Fantasy Football: Week one dudes, duds, and deceivers

DeSean Jackson, Wide Receiver, Philadelphia Eagles

Welcome back to Philly DeSean Jackson! Even at 32 years old, the speedy receiver hasn’t lost a step. DJax continued to fly by the Redskins defense on his way to 154 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches and 35.4 PPR fantasy points.

After an early 17-0 deficit, the Eagles threw their way back into the game, ultimately coming out on top. We’ve seen this type of performance out of Jackson everywhere that he has played, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he put up these kinds of numbers.

Carson Wentz should be ecstatic to have a deep threat like Jackson who can really take the top off of the defense and open up things underneath for his favorite targets from a year ago, Zach Ertz and Alshon Jeffery. Jeffery hauled in two touchdowns of his own on Sunday, so clearly the Eagles passing attack is already clicking.

Now the game situation probably had a lot to do with the high production and targets for Jackson. I wouldn’t expect quite as lofty of a performance from him on a weekly basis, but with his big play ability, it only takes a catch or two to have a top fantasy day.

They may not always be playing from behind and there are a lot of mouths to feed in that Philly offense, but Jackson clearly has already carved out a role as a top option for Wentz. He was even battling through a hand injury this week that should only get better with time. Jackson is a deep threat that can score anytime he touches the ball and should prove to be a steal at his WR48 ADP even in PPR.

Lamar Jackson, Quarterback, Baltimore Ravens

All offseason people questioned how much Lamar Jackson would improve as a passer heading into his sophomore season. As Jackson wittily stated post-game, he threw “not bad for a running back.”

Obviously, coming into the league many evaluators questioned Jackson’s ability as a true pocket passer with some even suggesting a position change. Jackson showed this week that he is a quarterback and a pretty darn good one at that. Even going back to the end of last season, it was clear that Lamar was improving as a passer, but still relied a lot on his legs. This week was all arm.

Unfortunately, I feel the need to qualify his stat line before listing it, as he was going against the underwhelming Miami Dolphins. But Jackson still showed up and showed out, putting up 324 passing yards and an incredible five passing touchdowns on just 17 attempts.

With just three in-completions and three rushing attempts, Jackson took a huge step towards earning the respect of people across the league as a true pass-first quarterback.

Again, this was against a Dolphins team that Baltimore defeated 59-10, so you don’t want to get too excited, but this is what Jackson needed to do. No matter the defense, throwing pinpoint deep balls and squeezing the ball into tight windows perfectly into the receiving pocket of his targets takes skill.

Those were the things that were in question for Jackson, and Sunday should go a long way to proving those doubters wrong.

If you grabbed Jackson as a low-end starter or even a back-up quarterback in your league you should be very pleased with what you saw. You likely drafted Jackson primarily because of his ability to run the ball, and that hasn’t gone away. He still possesses that potential but has now also shown his potential to hang with the best of the best through the air as well.

Obviously he won’t be facing a *not* tanking Miami team every week, so certainly don’t expect five touchdowns every week. But with his versatility, Jackson should be a very solid starting option every single week going forward.

Jackson has another favorable match-up this week, going against a Cardinals defense that made Matthew Stafford a top-four quarterback. It will be interesting to see how he fares against a more stout defense in the coming weeks, but Jackson’s incredibly high ceiling and rising floor make him a very valuable fantasy asset going forward.