Was it really wrong to be so harsh on Saquon Barkley for injuries he really had no control of? He was being drafted as a 2nd round RB in some leagues, (late 1st round if someone was really drinking that kool-aid). How will Dak's injury affect his teammates? Michael Thomas is going to punish us for fading his rankings early on? Before we get over-excited and caught up in all the trends of data for week 1's small sample size, let's take a deep breath and calm down... SHANK! Oh no, there's another kicker who missed a game winning field goal! Where are we with everything? Find out in this week's version of ups and downs.

Upward

Curtis Samuel. Curtis needs to be owned in all leagues after this week. He had 11 targets with 8 receptions 55 yards and 1 TD. I understand that Jahan Dotson looked very good as a rookie with the 2 TD catches, but he was targeted just 3 times. It is evident to me that Ron Rivera wants to involve Curtis Samuel as a utility "poor man's Deebo Samuel" type player. I wouldn't go breaking the bank, but he is worthy of a sprinkle from your FAAB this week, up to 15-20% of your budget if you are really thin.

Saquon Barkley. There was so much hype, even from Saquon himself ("People are trying to write me off. ... You know what? F-k everybody. I'm ready to go Crazy), that I was fully expecting for him to falter this year and fade into the sunset ala the Michael Turner route or any other guy who's been completely overworked. 18 attempts for 164 yards against the top seed in the AFC last year. But this isn't the only good news, to the eye test, he looks fast again. Maybe he just needed some time to catch up again after the slew of injuries he had recently. Respectfully, pumping the brakes as much as I could, I think I'm back in on King Quon.

Kirk Cousins. The MVP candidate (as Michael Irvin put it) chucked two passes to Justin Jefferson for TDs. There's something more glamorous about owning Cousins to me this year. The weapons are basically the same as last year, with Irv Smith (sorta) healthy and in the mix. I believe they will call more pass plays with Coach O'Connell and be more aggressive. Cousins is a good quarterback, he just needs someone to keep calling the plays aggressively and I think he could be great. I'm feeling better rolling him out as a low-end QB1 every week moving forward right now.

Neutral

Michael Thomas. I joined a dynasty league where I inherited Michael Thomas, and my dream was trading him after a great game, because I don't think he is good as he once was and he is consistently hurt with nagging injuries. While he did not log many yards, he did in fact catch two touchdowns, and immediately my patience is being tested. As of right now, I'm staying put. I think most people, like me are still skeptical about his ability to stay healthy and perform with Winston, who is often very erratic. But if some owner wants to sell me some picks for next year (in a strong draft class), I'm all ears! It's like selling a stock that is going back up. How long do you wait until you hit sell? If you are too greedy, you're going to get burnt and lose some value. It's inevitable.

DeVonta Smith. It's all good, bro. Sure, he may have cost you a week 1 win to begin the season with that goose egg, but he still got 4 targets. A.J. Brown had a ridiculous debut with the Eagles. He wasn't respected properly in week 1. This is going to change as the season progresses. Coverage for Smith will open up as Hurts continues through his progressions. Definitely don't dump him for a dime on the dollar. Patience is key. He still has a very favorable schedule, including playing the passing defense of Dallas, New York Giants and the Commanders twice.

Downward

All kickers. Seriously, if you are still running kicker in your fantasy football league, I feel nothing for the pain you may have felt this weekend, especially if you have silly rules set like negative points for missed extra points or field goals. Do yourself a favor and get rid of them. You will get blowback from the traditional "boomer" fantasy football player that was born and raised with David Akers as a staple of their fantasy team growing up, but screw that guy. Whether you'd like to admit it or not, more teams are overlooking their kicker because of analytics. The Dolphins would've had a very long FG attempt or a short punt to pin down the Pats deep this week on 4th and 7 and they opted to go for it instead. Somehow, the play resulted in a touchdown, which is almost Washington Commanders level of bad (who were notorious to let up huge plays on 3rd and long last year). Brian Daboll goes for 2 points instead of 1 at the end of the game... botched red zone TD attempts for the Broncos, uncertainty that Tyler Bass, who has one of the best legs in the league, even lines up once to kick a field goal in games. The fact is, life is hard on a kicker right now. Chip shot XPs used to be automatic. You would have never heard of a coach going for it on 4th and 5 in the red zone before the 2nd half. It's insanely frustrating to deal with kickers now due to circumstances out of your control (but is any of fantasy football in our control anyway?). If they are being drafted all in the last round, that means your league probably wouldn't mind getting rid of them, so you should take a vote on it and see where the league stands. Think of the excitement of replacing that with another FLEX position, for example.

Trey Lance. It's still too early to say that Trey Lance is a bust, but I'm getting there. Even when he came in last year as the starter when Jimmy G was hurt, he sort of underwhelmed. The narrative we frequently hear is that he could be a "league winner" with his rushing upside. However, if he is really struggling in the passing department, the odds of him getting benched become greater and greater. He will no longer become viable as a starter on your fantasy team if he is not a starter on the 49ers roster, obviously. Although I am hesitant, I will still give Lance a few more games to get it together. I have a very short leash though. His passing completion percentage is just shy of 55% in his career. However, if he wants "league winning" upside, I need to see consistent 20+ point performances from him. Right now, it's tough to trust him for more than 10.

Zeke. Sadly, I think things are going to get really tough for Zeke for the next few weeks without Dak. He already was battling carries with Pollard, but if the passing game is abysmal he probably could be benched until Dak comes back. Unfortunately, I thought Dallas would be solid enough to make him a good pick, even undervalued as people seemed to overvalue Pollard in most leagues, and they were both on the field at the same time in some formations anyway. In 11 career games without Dak, Zeke has averaged just 60.5 rushing yards a game and roughly 17.1 receiving yards per game, and this was mostly as a workhorse bell-cow before Pollard cut into his snaps. This is insanely lower than WITH Dak in his career (86.8 rushing yards per game and 26.3 receiving yards per game). Since the snap count was nearly even, I would trade Zeke for a slight "decrease" of RB any chance I got. Let's say if a pessimistic Cordarrelle Patterson owner put him on the trade block, you better believe I'm dangling Zeke out there for him. Seriously, I'm that much out on Zeke now. Unfortunately, you're probably not going to find a sucker to take Zeke's value seriously and trading him now will get you next to nothing.