FantasyPros publishes approximately 7.7 million pieces of weekly fantasy football content to help you win your league and eventually take home fantasy gold. It can be difficult to read such a vast amount of content, which is why we’ve rounded up a few of the most actionable, can’t-miss stat nuggets you absolutely need to know each week to aid with fantasy football start sit decisions.
We’ve broken down this weekly TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) article by each of the four main skill positions in fantasy football (quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end), with at least two stats per position. Click on each author’s byline to read the entire article. Good luck this week.
- Waiver Wire Advice
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
TL;DR Fantasy Football Week 2
Must-Know Quarterback Fantasy Football Stats
Tua Tagovailoa (QB – MIA)
The Patriots gave up 18.5 fantasy points to Geno Smith in Week 1, which lands them right above average as the 15th-softest defense to opposing quarterbacks so far this season. In 2024, they were just barely below-average in points allowed to quarterbacks, ranking 17th in the league. So how are they an easy matchup for Tua Tagovailoa, coming off an embarrassing loss to the Colts?
Well, for one, Smith was unlucky to finish with just 18.5 points. He threw for a massive 362 yards, but was held short of a huge game by finishing with one interception to go with just one passing touchdown. For another, that 17th ranking from last year is misleading.
The Patriots actually gave up the third-highest expected points added (EPA) per dropback in the league; they just struggled so much offensively that opposing signal-callers didn’t have to do much to beat them. After one game this season, they’re giving up over twice as much EPA per dropback. For managers in deep or 2-QB leagues, Tua deserves one last chance at home in the Miami sun against this New England defense.
-Ted Chmyz
Aaron Rodgers (QB – PIT)
In hindsight, the fantasy community should have had more confidence in Aaron Rodgers last week. We should have known he would hold a grudge against the New York Jets and want to stick it to them. The future Hall of Famer did exactly that, leading the Steelers to a two-point victory in Week 1. More importantly, Rodgers had an excellent fantasy performance and showed that he has gas left in the tank. The veteran completed 73.7% of his 30 pass attempts for 244 yards and four touchdowns, scoring 25.7 fantasy points.
The 25.7 fantasy points were the most Rodgers has had in a game since Week 14 of the 2021 season. Meanwhile, the Seahawks surrendered 277 passing yards, two touchdowns and 16.8 fantasy points to Brock Purdy despite forcing the quarterback to turn the ball over four times. Furthermore, he finished the week as a top-16 quarterback despite his team losing George Kittle and Jauan Jennings to injury. While fantasy players should expect another four-touchdown performance again in Week 2, Rodgers is a capable streaming option, especially with a good matchup.
-Mike Fanelli
Must-Know Running Back Fantasy Football Stats
D’Andre Swift (RB – CHI)
While the fantasy community had high hopes for the Bears’ offense under Ben Johnson, Chicago vastly struggled after their opening series. They had three touchdowns in Week 1, with one coming off a pick-six by Nahshon Wright. More importantly, Caleb Williams was the Bears’ best rusher, leading the team with 58 rushing yards against the Minnesota Vikings. Meanwhile, D’Andre Swift struggled despite seeing 100% of the running back rushing attempts (17). He finished Week 1 as the RB27, totaling 20 touches for 65 scrimmage yards and 9.5 PPR fantasy points.
Hopefully, Chicago’s offense will improve as the season progresses. Unfortunately, Swift should struggle against the Lions this weekend. Detroit held the Green Bay Packers running backs to 15.7 fantasy points last week, the eighth-fewest in the NFL. Furthermore, they gave up only 3.5 yards per rushing attempt to Josh Jacobs after he averaged 4.4 in 2024. More importantly, Swift has a history of struggling against his former team. Last year, he had 20 rushing attempts for 59 yards and 17.7 fantasy points in two matchups against the Lions.
-Mike Fanelli
Kenneth Walker III (RB – SEA)
I’m just as flummoxed as everyone else by Kenneth Walker’s Week 1 usage. Yes, there were reports that he was dealing with a foot issue in camp, but those dissipated near the end of camp with him practicing and the team preaching a plan for his usage. I took the team and coaching staff at their word, and I guess shame on me, but I share everyone’s frustration with how this situation unfolded in Week 1.
Walker played 40% of the snaps with a 45.4% rushing share. He had a 32% route share and 13% target share. His per-rush metrics weren’t Walker-esque at all as he forced zero missed tackles and had only 2.10 yards after contact per attempt (Charbonnet 1.67). The Seattle backfield could remain a committee while Walker gets up to 100% or this could be the ugliness that we are forced to stare at this season.
With only one game under the belt, no one truly knows. Walker had two red-zone carries in Week 1 (Charbonnet had four). Maybe Walker gets on track this week… I don’t know, but the matchup is a good one for him to do so. Last week, Pittsburgh allowed the fourth-highest missed tackle rate, the sixth-most yards before contact per attempt and they had the 10th-lowest stuff rate. Walker is a risky Flex play.
-Derek Brown
Kenneth Gainwell (RB – PIT)
Finding running backs off the waiver wire is difficult in standard-size leagues, so finding appealing options in deeper leagues is nearly impossible. However, Kenneth Gainwell had a meaningful role for the Steelers in their Week 1 win over the New York Jets. The veteran had seven rushing attempts for 19 yards and three receptions for four receiving yards, scoring 5.3 PPR fantasy points. While Jaylen Warren had more touches in the game, Gainwell played over half the snaps.
The veteran running back played 52% of the snaps in Week 1, including all but one of the 10 third-down snaps. Meanwhile, Warren was the team’s guy in scoring position, playing 46% of the snaps, including all three inside the five-yard line. Unfortunately, Kaleb Johnson only played 4% of the snaps and had one rushing attempt for negative yards. Until the rookie earns more of a role on offense, Gainwell should continue to see meaningful playing time.
-Mike Fanelli
Must-Know Wide Receiver Fantasy Football Stats
Quentin Johnston (WR – LAC)
Quentin Johnston took a significant step forward in year two after a disappointing rookie season, catching 55 balls on just over 90 targets (91) for 711 yards and a team-high eight receiving touchdowns, trailing only Ladd McConkey (22.8%) for second on the team in target share (18.5%) despite missing three games.
Even with the added competition, Johnston picked up right where he left off in the season-opener, finishing as the WR1 overall on the week, catching five passes on seven targets for 79 yards and two touchdowns, trailing only Ladd McConkey (94.6%) for second on the team in route participation rate (86.5%). Although he was behind both McConkey (26.5%) and Allen (29.4%) in target share (20.6%), Johnston looks locked in as the starter in 2-WR sets and should be rostered in most formats.
-Sam Choudhury
Elic Ayomanor (WR – TEN)
One of the most valuable things about air yards is that it makes it easy to identify who should have had a much bigger week than they did when you pair those air yards up against actual receiving yards. There is no player in the NFL with a bigger discrepancy between expected production and actual production than rookie receiver Elic Ayomanor. Against a very tough Denver defense, Ayomanor managed seven targets and 133 air yards (fifth), but only caught two balls for 13 yards.
Part of this can be attributed to the defense. Part of it is attributable to Cam Ward‘s first-ever NFL start. But it is very encouraging to see a rookie with this kind of usage. A 28% target share and a 28% air yards share are very healthy numbers. His aDOT of 19 yards might need to come down for Ayomanor to be able to catch more of these passes, but better production should be coming.
-Ryan Kirksey
Zay Flowers (WR – BAL)
Zay Flowers was the star of the show last week with nine targets, seven receptions, 143 yards, and one touchdown. He commanded an elite 47% target share and 45% target-per-route-run rate, ran routes on 91% of dropbacks, showing WR1-level usage.
Flowers scored on his lone end-zone target and looked electric after the catch. Unfortunately, I think Flowers is probably a sell-high given the optics of the situation. Stellar prime-time performance, where the other wide receivers and tight ends were barely involved. It was an ideal spot for Flowers to post a career game against a depleted Bills secondary.
-Andrew Erickson
Must-Know Tight End Fantasy Football Stats
David Njoku (TE – CLE)
According to SumerSports, the Browns played in 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends and two wide receivers) on an NFL-high 50.7% of their snaps in Week 1. The Eagles led the NFL in 12-personnel usage in 2024 at 46.6%.
David Njoku is Cleveland’s incumbent tight end, but the club used a third-round pick (67th overall) on highly productive tight end Harold Fannin. It was unclear how the two would be utilized, but Week 1 was somewhat encouraging for Njoku’s rest-of-season (ROS) outlook.
According to the data suite at Fantasy Points, Njoku’s 79.2% route participation rate in Week 1 was the third-highest mark on the Browns and the eighth-highest among all tight ends before Monday Night Football. The veteran tight end’s 11.1% target share and 0.13 targets per route run left something to be desired, but his route participation rate bodes well for better days than his three receptions for 37 scoreless yards in Week 1.
-Josh Shepardson
Hunter Henry (TE – NE)
Going back to the well with Hunter Henry this week, as he will face a Dolphins defense that surrendered 272 passing yards and a touchdown to the Daniel Jones-led Colts in Week 1. As for Colts tight ends, they finished with eight catches for 96 of those yards, most of that going to first-round rookie Tyler Warren (76 yards on seven receptions).
Henry had a solid season debut, hauling in half of his eight targets from Drake Maye. The veteran tight end gained 66 yards in the loss to the Raiders, highlighted by a 27-yard play during a first-quarter touchdown drive. Henry tied with wide receiver Kayshon Boutte for the most targets on the team, both finishing one ahead of Stefon Diggs‘ seven.
-Nate Miller
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn
