Welcome to the weekly Fantasy Notebook, the must-stop spot for keeping your finger on the pulse of Fantasy Nation. NFL news and developments drive fantasy values. The Notebook is here to keep you in the loop on all of it throughout the season -- and into the offseason.
Pointsapalooza!
The NFL had a little something for us in Week 1. A gift, if you will, for the fantasy football world.
Sunday's 13 games averaged 53.3 points, the highest-scoring Week 1 Sunday in league history, per NFL Research. While Monday night's game came up a little short with 41 total points, six games on Sunday saw at least 60 combined points -- with one setting a new bar.
With 96 points between the two teams, Sunday's Bears-Panthers shootout was the highest-scoring Week 1 game in NFL history. It beat the previous record of 88 combined points in 2018 (Bucs 48, Saints 40).
But there was another interesting development, especially for fantasy managers, as the league seems to be going . . .
Back to the Feature!
There was a time, and I'm totally dating myself here, when true feature backs roamed the gridiron like dinosaurs ruled the prehistoric lands. But just like their reptilian ancestors, workhorse running backs mostly vanished as the game evolved in recent years.
So much so that Zero Running Back draft strategies -- passing on the position until Round 5 or later -- made sense.
But this year, we've seen a shift. Featured runners are back in a big way. Let's review . . .
All the Gibbs and Then Some
On August 26, I asked Tim Twentyman, who writes for the Lions' official website, what we should expect from Jahmyr Gibbs this season.
"Yeah, I think there's another level coming," Twentyman said in a tone that suggested he might have been understating his true belief.
Fast forward to last Sunday . . . After a career-high 29 carries for 156 rushing yards and two touchdowns -- to go with five receptions for 30 receiving yards -- Gibbs said he felt "fine" physically after the team's regular-season opener against the Saints.
He also forced 12 missed tackles, the most in any game of his career.
Gibbs' second TD marked his 51st score in 50 career games, making him the sixth player in NFL history to reach at least 50 touchdowns in 50 or fewer games.
The sea of reporters around Gibbs' locker after Detroit's 31-30 win left him briefly startled.
"Whoa," Gibbs said.
There were questions about his heavy workload as he embraces his new role this season with David Montgomery now in Houston.
Gibbs told the assembled scribes that he could've had 40 touches if needed.
Currently, he's on pace for a remarkable 578 touches (the record is 492 by James Wilder in 1984).
Could He Really Do More?
Lions coach Dan Campbell, meanwhile, believes there's room for more.
"I thought it was a very promising Week 1," Campbell said. "Certainly, we know what Gibbs is, what he's capable of, and he's still not there yet. And I mean that in a good way."
What more could Gibbs do?
Campbell said that on a day when Gibbs' longest run was 21 yards, he's capable of breaking some much longer runs than that.
"We were this close to breaking three or four more of these, breaking them wide open," Campbell said. "A shoestring away, just a little longer block at the second level. I mean, we were close, and we're going to get that cleaned up, and he's going to get better."
Campbell is not looking for Gibbs to get 29 carries a game for 17 games. That would be 493 carries for the season, which would be the second-most in NFL history. But Campbell said he's happy to keep feeding Gibbs the rock.
Fantasy investors who got an RB1 finish on 35.6 points in Week 1 will be fine with that.
The End Might Be Near, But We're Not There Yet
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Ravens running back Derrick Henry moved into third place on the NFL's all-time rushing touchdowns list by scoring three times against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
Henry reached 125 career rushing touchdowns on runs of 4 and 32 yards in the first half and a 3-yard rush in the third quarter, moving him past Marcus Allen (123).
He now trails only Emmitt Smith (164) and LaDainian Tomlinson (145).
This marked Henry's 33rd career game with two or more touchdown runs, which is the most in the NFL since 2016.
He also passed receiver Marvin Harrison for ninth all-time with 130 total touchdowns, putting him one behind Cris Carter at eighth.
Oh, and he led all running backs in the early window, rushing for 144 yards on 24 carries. He also caught one pass for 19 yards in the Ravens' dominating 41-23 victory.
The result was an RB2 overall finish with 35.3 points.
Why Didn't We See It Coming?
As I watched Henry go late in the second round -- as RB12 -- in drafts just before the season started, I felt we were undervaluing him.
Clearly, Henry's age -- he's 32 and will turn 33 just days before this year's regular-season finale -- had us dialing back.
It shouldn't have.
Sunday was Henry's 26th game with more than 100 yards rushing and multiple touchdowns, which moved him past Jim Brown for the most in NFL history.
It's fair to believe it won't be his last.
Why?
Because Henry's workload is unlikely to change. Before the season, new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle wouldn't commit to Henry getting over 300 carries for a third straight year but indicated Henry would have "an immense role."
As ESPN.com's Ken Bowen noted, Henry had some runway to get rolling on in this one. There was open daylight in Doyle's new run scheme to get north/south with the ball.
Give the Ravens' revamped O-line some love: Henry finished with 110 yards before contact against the Colts, the third-highest single-game total of his career.
He was hit at the line of scrimmage on just 8.3 percent of his carries, the lowest rate of his Ravens career.
For a 32-year-old -- even an apparently superhuman 32-year-old -- with the kind of mileage Henry has racked up over the past 10 seasons (including more than 300 carries in five of the last seven seasons), every little bit helps.
Walker This Way
At the risk of drawing a stream of "Captain Obvious" comments, Ken Walker III, the reigning Super Bowl MVP who joined the Chiefs in March, was stellar in his Kansas City debut.
As ESPN.com's Nate Taylor suggested, Monday's outcome was exactly what the Chiefs wanted from their offense, as Patrick Mahomes II made his much-anticipated return from the surgery that repaired the torn ACL and LCL in his left knee, an injury that occurred Dec. 14.
"In 26 touches," Taylor wrote, "in a variety of ways, Walker ran through, around and past the Broncos for an outstanding performance, finishing with 191 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns."
For the record, Walker converted on four short-yardage situations, including a 60-yard touchdown on fourth-and-inches early in the third quarter. He became just the third player since 2000 with at least 100 rushing yards in his Chiefs debut, joining Kareem Hunt (148 yards in 2017) and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (138 yards in 2020).
And once the dust settled Monday night, Walker had 34.1 fantasy points, good for an RB3 finish on the week.
Is It Sustainable?
The Chiefs haven't had a 1,000-yard rusher since Hunt in 2017, the last season Mahomes wasn't a starter.
NFL.com's Grant Gordon reminded readers that while Walker won the Super Bowl's top individual honor, he did so because his former Seahawks teammate Zach Charbonnet was injured. For the majority of 2025, Walker split carries.
Though the Chiefs surprisingly ran roughshod over the Broncos' defense with rookie Emmett Johnson and Mahomes also chipping in here and there, this was Walker's night, and a message was clear:
The Chiefs are going to run the ball, and Walker is going to get the lion's share of that workload.
The Dual Threat
According to SB Nation's Bill Williamson, "We all could see this coming."
Last year, as a rookie, Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty showed prowess as a receiver out of the backfield as he had 55 catches and five touchdown catches. This offseason, new head coach Klint Kubiak stated that the goal was to get the No. 6 overall pick in last year's draft very involved in the receiving game.
And it showed in the very first game. Jeanty had two receiving touchdowns in a win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
It was the second game in which he had multiple receiving touchdowns.
He is just the second running back since the 1970 merger to accomplish the feat in his first 20 games of his career, according to the Raiders' PR department.
Raising the Ceiling
Jeanty generated 147 scrimmage yards on Sunday: 102 of them came on the ground with the other 45 coming through the air (a team high). He had 73 rushing yards after contact, the third-most in his career. His three runs of 10-plus yards tied for the second-most in a game in his career.
And he finished the week as RB4 with 32.7 fantasy points.
Pretty good for a player who suffered an ankle injury three weeks ago.