Breakout/Fakeout Week 2: Lions, Titans and Helaire, Oh My!

Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books and there were wacky performances throughout the league. The Packers had another opening-game dud, while the Steelers and Bengals game was a wild ride.

One theme of the opening week of the fantasy season is to never overreact to Week 1. We’re going to dive into some of the best fantasy performances from the opening week.

BreakOuts

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Michael Pittman Jr., WR (IND)

Heading into the season, there was a great deal of hype surrounding the third-year receiver and he didn’t disappoint in Week 1 against the Houston Texans.

Pittman Jr. caught nine of his 13 targets for 121 yards and a touchdown in his first game with quarterback Matt Ryan. Pittman played roughly 98 percent of the snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

Pittman posted an 88-1,082-6 line in 2021, but his start in 2022 shows his potential to smash those numbers.

D’Andre Swift, RB (DET)

To the surprise of few, Lions’ running back D’Andre Swift started the season on a high note with his performance Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Swift carried the ball 15 times for 144 yards and a touchdown. He caught all three of his targets for 31 yards. That performance landed Swift as the RB3 in Week 1, according to Fantasy Pros PPR scoring. He played 68 percent of the snaps compared to 33 percent from Jamal Williams, according to PFF. Williams had 12 touches and scored two short-yardage touchdowns compared to Swift’s 18 total touches.

Health and Jamaal Williams vulturing goal-line touchdown seem to be the only factors that would stop Swift from reaching his ceiling in fantasy. Even with Williams being a fixture in the Lions’ offense, Swift is poised to have his best season yet, barring health.

Christian Kirk, WR (JAX)

New Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Christian Kirk had a solid debut in the team’s loss against the Commanders. Kirk finished tied for WR 19 on the week with Miami’s Jaylen Waddle. Kirk caught six of his team-high 12 targets for 117 yards.

Kirk has firmly established himself as the WR 1 on Jacksonville and he has built the trust of quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Zay Jones was second on the team with nine targets.

Kirk’s change of scenery firmly puts him on the WR3 radar with WR2 potential depending on how prolific the Jaguar offense can be.

FakeOuts

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Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB (KC)

The good news: Clyde Edwards-Helaire scored two touchdowns and finished as the RB6 for the week. The bad news is: It is not sustainable.

CEH had 10 total touches and turned it into two touchdowns, both coming in the receiving game. His two receiving touchdowns in the Chiefs’ win over the Cardinals match his receiving touchdown total for all of 2021. The Chiefs like to use a ton of running backs so expect CEH’s touch total to linger around where he was last Sunday.

This is the perfect time to possibly sell high on CEH before he comes crashing back down to earth against the Chargers on Thursday night.

O.J. Howard, TE (HOU)

Howard caught both of his targets for 38 yards and two touchdowns to finish as TE2 after a disappointing Week 1 from many of the top tight ends.

It was good to see Howard on the field in producing but the problem is that the production came in such a limited role. Howard played 12 snaps and ran six routes. Brevin Jordan played 40 snaps and ran 24 routes with two targets as well. Jordan is still the starting tight end for Houston.

Howard can be viewed as a touchdown-dependent option if you’re really desperate in a given week.

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Dontrell Hilliard, RB (TEN)

In his role as Derrick Henry’s backup, Hilliard outscored Henry 21.9 to 8.2, according to Fantasy Pros. Hilliard had five total touches and turned it into two touchdowns and an RB7 finish on the week.

Hilliard caught three of his four targets for 61 yards and two scores in the team’s loss to the Giants. Hilliard played about 18 percent of the snaps, only three total snaps more than rookie Hassan Haskins, according to PFF.

Haskins could take the backup job from Hilliard later in the season. As of now, Hilliard should be added as Henry’s handcuff but nothing more.

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