted a 6/58/1 rushing line. Even if the accuracy issues persist, Williams will have made massive progress if he continues turning pressures into successful carries instead of sacks.
Lawrence’s debut is the least concerning, though not because he played particularly well. He still missed a handful of throws and threw an interception, but taking zero sacks with serviceable accuracy numbers while getting 26 points on the board is a passable start to the season.
5) Jags backfield narrows
Sticking in Jacksonville, the Jags threw in the towel on Tank Bigsby, giving him just five carries in Week 1. They then traded him to Philly for fifth and sixth-round picks. Travis Etienne saw the bulk of the backfield work, earning 16 carries and three receptions. Bhayshul Tuten played four snaps and fellow rookie LaQuint Allen was on the field for nine snaps, operating as a passing-downs specialist. Etienne looked electric on his 16 attempts, racking up 143 yards.
With a murky backup situation and Bigsby out of the picture, Etienne is shaping up to be one of the best values of the summer.
6) Breece Hall is him
The Jets preached their backfield-by-committee approach all offseason and showed us some of that in Week 1. Breece Hall only saw 51 percent of the carries, ceding eight totes to Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis. He earned just two red zone attempts compared to three for Allen and four for Justin Fields. His route rate of 32 percent will also be an issue if it holds. However, Hall looked as good as ever, rushing for 107 yards on 19 attempts while averaging 4.7 yards after contact per carry. Given how far he fell in late summer drafts, Hall might not even need targets or goal line duties to pay off his ADP.
7) Offensive line issues for Texans
To no one’s surprise, the Texans’ decision to trade away Laremy Tunsil after fielding one of the worst offensive lines in the league last year did not help their cause for 2025. Pro Football Focus ranked them as the No. 27 pass-blocking unit in Week 1 and C.J. Stroud was pressured on 41.2 percent of his dropbacks. He was sacked three times and threw one pick on his pressured plays. Nico Collins, in turn, also struggled to get much going. He caught just three passes for 25 yards. Collins was only targeted two times on 14 pressured throws by Stroud. Dalton Schultz led the way with five pressured targets. It’s going to be a long season for Collins if Stroud is only checking it down when defenders are barreling toward him.
8) Injury bug gets the 49ers again
The season can’t begin without an insane run of 49ers injuries. With Week 1 in the books, we got more than just one injury in San Francisco with George Kittle expected to miss multiple weeks because of a hamstring issue, Jauan Jennings’ status unclear because of a shoulder injury, and Brock Purdy nursing multiple injuries that are threatening to sideline him for Week 2. All of this concentrated the 49ers’ offense on two players: Christian McCaffrey and Ricky Pearsall.
McCaffrey’s workload was as dominant as ever. He ran 22 times and led the team with 10 targets. McCaffrey’s 31.2 expected fantasy points were 10 more than any other running back. Of note, he didn’t look great. He averaged -1.15 rush yards over expected per carry with a league-worst success rate of nine percent. Pro Football Focus graded him outside of their top 40 backs in Week 1 with a horrific 2.0 yards after contact per carry. The McCaffrey role is back, but is the player?
Pearsall is stepping into the No. 1 role in Kyle Shanahan’s offense out of the gates. He earned 21 percent of the targets and a whopping 53 percent of the air yards. With or without Purdy under center, Pearsall is breaking out this year.
Navigating around 49ers Week 1 injuries in fantasy
With George Kittle and Jauan Jennings nursing injuries after Week 1, Patrick Daugherty and Kyle Dvorchak discuss the direction fantasy managers should take when investing in 49ers playmakers.
9) Brock Bowers’ strange role
Chip Kelly rolled out a heinous tight end rotation in the first half of Week 1, limiting Brock Bowers to a 63 percent snap share through two quarters. He eased up on the nonsense in the second half and Bowers put up 68 yards in the third quarter before exiting with a knee injury. Bowers had an elite target share of 30 percent through three quarters despite a lackluster 74 percent route rate. He also looked like a superstar with the ball in his hands, leading the league with 50 yards after the catch and 4.2 yards per route run. The role and injury are minor concerns that could prevent him from having a truly epic season, but he’s going to get there even in a less-than-stellar role.
10) Joever for Miami?
There wasn’t a more underwhelming showing in Week 1 than Miami’s blowout loss to Daniel Jones’s Colts. Mike McDaniel’s offense went scoreless until the fourth quarter, when De’Von Achane caught a garbage-time score from Tua Tagovailoa. Tua was pressured at the lowest rate in the NFL, only being accosted by a defender on 12 percent of his dropbacks. He averaged 2.4 seconds to throw from a clean pocket, up from his mark of 2.0 in 2024. Despite having time to throw from a clean pocket for a full four quarters, he and the Dolphins couldn’t get anything going. He averaged 5.7 YPA on these attempts and had the second-highest turnover-worthy play rate (9.1 percent). Tyreek Hill led the team with a pedestrian 20 percent target share and was visibly frustrated on the sidelines. No Miami player went for more than 40 receiving yards. Things are looking awfully bleak in South Florida.
