Welcome to Week 2 of the 2026 Footballguys Roundtable. Our intrepid panel of fantasy pundits discusses and debates four topics every week. We split the conversation into separate features.
This week's roundtable features these four topics:
- Week 1 Thrills and Horrors
- Biggest Quarterback Outliers
- Biggest Wide Receiver Outliers
- De'Von Achane and Omarion Hampton
Let's roll...
Matt Waldman: Give me one player whose performance/situation has you thrilled, and you're bordering on unreasonable optimism. Then, give me one player whose performance/situation has you horrified, and you're bordering on unreasonable pessimism.
Phil Alexander: We had to wait about five years to see what it would look like if the Chiefs ever gave one running back both the Jerick McKinnon role and the Clyde Edwards-Helaire/Isiah Pacheco role. Andy Reid and company let Ken Walker III handle both jobs on Monday night, and it was as glorious as expected.
Walker led all running backs with 14 missed tackles forced in Week 1, on his way to 173 yards and a touchdown against a tough Broncos rush defense. The best part for fantasy was a 22 percent share of Kansas City's targets in the passing game, which included a McKinnon-esque touchdown catch on a two-yard shovel pass from Patrick Mahomes II.
If you drafted Walker as your RB1, congratulations. If he's your RB2, you have my permission to begin route-planning for your championship parade.
Colston Loveland ran more routes than any other Chicago pass-catcher in Week 1. Caleb Williams missed him on what should have been a touchdown. But anyone who tells you they're not unnerved by Loveland's opening-game goose egg in a 59-point Bears performance is either lying or has never played fantasy football before.
Waldman: I've never played fantasy football before because I am not lying when I say that Caleb Williams missed Loveland on a few passes and STILL the Bears scored 59 points. This is going to be a juggernaut offense. Are you concerned about Ja'Marr Chase? They're essentially the same type of players at their respective positions.
Alexander: Ha! There are plenty of reasons not to be unreasonably pessimistic yet. Loveland is still the same player Tom Brady called Mini-Gronk. His peripherals check out. And tight end is a high-variance position. I just want folks out there to know it's OK to feel aghast, appalled, visibly shaken, and utterly broken by the sight of Loveland's Week 1 box score.
Waldman: Fair!
Jeff Blaylock: Ken Walker III's debut with the Chiefs was not only electric but also transformative. As Jason notes, the Chiefs have not had a 1,000-yard rusher in nearly a decade and have instead relied heavily on Patrick Mahomes II's arm. Walker gives Andy Reid's offense a balance it has been missing
g. Kansas City has been among the top three pass-heaviest teams in three of the past four seasons and top 10 in the other one. Against Denver, they ran more often than Mahomes dropped back to pass. Walker averaged just over 14 carries per game over his 4-year career in Seattle. He had 23 on Monday night.
My optimism might be unreasonable because Walker has never had more than 230 carries or 255 touches in a season. I expect his usage to be reined in as the season wears on, and he will drop behind other bellcow backs in fantasy points as a result.
Kyle Pitts Sr. was targeted just once and scored zero fantasy points. Yes, third-stringer Cooper Rush was locked onto Bijan Robinson the whole game, but Pitts was invisible.
He was on the field for 63 percent of the team's snaps and ran just 20 routes. In 2025, he played 87.5 percent of snaps while averaging 30 routes and nearly seven targets per game. Week 1 more closely mirrored his 2024 usage, when he played just over 60 percent of snaps and averaged 23.8 routes per game.
Pitts was the fantasy TE15 in PPR formats that season. Perhaps my expectation that he would be a mid-TE1 this season was unreasonable, but he looked nothing like an elite-adjacent tight end against the Steelers.