🏈 Week 1 = Done

Nothing better than 7 hours of commercial free football. Plus: Brandon Aiyuk, Elijah Mitchell, and the Team of the Week.

Good morning and happy Tuesday. Today is National Victory Lap Day, and if there's one thing we don't mind you leaving this newsletter to do, it's celebrating your WIN!!! Or your decision to pick up our boy Juwan Johnson (2 TDs baby!!).

Remember?

Sunday Morning

Let’s get into it:

Week 1 Team of the Week

QB: Kyler Murray - Kyler and Nuk Hopkins picked up where they left, with Kyler putting up 34+ points in the Cardinals route of the Titans. 21/32 passing, 309 total yards, and 5 TDs. Light work.

RB: Christian McCaffrey - What a surprise! CMC is back, better than ever. Despite not recording a single TD, McCaffrey finished as the RB1. That NEVER happens.

Jason Moore @jasonffl

How good is Christian McCaffrey??? He is currently the #1 RB on the week and he didn't score a TD. I went back over the last 32 weeks and that has only happened once before (hint: it was also Christian McCaffrey in 2019). He's unfreaking stoppable for fantasy.

WR: Amari Cooper - 16 targets, 139 yards and 2 TDs. Cooper was one of our highest ranked WRs due to his chemistry with Dak, and they didn’t skip a beat in Week 1 despite a tough Buccaneers defense.

TE: Travis Kelce - The TE1 this weekend was Kelce. Like CMC, Kelce has been the no-doubt top player at his position all offseason. 22+ points from the Kansas City stud reminds everyone how valuable Kelce is. Hope Browns fans are doing ok after that L. EDIT: DARREN WALLER IS A BEAST. TE1 (Monday night)

D/ST: Cardinals - The Cardinals made Derrick Henry and the Titans look like a JV team. Adding JJ Watt helped, but no one was expecting 17 fantasy points from the Cards in Week 1 while holding the Titans to 13 total points. Chandler Jones had five sacks himself…

Kicker: BAN KICKERS JABRONI!!!! What I say to anyone who plays with kickers:

San Fran Confusions

Raheem Mostert… Brandon Aiyuk… Trey Sermon? Anyone?

Those three players were the three highest-drafted 49ers (outside of G. Kittle). They combined for 2 points, all from Raheem Mostert before he went down (as he does) with an injury.

So WTF happened?

Brandon Aiyuk: Two options, either Aiyuk is still nursing a hamstring injury and Shanahan didn’t want to aggravate it, or Aiyuk missed curfew (or something else) and is in Kyle Shanahan’s dog house. Regardless, owners are panicking.

Raheem Mostert: Mostert will be sidelined for approximately eight weeks with chipped knee cartilage, Kyle Shanahan confirmed. Good thing I drafted him in most of my leagues!!! The question now is who do you pickup?

Trey Sermon: Remember this 3rd rounder the 49ers traded up to draft? He was a healthy scratch on Sunday as 6th rounder Elijah Mitchell won the backup role. Semon could win the job later this season, but he might not.

Don’t be afraid to break the bank on Elijah Mitchell. Here’s why:

• He’s hard to tackle RB. Per PFF: Elijah Mitchell in Week 1 | among RBs: 6 missed tackles forced (2nd), 3 rushes of 10+ yards (T-2nd), 73 yards after contact (3rd).

• He’s a legend. Mitchell made NFL history as the first day 3 draft pick to rush for 100-plus yards in a season opener as a rookie.

• He’s fast. Mitchell ran a 4.38 40 at his pro day, one of the best weight-adjusted 40 times of all RBs in the draft class.

49ers on NBCS @NBCS49ers

Elijah Mitchell takes it straight to the house 🏠

JaMycal Hasty got one carry = Elijah Mitchell is the man in this backfield.

Quick Hits

• NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports Rashaad Penny (calf) "is expected to be shut down for a few weeks." I know what you’re thinking: Who cares? Next.

• Cowboys activated RG Zack Martin from the reserve/COVID-19 list, which is great news for the Cowboys, especially Zeke.

• ESPN's Adam Schefter reports Ryan Fitzpatrick (hip) is expected to miss six to eight weeks. Grab Taylor Heinicke in superflex league for his rushing upside alone. Don’t think this is a huge downgrade for any Washington skill players.

• This:

  RedditCFB @RedditCFB

  Sources: Urban Meyer considering resigning as head coach of Jaguars, saying his “heart’s just not in it”

Tweet of the Day

NFL Memes @NFL_Memes

Top performances of Week 1: 1. Kyler Murray 2. Jameis Winston 3 This lady

We’ll be back tomorrow with our “deep dives” (players you want to pickup this week, for next week). Think grabbing Elijah Mitchell - or Juwan Johnson - last week.

Thank you all. Boy was it fun watching football again.

- Jake

The Morning Huddle: an (almost) daily newsletter full of fantasy football news, memes, and stats - giving you the edge to win titles and the laughs to enjoy every minute of it.

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