Fantasy Football Player Notes

CeeDee Lamb had a quiet Week 1 by his lofty standards. But the usage was encouraging given the circumstances. Dallas led by multiple scores over the final 35 minutes, and Lamb still earned double-digit targets. Some home cooking should get Lamb back to his normal production in Week 2. Lamb averaged over 20 fantasy points per game in Half-PPR formats in eight home games last season. The Saints' pass defense was great in a blowout win versus Carolina last week. But they are about to move up a weight class when they take on the Cowboys. I expect Lamb to have a huge game on Sunday.

Cooks finished Week 1 as the WR21 in fantasy with the touchdown he scored doing much of the lifting there. Cooks did have a 21.8% target share, a 28.1% air-yard share, 1.60 YPRR, and a 24% first-read share. All of these are solid statistics from a volume standpoint. Last year, New Orleans had a 53.9% rate of single-high. That climbed to 66.7% in Week 1, which was the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Last year, Cooks had a 19% TPRR, 1.79 YPRR, and a 17.3% first read-share (second-best on the team) against single-high. Cooks will run about 77% of his routes against Paulson Adebo (2023: 56.8% catch rate and 69.9 passer rating) and Kool-Aid McKinstry (2024: 66.7% catch rate and 109.7 passer rating).

This is an easy matchup to shy away from Tolbert this week. In Week 1, Tolbert only had a 60% route run rate with a 6.3% target share and 10% TPRR. Until he gets a better matchup, more routes, and is able to draw more targets, Tolbert will remain a sit. New Orleans allowed the second-lowest PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers last year (Week 1 Tolbert 76% on the perimeter).