Welcome to the Week 1 fantasy football therapy and complaint desk. In this article, I will address inquiries from our Discord’s AMA channel (#general-AMA). Let it all out, people.
While my general stance after Week 1 is to preach patience, I am not immune to being frustrated. After all, I ranked A.J. Brown inside the top 10 last week and have him on multiple teams. We are in this together.
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Fantasy Football Therapy & Complaint Desk
Here are a few of this week’s submissions, along with my responses. Jump into the conversation on Discord next week and get your complaints addressed in future installments.
(Nico) Collins and every player on the Lions
Nico Collins had a quiet Week 1, as did pretty much everyone else on the Houston Texans. They failed to score a touchdown in their loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Collins had just five targets on 27 attempts from quarterback C.J. Stroud. That was not expected, especially with Christian Kirk missing the game due to injury. The results were not there, as Collins caught just three balls for 25 scoreless yards. However, he still had normal numbers in terms of routes run and offensive snaps. Better days are ahead for Collins, and quite possibly as soon as this week’s home opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
As for the Lions, again, there is not much we can do but chalk it up to a bad day at the office. If you are looking for a silver lining, Dan Campbell fully kept his starters in, even though the game was decided by the time the fourth quarter started. That enabled most of the Lions to pad their stats a little. It reminded me of the game two years ago where Detroit trailed Baltimore 35-0 after three quarters. Jared Goff played the whole game and threw 53 passes. Gotta love it. The Lions will be fine, especially when they play at Ford Field, as is the case this Sunday.
How are we feeling about Travis Etienne now? Comeback season, one game fluke against Carolina, or somewhere in the middle? Would you drop Brian Robinson for him?
This question is interesting because my initial reaction was that it was probably a one-game fluke against a Carolina run defense that is not particularly good. However, the trade of Tank Bigsby to Philadelphia opens the door for a comeback season for Travis Etienne. Lest we forget, this is a player who finished as the overall RB3 just two seasons ago. We are hardly talking about ancient history here.
Will Etienne get to that level in 2025? No. But fantasy managers who invested in Etienne in drafts are likely to be rewarded. I want to stash Brian Robinson wherever possible, given Christian McCaffrey‘s calf issues. Having said that, if you have to sacrifice Robinson for Etienne, go for it.
What do you think of trading Tucker Kraft + Mike Evans for A.J. Brown + BRob? Ten-man PPR redraft. The team with A.J. Brown only has George Kittle at tight end. I have Kraft + Tyler Warren. I also have Evans + Emeka Egbuka.
First, I am assuming that the BRob in this scenario is Brian Robinson Jr., and not Bijan Robinson. I drafted A.J. Brown and the latter in a league together, so someone may have both players. If that is the case and the manager with George Kittle is so desperate for a tight end that he is willing to trade Bijan Robinson, that is a smash accept for me. But, again, I assume this is Brian Robinson we are talking about. In that scenario, it is very close for me, and my answer is based not on any of the four players involved in the trade but on Tyler Warren.
If we operate under the premise that what we saw out of the rookie in Week 1 was his baseline, Warren could be in line for a huge season. You may have drafted Tucker Kraft to be a starter, but Warren could surpass him in short order. Therefore, you are likely upgrading at wide receiver, going from Mike Evans to Brown. You are also giving yourself a bit of a better weekly ceiling by having Brown and Emeka Egbuka as opposed to two wideouts on the same NFL team. And you have a potentially elite running back stash in Robinson. I do like it from that standpoint. Having said that, I don’t hate the trade from the other side either. The other manager likely gets two weekly starters for one. Feels like a trade that can be mutually beneficial. What a novel concept.
How about Tyreek Hill? Scared. And have Emeka Egbuka on my bench (still snuck away with a win!) Rest of season: Should I be starting Egbuka over Hill unless we see something out of Miami?
First and foremost, congrats on the win. It always feels good to start the season out with a win, especially if you leave a fantasy stud or two on the bench in the process. Remember way back when (roughly three or four minutes ago) when I said I was preaching patience? Well, the performance by the Miami Dolphins makes me nervous. They looked terrible. Considering all of the drama surrounding Tyreek Hill at the end of last season, this was the last thing they needed. I would not look to dump Hill at a discounted price at this stage. He is obviously talented enough to rebound. If the Dolphins completely tank, they might consider trading Hill to a contender, which could increase his fantasy value later in the year.
As far as Hill in comparison to Emeka Egbuka, I would start both in Week 2 if possible. Miami faces a New England Patriots squad that just served up 362 passing yards to Geno Smith. Raiders wide receivers combined for over 200 receiving yards against the New England Patriots. Let’s give Hill one more shot to come through for us. Egbuka faces an outstanding Houston Texans defense in Week 2. Houston’s secondary is no joke. But Puka Nacua and Davante Adams still combined for 181 receiving yards versus Houston last week. You cannot expect Egbuka to score two touchdowns every week. But he is a fantasy starter until further notice. If you can only start one, I would ride the hot hand with Egbuka.
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