Kickoff Edition · Week 1 · Season 33
Eric wants three in a row. Nobody here has ever done it.
The title picture, six Week 1 matchups with 32 years of history behind them, the wire, and my picks.
Cincinnati ·
From the Commissioner's Desk
Fellas. Thirty-two seasons in and we still settle every argument by scrolling up until somebody's phone dies. I'd rather write it down. The recap is back, and this time it's not fighting ESPN's 500-character limit.
Two drops a week. Tuesday morning, once Monday night is in the books, you get the rundown: every game, the standings, power rankings, the superlatives. Wednesday is the week ahead, six matchups and my picks.
Eric's going for three straight. Matt scored 64 in a final and has to live here anyway. Bobby and Steve drafted a Bengals stack out of last place. And as always, my whole team is on the block. Let's go.
The Title Picture
Eric is one season from a three-peat, and nobody in this league has ever gotten there.
Jason went back-to-back in 2006 and lost the third. David did the same a few years later. Eric's sitting on 2024 and 2025 with a better case than either of them had: 171 points clear of the field last regular season and a final over Matt that was over by halftime.
So I'm all in on the three-peat. If it falls apart in November I'll write that one up too. First test is Tim, and the champ gets there with Michael Mayer at tight end. That is what winning costs. He kept Bowers in the third round and got a knee scope out of it.
Matt had the No. 1 seed, a seven-game win streak, and then scored 64 in the final.
Let's be fair to Matt first: nobody had a better regular season in 2025. The top seed and a seven-game streak, the longest of his career here. Then the final happened, and 64 points in a championship game is the kind of number that follows a man into the offseason. He dropped the Wookie name this summer. Can't blame him. And now he's bringing in some help from a ranger from the north (IYKYK).
Week 1 is a rerun of last year's opener against Nathan, which Matt won. His bench took a hit Wednesday night when Sam Darnold, his backup quarterback, left Seattle's game with a hip injury. Not all that glitters is gold.
Sixteen seasons, no title. Only Jeff has waited longer, and he isn't writing this.
Might as well get mine out of the way. One trip to the final, 2012, a 142-62 loss to David that's still the second-widest final margin in league history. Then 2025 was a real season: nine wins and a fifth-place finish after a first-round loss to Don. I'm still not over it.
I open against David, who I've beaten four straight times (my consolation prize). The projections have him by 8 anyway. My pick is at the bottom.
The Aging Ballers went 2-12 a year after playing in the final.
Two years ago Bobby and Steve were in the championship game. Last year they lost twelve and finished last. That's a rough stretch and they know it. Between them the co-owners hold two titles and the most last-place finishes of any current manager: six for Steve, two for Bobby.
They kept Ja'Marr Chase at five because they're old, not stupid. Then they spent their first real pick, seventeenth overall, on Joe Burrow, and stacking Ja'Marr with the man throwing him the ball is a match imagined in heaven. They open against Jeff, who they've beaten the last two times out, and we all know Jeff loves him some Bengals. A hard one to root against.
Week 1 Matchups
Six games, a few already under way, and the champ opens as an underdog.
Watch: The projection says Tim by 11, and Tim gets the last word Monday night with Kenneth Walker in a Chiefs uniform (what was Jason thinking, not keeping Kenneth Walker?). Eric has Bo Nix on the other sideline of that same game.
Watch: Levi kept De'Von Achane with the first overall pick on August 29 and Josiah kept Christian McCaffrey right behind him at two, so the top of the board plays itself in Week 1. McCaffrey got his first 88 scrimmage yards in Melbourne before most of the league had their patches ironed on. Levi's whole Sunday night rides on Malik Nabers, who practiced twice this week and still isn't cleared, plus Cam Skattebo (the ol' Scatpack) and the Giants defense in the same matchup.
Watch: Nathan has Derrick Henry and Justin Jefferson and still projects fourth-lowest in the league this week, which tells you plenty about the other seven spots. Drake Maye put 15 on the board Wednesday night from Nathan's bench while Baker Mayfield, the starter, hasn't thrown a pass. Am I worried for Nathan? A little. Am I going to say so to his face? No. Matt's answer is two Chargers, Omarion Hampton and Ladd McConkey, and Trevor Lawrence, now his only healthy quarterback.
Watch: Jeff is the oldest manager in the room, Steve and Bobby are next in line, and the league put all three of them in one game. The most on-brand matchup the Aging Ballers will play all year. Jeff's already got 16 points banked from Puka Nacua and Rhamondre Stevenson, with Saquon Barkley still to come. The Ballers carry the lowest projection on the slate at 93 and need the Chase-to-Burrow stack to show up Sunday afternoon, against the one guy in the league who'd enjoy watching it anyway.
Watch: Jason's week is off to a rough start. A.J. Brown left Wednesday's game and is headed to injured reserve, and Matthew Stafford got benched in Australia for Stetson Bennett. That's 22 points from four starters with Sunday still to play. Lucky for him, Jason is really good at fantasy football. As always. Don's week opened with Davante Adams catching three balls in Melbourne, and the rest of his lineup doesn't kick off until Sunday. Don is fine. Don has Josh Allen.
Watch: David kept Ashton Jeanty at seven and Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the fifth, and JSN cashed a 122-yard night on Wednesday. Jeanty is the one I keep looking at. A second-year back with a full offseason in him is the kind of healthy problem that ends four-game streaks. On my side, Jeremiyah Love is questionable with a high-ankle sprain and expected to play, and Jaxson Dart is on my bench making a case for Sunday night that I'm not ready to hear.
Wednesday Night, Five Rosters
One game in Seattle and half the league felt it.
Seattle Seahawks official channelAround the League
Who got hurt, who got paid, and what Melbourne did to Jason.
Injured reserveA.J. Brown is out until at least Week 6
Jason kept him in the second round and now needs a WR2 for a month. High-ankle sprain, three catches in New England's opener before he left. Photo: NFL.com
Week 1 scratchBrock Bowers sits after a meniscus cleanup
Eric's third-round keeper will watch Week 1 from the training room. The patch was in by Wednesday afternoon, Njoku out and Mayer in, and Mayer projects for four points. The champ can afford four points. He can't afford a month of them. Photo: NFL.com
New teamKenneth Walker III is a Chief, and he plays Monday night
Tim paid the 15th pick for a running back who changed teams this offseason, and the bill comes due Monday night. The Super Bowl MVP signed for three years and $45 million in Kansas City and debuts against Denver. Tim's Week 1 gets decided after everybody else's is in the books. Photo: NFL.com
You Paid How Much?!
Nine moves since the draft. One dollar spent.
Weekly Superlatives
Handed out every Tuesday. Counted all season.
- High Score. Most points in the week, win or lose.
- Low Score. Fewest points in the week.
- Closest Game. Smallest margin of the week.
- Biggest Blowout. Largest margin of the week. The league record is 124 points: Don beat Tim 173-49 in 2020.
- Should Have Started Him. The bench player who outscored a starter he could have replaced by the widest gap, with the name of the guy he sat behind.
- Luckiest Win. A win with a score that would have lost to most of the league that week.
- Toughest Loss. A loss with a score that would have beaten most of the league that week. The record is Jason's 139 in a 2019 loss to Josiah.
- Waiver Pickup of the Week. Highest score by a player added that week and started.
- Lineup of the Week. How close a lineup came to the best one available that week.
- Manager of the Week. My call.
My Picks
Two of these six go against the projection.
Tim. Eric is without his tight end and Tim owns the last game of the week, so the champ has to sit and watch Walker decide it.
Levi. Nabers is the whole bet. He practiced twice, the Giants still won't say, and Levi has him, Skattebo and the Giants defense riding one matchup.
Matt. Nathan's best quarterback showing of the week already happened, and it happened on his bench.
Jeff. A head start and Saquon still to come, against a stack that has to land Sunday afternoon.
Don. The projection likes Jason. The projection has not read the injury report.
Me. Four straight is four straight, and I'm not picking against my own team in Week 1.
Coming Tuesday
Every result, the first standings and power rankings, and my six picks graded. See you after Monday night.