Week 1 of the NFL season is bound to always bring forward some of the craziest overreactions in the Fantasy Football world. Just when you thought you aced a perfect draft, the tight end you drafted in the middle of Round 4 -- third off the board at his position -- drops a goose egg in your matchup. Making matters worse, you lose your Week 1 game by 0.4 points and said tight end scored zero Fantasy points despite his real team putting up 59 on the scoreboard.
If reading that felt too much like a personal anecdote to you, that's because it was. But does that mean we should just abandon ship on Colston Loveland, treat him like a wasted draft pick, and sell him off to the first manager who started any tight end who scored double digits in Week 1? It also doesn't mean we should just forget about what happened.
Week 1 can provide important context for how to move forward in our Fantasy Football seasons. On Fantasy Football Today, Adam Aizer, Jamey Eisenberg, and Heath Cummings dove into the Week 1 performances that alarmed Fantasy managers the most and brought back a fan favorite recurring segment -- the worry-o-meter! It's clear that no one on FFT is worried about Loveland right now.
As Adam mentioned on the Beyond the Boxscore Monday show, Loveland still has an extremely high average route depth, the Bears are a run-heavy team, and Loveland has yet to be targeted on a designed screen, but the Chicago offensive upside trumps all of it. They will be scoring points this year and while Loveland might be a bit volatile, he'll be the benefactor more weeks than not. Adam believes he doesn't look like the same player, and the average separation data backs that up.
Per Fantasy Points data, only one eligible wide receiver created less separation on a per-snap basis than Rice in Week 1. Rice had just an 8.1-yard average route depth, and he is usually around 6 yards. This was the second-highest average route depth of his career.
He played less in the slot (25% rate and he's usually around 40%). He was used differently, and a more downfield role doesn't fit his skill set. Rice only had two targets in the game.
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