Week 1 is like that first college party where you think you know how the whole semester’s gonna play out. Spoiler alert: you don’t. But here’s the beautiful thing about fantasy football managers: they panic faster than a rookie quarterback facing his first blitz.
If you’ve been around the fantasy block long enough, you know that Week 1 overreactions are as predictable as a Patriots fourth-quarter comeback used to be. Your league mates are already hitting the panic button harder than a coach calling a timeout with 12 men on the field. That’s your golden opportunity right there.
I’ve seen Joe Burrow throw for 8.1 fantasy points in Week 1 last season, and guess what? The man still finished as a top-10 quarterback. Chase Brown put up a measly 5.3 points to start 2024 and ended up being a fantasy darling by season’s end. The moral of the story? Don’t let one week fool you into making moves you’ll regret come playoff time.
Smart Buy-Low Targets That Could Be League Winners
Kenneth Walker III – The Seattle Setback
Man, watching Walker stumble to 24 total yards on 13 touches had to hurt worse than watching your favorite team blow a 28-3 lead. But before you write him off, let’s talk about context: something fantasy managers love to ignore when they’re in panic mode.
Walker missed significant preseason time with an injury, which explains why he only saw 57% of early-down snaps. This isn’t about Zach Charbonnet suddenly becoming the next great thing; it’s about getting a proven commodity back up to full speed. When healthy, Walker has shown he can be a legitimate RB1, and that ceiling is worth buying into right now.
The Seahawks didn’t forget how to use Walker overnight. They’re just being smart with a guy who’s crucial to their offensive success. If someone’s selling him because of one bad week, you need to be the buyer in that conversation.
A.J. Brown – The Philadelphia Phantom
Thursday night football did A.J. Brown dirty, and fantasy managers are feeling some type of way about it. Zero targets until the fourth quarter? A goose egg on the win rate chart? That’s not the A.J. Brown we know, and more importantly, it’s not the A.J. Brown that Jalen Hurts has been connecting with for big plays.
Sometimes the game script just doesn’t cooperate. The Eagles were running the ball effectively, the defense was playing well enough, and Dallas actually showed up to play defense (I know, shocking). But talent doesn’t disappear overnight, and Brown’s track record speaks louder than one Thursday night disaster.
This is exactly the kind of situation where a frustrated manager might be willing to move an elite receiver for 70 cents on the dollar. Don’t let them come to their senses before you make your move.
High-Value Sell Opportunities Before Reality Hits
Javonte Williams – The Touchdown Mirage
Twenty-point fantasy performances will make you feel like a genius, but let’s pump the brakes on the Javonte Williams celebration parade. Those two touchdown runs were beautiful, sure, but 3.6 yards per carry tells a different story than the final stat line.
Williams has been struggling with efficiency since 2022, and touchdown-dependent running backs are about as reliable as weather forecasts in April. Add in the fact that rookie Jaydon Blue was inactive, and you’re looking at a backfield situation that’s going to get more complicated, not less.
If someone in your league is ready to treat Williams like a set-and-forget RB1 based on Week 1, take that trade and run faster than Williams wishes he could.
Zay Flowers – The Sunday Night Sensation
Sunday Night Football has a way of making players look like superstars under those bright lights, and Zay Flowers certainly sparkled with 28.1 fantasy points. But here’s the reality check: that Bills-Ravens game turned into a track meet with 81 combined points. That’s not happening every Sunday.
Flowers is talented, no question about it, but he’s playing in an offense that loves to run the ball with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. When the Ravens defense is shutting teams down (which they usually do), there just aren’t enough passing opportunities to keep Flowers consistently involved.
This feels like his ceiling game, and if someone’s ready to value him as a high-end WR2 based on one explosive performance, you should be ready to make that deal.
The Bottom Line on Week 2 Trades
Fantasy football is a marathon, not a sprint, but some of your league mates are treating Week 1 like it’s the finish line. The smart money is on buying proven talent that had bad matchups or unlucky breaks, while selling players whose big games might not be as repeatable as they look on paper.
Remember, the managers who win championships are the ones who stay calm when others are panicking and who can spot the difference between a bad week and a bad player. Week 2 is your chance to be that manager.
Don’t overthink this: trust the process, trust the talent, and trust that good players will bounce back from bad weeks. Your future self will thank you when you’re holding playoff-winning players that you got for pennies on the dollar because someone else couldn’t handle one week of disappointment.
