With the first full Sunday of fantasy football under our belts, it’s time to start digging into the data to get an edge over your league mates and begin to adjust your fantasy roster to maximize with the players you have! The most important area of the field for any fantasy asset is what they’re doing in the red zone, and this season I’ll be taking a weekly look at how players at each position performed and what trends we can take out of the data!
As we get more data from week to week, we’ll take a look at who is getting the much-needed attention near paydirt!
To take a closer look, make use of the interactive Red Zone Report over at Footclan HQ!
Note data is current through Sunday night games from Week 1.
Red Zone Rushing
Let’s kick things off with those always valuable red zone rushing attempts:
How can we not talk about the fantasy production that Josh Allen put up in Week 1 against the Ravens? While it’s nothing new for Allen to have carries around the goal line, what’s worth noting here is the eight red zone carries that Allen had in the Bills’ comeback win on Sunday night. That’s the most red zone carries Allen has had in a single game in his entire career. Maybe more importantly, Allen outpaced James Cook in red zone touches, which could always be a concern for some TD regression if some of those touches go elsewhere. While the Bills won’t be in an epic shootout every week, this type of usage is too great not to mention.
It’s interesting to see Braelon Allen’s name above Breece Hall’s on this list to start the season, especially after an offseason of concerns around exactly how Hall will be used in this offense. Allen was the RB called on inside the 10 and got a TD out of it, but ended with just 6.9 fantasy points on the day. On the other hand, Hall finished as the RB7 without getting into the endzone. While it’s just one week, Allen may carry some value going forward if he remains the preferred RB inside the 20 for the Jets.
Another RB room that was filled with uncertainty all summer may be settling itself out earlier than expected, with Travis Etienne taking 64% of the RB carries in Week 1 for the Jaguars. Etienne totaled 143 rushing yards in Jacksonville’s season opener while Tank Bigsby and rookie Bhayshul Tuten combined for 23 rushing yards on the day. More importantly, Etienne was the RB the Jags looked to in the red zone, with Etienne’s four carries to Bigsby’s one leading the way. If Etienne maintains the stronghold on the RB workload for Jacksonville, he could be one of the steals of drafts this season.
Would it even be a complete Week 1 without mentioning BILL?! Jacory Croskey-Merritt got a real shot at work with the Commanders’ offense against the Giants, seeing more total opportunities (11) than Austin Ekeler (9), though he didn’t catch his one target on the day. What’s exciting about BILL’s season-opening performance was the carries he saw inside the 20, one of which ended in his first career TD. Even if the split between JCM and Ekeler stays more of a split, if Croskey-Merritt can show he’s a consistent threat around the goal line, similar to what Brian Robinson was last season, there could be consistent fantasy value here with lots of upside going forward.
Before moving on, here’s the full breakdown of the red zone carries for Week 1:
Red Zone Receiving
Moving on to red zone targets, here’s a look at the top 25 for Week 1:
Starting at the top, maybe one of the surprises for targets in the red zone was the Patriots’ Demario Douglas. Coming into Week 1, Douglas had a total of 11 red zone targets in his previous two seasons combined, so getting three looks from Drake Maye in the season opener could be a bit of an anomaly. While Douglas did grab the lone TD on the day for New England, he still only finished with 7.2 fantasy points and a total of -2 yards. It’s likely this is just a flash in the pan to open the season, but Douglas is a name worth checking in on over the next few weeks.
Speaking of a team needing a WR to emerge, Keon Coleman’s performance on Sunday night should be turning some heads for fantasy managers. Coleman reeled in a career-high eight receptions in Week 1 and is currently the WR2 on the week heading into Monday night. While Coleman only has two red zone targets registered, it’s worth noting that typically targets on two-point conversions don’t qualify in this statistic, and Coleman was the target on a pair of two-point tries for the Bills Sunday night. After a disappointing rookie season, Coleman could be the waiver wire pick-up for the week at WR.
There has been plenty of speculation about how the targets in San Francisco would be distributed with the departure of Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk injured to start the season, but Ricky Pearsall’s opening week feels like it delivered on some of the offseason hype. The 49ers threw the ball 9 times inside the 20 against the Seahawks, and while neither of Brock Purdy’s two red zone TDs went to Pearsall, there should have been a third that was broken up before the ball could get to the second-year WR. Pearsall has seen six red zone targets in his last four games, going back to Week 16 of last season, that’s one more than George Kittle during that stretch. While they aren’t earth-shattering numbers, it’s a strong start for a second-year WR that fantasy managers feel can take a big step forward.
Here’s the full breakdown of targets inside the 20 from Week 1: