Week 1 Preview: Trust Bucky Irving, Jaxson Dart, Stefon Diggs?

Patrick Daugherty (0:21)

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Rotoworld Football Show. It's Thursday, September 10th, 2026 We've had football happen. We have a lot more football happening this weekend. The games are finally here, and myself, Patrick Daugherty, Denny Carter and Kyle Dvorchak are going to break them all down for you. That includes the Bucs at the Binggels, the Saints at the Lions, the Cowboys at the Giants on Sunday Night Football, Cardinals at the Chargers. Many are saying Cardinals could cover it in this game, you guys. All three of us are talking about it before the show.

The Ravens at the Colts, the Packers at the Vikings are going to break all those down. Every fantasy-relevant player for week one, we come right back after this.

We're back. I felt a little off in the opening, I must say. It's because it's week one. Week one for everybody, guys. There are 272 total games in an NFL season. We have so far played one of them, the Wednesday evening opener between the Seahawks and Patriots. So I have a very simple question for both of you. Are either of your seasons already totally ruined?

Denny Carter (1:23)

Not entirely. If you have JSN, you're a little worried, but I didn't have any AJ Brown, I'm just quote Giga worried, quote Hella worried.

Patrick Daugherty (1:32)

First off, listen, I'm glad they didn't tackle him. Where was the tackling on the JSN touchdown? That's what I want to know. Where was the tackling? Without that touchdown, my whole life is looking different right now, Denny.

Denny Carter (1:44)

Right. No, no, I get that. I mean, but if you take away his big plays, he's not very good, I will say.

Okay, here's the thing about what the Seahawks did, and you got to respect it, is that unlike a lot of teams, they actually wanted to convert that fourth down. And if they didn't really want to, they would have run the ball up the middle and lost three yards, okay? But they actually were like, hey, we should probably just try to do it. And so they threw the ball five yards to their best player, and their best player turned it up field and scored a touchdown.

Kyle Dvorchak (2:13)

Dude, the Patriots didn't even want to convert their third down, let alone the Seahawks going for fourths.

Patrick Daugherty (2:19)

The Patriots were still going playoff sicko mode, and this was the bad sicko mode.

Denny Carter (2:23)

Yeah, the Patriots were 18% under their expected pass rate in the first downs.

Patrick Daugherty (2:28)

I was told Drake May was runner up MVP last year.

Denny Carter (2:32)

I mean, it was concerning, honestly. I know the Seahawks defense is really good, but like, wow, you lose AJ Brown, the offensive line is in shambles, like you're basically like-

Patrick Daugherty (2:43)

Worst throw anyone's ever seen in the game.

Denny Carter (2:45)

Like Kyle said about the third down stuff, I mean, why not just punt on third down if you're going to do what they did in the second half last night?

Patrick Daugherty (2:52)

They almost did that in the playoffs. Kyle, really quickly, you're under the age of 30, that means you have universal Brock Bowers exposure. How over is it for you?

Kyle Dvorchak (3:02)

I mean, it's not great. The problem is when I wasn't taking Bowers in the second round, I was like, AJ Brown on a new team. I will note the good news is that I don't even know how much you sold me on this, Pat, that the Cardinals might not be as much of a Russian candidates as we think. More so that even if they are, that's a problem for guys like Michael Wilson and guys like Marv, whereas Trey McBride going to get his. When I wasn't taking Brock Bowers, I wasn't all that often. I took a lot of him. It meant I was getting a lot of Trey McBride. Now I'm like, I have two types of teams. Teams I don't have to update the roster for anymore, and teams that have Trey McBride that look pretty fun. That's where we start to a season.

Patrick Daugherty (3:37)

Both Kyle and Denny think the Cardinals are going to cover. We'll get to that much later. But we'll begin with the highest.

Denny Carter (3:43)

It's about the Cardinals.

Patrick Daugherty (3:44)

The Cardinals are going to cover, but we'll talk about it later.

We have to start with the highest total game of week one. Two teams who made a mess of 2025 begin their redemption quests with the highest total game of week one, Denny. The Bucs and Bengals are meeting up in the Queen City, but the Cats are solid home favorites. I haven't had to read one of my scripts in a while. If Cincy is largely the same as we left them last season, Tampa now has several new rotations. Let's start in the backfield. Can Bucky Irving maintain RB2 status with Kenneth Gaines while they are to siphon targets and receptions?