NOTE: Any rankings appearing before names in this edition refer to ESPN power rankings, not my own rankings nor the actual fantasy standings. Additionally, last week’s ranking will be used to recap the below matchups, and the new rankings will be used near the bottom where the Power Rankings and the preview for this week’s matchups are.

Managers, the first week of action has concluded! And there were some high-scoring affairs. Let's see what happened.

Matchup of the week
#10 Luke (0-1) 108.3 - 130.54 #7 Mohit (1-0)

After a rough season last year where his players just couldn't score enough points, Mohit's team flips the script in Week 1 this season with 130 points! And it was led by the second-highest scoring player in fantasy this week: Derrick Henry with 38.3 points! #1 overall pick Bijan Robinson was not far behind with 31.3 points. And Nico Collins added on with 21.2 points. The massive output from the trio was able to overcome some sleazy performances like Luther Burden III with 9.5, Terry McLaurin with 3.4 points, and Bo Nix with 5.44 points. If Mohit's team can be consistently led with his runningbacks like they did this week, he can have high hopes this season. But, it can't always be like that and he'll need to have more production from the rest of his team going forward.

It can't always go your way, and that was the case with Luke. After a successful run all the way to the championship game this season before falling short last season, he had some critical duds this week. Let's start with JaMarr Chase only dropping 3.2 points despite the Bengals scoring 33 points. Or how about Jake Ferguson with a whopping 2.6 points! The Chargers D/ST couldn't handle the Cardinals, bringing them down to 0! The others were average, and the only redeeming part of this week for Luke was De'Andre Swift dropping 35.4 points and Chase Brown with 18.8. And worst of all, Luke could've made this a competitive game going into Monday night if he had started Christian Watson over JaMarr, who scored an amazing 35.7 points. But who's really going to do that! It's more of just a bad beat in that situation. Nothing to be concerned about though, it's a long season.

#2 Caden (0-1) 90.86 - 134.76 #9 Isaac (1-0)

There were some ups and some downs for Isaac's team this week, but the ups outweighed the downs! The promising Ashton Jeanty had 35.7 points. Justin Jefferson (despite losing his starting quarterback Kyler Murray early in the game) reminded everyone of who he was, dropping 31.2 points. And Bucky Irving had 20.3. Those players made up for 64.7% of Isaac's points. On the flip side, despite the Bears dropping almost 60 points, Colston Loveland had a DONUT! Devonta Smith and Quinshon Judkins only combined for 15.3 points. But hey, thanks to Caden's performance, it really didn't matter!

Not the greatest way to start the season for Caden. He had the lowest point total this season, with only 90.86 points. The highest scorer on his team was Jayden Daniels with 17.66. Everyone else had pretty subpar performances. However, the waiver claims after week 1 are important, and it's expected that Caden will use his #1 waiver claim to supplement his team that's in need of shaking up. And on that note, because Caden scored the least amount of points this week, he will have to answer to the press this week (which will be found on @benfantasyfootball on Instagram this year)!

#3 Johnny (1-0) 148.96 - 131.46 #6 Ava (0-1)

This one was a thriller. And it came down to Monday Night Football. For Johnny, Jahmyr Gibbs (who fell to #2) came up big with 36.6 points! And the guy that Johnny has been harping on, Chris Olave, exceeded expectations with 31.2. But because of duds like George Pickens only dropping 5.8, the Texans D/ST with -4. and Justin Herbert with 13.26, he was down against Ava heading into Monday. But then the savior arrived: Kenneth Walker III exploded for 37.1 points and delivered Johnny the win. This was the highest scoring affair this week. His draft night is proving to be effective so far.

Ava may have thought she was in good hands Monday night before the game unfolded. And unfortunately, despite having a strong performance, Kenneth Walker III had other plans. She had the highest scoring player in fantasy this week: Josh Allen with 38.66. The tight end Dallas Goedert also exploded with 23.7. And Javonte Williams had a great game with 24.2. But unfortunately, some of the actual stars on her team failed to deliver big performances. James Cook III only had 9.9, Omarion Hampton with 8.3, Rome Odunze with 7.2, Tetairoa McMillan with 10.5, etc. But this is how Fantasy Football goes sometimes. You put up big numbers just for the other team to put up even bigger numbers. Like I always say, these are the types of weeks where you just tip your cap to the other manager and move on. Nothing to be concerned about.

#1 Eric (0-1) 113.12 - 120.36 #4 Sudais (1-0)

This was the closest matchup this week, and Sudais comes out on top by 7 points. It started with a double-edged sword for Sudais. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 29.2 points Thursday night, but in that same game, A.J Brown had 5.6 points before getting injured and not returning. He's expected to miss around 6 weeks now. However, he got great performances from Lamar Jackson (27.96) and Jonathan Taylor (25.1). Kyren Wiliams added on with 15.5. They were able to overcome bad performances by Marvin Harrison Jr. (4.3), Harold Fannin Jr. (4.1), and the Browns D/ST with -1. He was able to get a win this week, but the big question is how does he handle replacing A.J Brown?

Eric came close but ultimately did not get enough from Rashee Rice Monday night to get the job done (it was instead his teammate K9 going off), only getting 9.9 points. Trey McBride had 24.5 and DJ Moore had 24. Jalen Hurts also had 24.72. But that's the extent of good news this week for Eric. Christian McCaffrey only had 13.8, Drake London only had 5.5, and Brandon Aubrey had 2. And after losing Josh Jacobs to suspension, the play of putting in his handcuff MarShawn Lloyd did not pay off at all, only dropping 3.7 points. He'll have to look for other options next week (like Chuba Hubbard on his bench who had 23.7!).

#9 Carson (1-0) 151.1 - 123.7 #5 Ryan (0-1)

What a week it was for Carson. The highest scoring manager this week with a whopping 151.1. That might've made up for the fact that he had to watch most of it at work when he didn't think he was scheduled. Amon-Ra St. Brown was his highest scoring plyer with 28.7. Behind him, Jaxson Dart had 26.6, Breece Hall (who finds his way to Carson's team every year apparently) had 22.8, Ladd McConkey had 19.2, the Jaguars D/ST had 14, and Cam Little had 12.7. The only single digit performances on his roster were Saquon Barkley with 9 and DK Metcalf with 8. Great start to the season for him.

Ryan's team put up a respectable 123.7 points, but it wasn't going to be close to enough to beat Carson. Of course, it doesn't help that Matthew Stafford only had 4.1 points or that Jaylen Waddle only had 1.2 points. On the flip side, Zay Flowers had an amazing 29 points before leaving with injury. Isaiah Likely had 27.8. The Steelers D/ST had 19 points thanks to the statue that is Cooper Rush for Atlanta. There will be better weeks for Ryan ahead.

Lucky Rankings

Now introducing a new ranking engine that tries to quantify how “lucky” is team over a season. As the season moves on, the more refined and accurate this data becomes. A reminder that if you end up being the most lucky team, you will infact get a trophy for it.

The farther away from 0 you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. Alternatively, the more greener/redder you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. 0 is the baseline, meaning your record is exactly what is expected at that point.

Power Rankings

Let’s take a look at the ESPN Power rankings after Week 1:

  1. Johnny (+ 2)
  2. Carson (+ 6)
  3. Mohit (+ 4)
  4. Isaac (+ 5)
  5. Sudais (- 1)
  6. Eric (- 5)
  7. Ryan (- 2)
  8. Ava (- 2)
  9. Caden (- 7)
  10. Luke

And here is the Commissioner's Power Rankings:

  1. Carson
  2. Johnny
  3. Isaac
  4. Ava
  5. Mohit
  6. Sudais
  7. Luke
  8. Ryan
  9. Eric
  10. Caden

Here's a visual of the ESPN Power Rankings:

All-Play Standings

The All-Play Record is a record that shows what your cumulative record would be if your team played every other team each week.

This is an indicator that removes some of the luck involved in a head-to-head scheduling, where you play one team a week, and gives a more accurate picture of each team’s performance.

With that being said, these are the cumulative All-play Standings so far this season:

  1. Carson - 9-0 (100%)
  2. Johnny - 8-1 (88.9%)
  3. Isaac - 7-2 (77.8%)
  4. Ava - 6-3 (66.7%)
  5. Mohit - 5-4 (55.6%)
  6. Ryan - 4-5 (44.4%)
  7. Sudais - 3-6 (33.3%)
  8. Eric - 2-7 (22.2%)
  9. Luke - 1-8 (11.1%)
  10. Caden - 0-9 (0.00%)

Looking Ahead…

Matchup of the Week - #5 Sudais (1-0) vs. #4 Isaac (1-0)

For Sudais, how will he address A.J Brown's injury? Does he have trust in Dontayvion Wicks?

For Isaac, can Coleston Loveland actually score more than 1 point?

The other matchups are as follows:

#1 Johnny (1-0) vs. #3 Mohit (1-0)
#9 Luke (0-1) vs. #10 Caden (0-1)
#6 Eric (0-1) vs. #2 Carson (1-0)
#7 Ava (0-1) vs. #8 Ryan (0-1)

Reminders and Fine Print

Make sure you submit a question for Caden to answer in his Press Conference! Each manager can submit a question, and the more people that send a question, the better. You’re limited to one question. You can send it in the fantasy group chat, or to someone else if you want it to be a surprise (to be clear, Caden will know who sent what question, but the questions will not be revealed to him until close to when its time to answer them, giving him little to no time to prepare answers).

Thank you for being in this league.

Fine Print

By participating in this league, you agree to follow the rules. The commissioner reserves the right to issue rulings regarding league matters so long as they don’t conflict with pre-existing rules or previously proposed, but rejected, amendments. These rulings include, but are not limited to: vetoing trades despite public vote, collusion, tanking, and inactivity.