Fantasy Football Player Notes

Turns out, of the "big three" tight ends, fading Trey McBride was not the right call. One week in, Brock Bowers and Colston Loveland have scored the same amount of fantasy points; and only one of them played in Week 1. If you silenced the noise and drafted McBride, you are in a great spot. Against the Chargers, he had 13 targets, eight receptions, 95 yards, and a touchdown. He is Jacoby Brissett's go to target and the main weapon on this offense. This week they face the Seahawks, who allowed rookie TE Eli Raridon to score his first touchdown. It's hard to take much away from the Seahawks-Patriots season opener; however, McBride is matchup-proof and sits atop fantasy ranks heading into week two.

In Week 1, Jeremiyah Love split the workload with Tyler Allgeier, as he played 44.4% of the snaps with a 32.4% designed carry share, a 38.5% route share, and an 8.1% target share. Love had three red zone rushing attempts (Allgeier, three). Love got into the endzone which saved his day as the RB19 for the week. Love had 13 touches and 50 total yards. He was amazing on a per-touch basis with 4.0 yards after contact per attempt and a 27% missed tackle rate. Love will have a hard time finding running room in Week 2, so temper your expectations. In Week 1, Seattle allowed the 12th-lowest explosive run rate, the 12th-lowest rushing success rate, and they had the fifth-highest stuff rate.

In Week 1, Michael Wilson was third on the team with an 18.9% target share as he finished with 56 receiving yards (1.56 YPRR), zero red zone targets, one deep target, and a 25.9% first-read share (second on the team behind only Trey McBride). I don't want to plug Wilson into a fantasy lineup in Week 2 against this vaunted Seattle pass defense. In Week 1, Seattle allowed the 11th-fewest yards per target and the sixth-fewest fantasy points per target to perimeter wide receivers.

Marvin Harrison Jr. is a sit until further notice. He was the high aDOT cardio king for Arizona. I don't even have words at this point. This is an insane way to utilize his skill set in this offense, and it's not fantasy-friendly at all. Harrison Jr. had only an 8.1% target share (23.0 aDOT) and 7.4% first-read share. He was out-targeted in Week 1 by Trey McBride, Michael Wilson, Kendrick Bourne, and Jeremiyah Love. At this point, Arizona should just trade him.

In Week 1, Arizona had Tyler Allgeier leading the way as he saw a 56.9% snap rate, 50% of the designed carries, and a 38.5% route share (5.4% target share). Allgeier finished with 19 touches and 70 total yards as he split the red zone work with Jeremiyah Love. Each back had three red zone rushing attempts. Allgeier churned out a nice 2.59 yards after contact per attempt in Week 1 while recording a 12% missed tackle rate (meh). Allgeier will have to get by with volume this week because Seattle won't allow much breathing room on the ground. In Week 1, Seattle allowed the 12th-lowest explosive run rate, the 12th-lowest rushing success rate, and they had the fifth-highest stuff rate.

I was shocked in Week 1 to see Kendrick Bourne handing a 21.6% target share (second on the team) and 22.2% first-read share (third on the team). Bourne secured all eight of his targets, churning out 75 receiving yards (2.59 YPRR) while seeing a red zone target. He was the WR17 for the week. If Bourne keeps this type of usage up, he'll have some flex-worthy weeks this season, but I don't think Week 2 will be one of those weeks. Last week, Seattle allowed the third-fewest fantasy points per target and the fourth-fewest yards per target to slot receivers.