2025 NFL Preseason Week 1 Fantasy Takeaways: TreVeyon Henderson steals the show

Week 1 of the NFL preseason is in the books and with it comes a truckload of changes to the fantasy landscape.

PFF’s Nathan Jahnke posted snap counts for the starters in every game and I’ll be referencing those throughout this article, so be sure to check out Jahnke’s work as well.

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Arizona Cardinals

More of the same for Marvin Harrison Jr.

The good news for Marv is that he was targeted on 20 percent of his routes and one of his looks was an easy, middle-of-the-field target that he caught. The bad news is that, on the whole, his usage wasn’t much different from last year. He ran 80 percent of his routes from out wide and had an aDOT of 14. MHJ ran 75 percent of his routes from a wide alignment as a rookie and posted a 14.2 aDOT. Of course, Kyler Murray was also intercepted on his second throw to Harrison Jr.

It’s a small sample, but there’s no evidence that Harrison’s role will be any different this year.

Atlanta Falcons

Ray-Ray McCloud gets the veteran treatment

The Falcons didn’t play anyone fantasy-relevant, so there’s not much to say here. With Darnell Mooney nursing a multi-week shoulder injury, Ray-Ray McCloud could see an uptick in targets early in the year. KhaDarel Hodge was also rested, so that camp battle is one to watch for deep fantasy formats.

Baltimore Ravens

Keaton Mitchell looks back to form

Keaton Mitchell suffered a torn ACL late in the 2023 season in the midst of a minor breakout fueled by explosive plays. He returned midway through the 2024 season but never looked the same and failed to carve out even a nominal role on offense. Mitchell has reportedly looked like his old self in camp and that proved accurate in the preseason when he ran for 68 yards and a score on nine attempts.

Mitchell could be a FLEX-worthy player in a pinch if he earns a role as a change-of-pace option behind Derrick Henry.

Buffalo Bills

Dalton Kincaid is stuck in the slot

Dalton Kincaid only ran three of five possible routes with the starters and was in the slot for two of his reps. Dawson Knox played on three run-blocking snaps to Kincaid’s one. This has been a constant issue for Kincaid since the Bills drafted him in the first round and it’s not going anywhere. He looks like a committee tight end once again.

Carolina Panthers

Bryce Young shines in preseason opener

There were plenty of notes from the Panthers’ first preseason game. Again, Nathan Jahnke does great work and you should check his piece out for notes on the receivers. One area where our takeaways diverged was the backfield. Rico Dowdle played more snaps than Chubba Hubbard. More importantly, Dowdle ran four routes to Hubbard’s three. Hubbard averaged a dreadful .51 yards per route run last year and the Panthers could be looking for a replacement on passing downs.

The most important note, however, was how Bryce Young looked. The third-year passer picked up where he left off at the end of 2024, going 4-of-6 for 58 yards and a score. PFF charted both of his incompletions as drops. Young is shaping up to be one of the best late-round QBs of the offseason.

Chicago Bears

Colston Loveland is rising, Luther Burden has to earn it

The Bears rested their starting skill position players. Colston Loveland took the first drive with the backups and played all six snaps. He ran half of his routes from the slot but wasn’t subbed out for either of Chicago’s running plays. This will change when he’s competing with Cole Kmet for snaps, but it’s a good sign that he wasn’t treated like Dalton Kincaid yet.

Luther Burden also played with the backups. Unlike Loveland, Ben Johnson let him play the entire first half. I don’t buy that a top-40 pick is going to play behind Olamide Zaccheus, who was rested with the starters, for long. Burden missed some of the offseason with a soft tissue injury and is a rookie. The fact that he received the typical rookie treatment isn’t concerning to me at this time. Johnson was also effusive in his praise for Burden after the game.

Cincinnati Bengals

Andrei Iosivas remains the WR3

It looks like there won’t be any changes to the Bengals’ depth chart on offense for now. Jermaine Burton didn’t play a snap with the starters while Andrei Iosivas ran as many routes as Tee Higgins. The WR3 role in Cincy is a stayaway for fantasy purposes.

Cleveland Browns

Jerome Ford is ahead of rookie Dylan Sampson

The Browns gave most of their veterans the day off, including Jerome Ford. Dylan Sampson started with the second-team offense and ceded one snap to Trayveon Williams. Early camp reports had Ford comfortably ahead of Sampson and we should continue to expect that for now. Ford is a strong Week 1 play for ZeroRB teams if Quinshon Judkins’ legal situation remains unresolved.

Dallas Cowboys

No backfield clarity

The Cowboys rested their starters while backup running backs Miles Sanders and Jaydon Blue were sidelined because of injuries. Neither Deuce Vaughn nor Phil Mafah showed much juice in their absence. Mafah averaged a pitiful 1.7 yards after contact per carry and Vaughn was even worse at 1.5. Javonte Williams could see a three-down role to open the year if Sanders and Blue continue to miss valuable practice reps.

Denver Broncos

Marvin Mims breakout part two?

After a quiet rookie season, Marvin Mims broke out over the second half of 2024 with 28 catches for 434 yards and six scores over his final seven games. He averaged 2.37 yards per route run last year, good for ninth-best among all wide receivers. The bad news was that he did so while running a route on a third of the team’s dropbacks. His was so limited that it was hard to envision him making the leap to a full-time role in year three. That wasn’t the case in the Broncos’ first preseason outing. Mims ran a route on 9-of-11 dropbacks with the starters. Even though we should expect his efficiency to dip as his role grows, an expanded route tree for Mims would make him a smash in the double-digit rounds.

Detroit Lions

Isaac TeSlaa continues to impress

The third-round rookie caught two passes of 20+ in the Hall of Fame Game and followed that up with a 14-yard touchdown in his second preseason outing.

The Lions don’t have an obvious No. 3 receiver and spent three third-round picks to land TeSlaa in the draft. He’s a clear bet to have a part-time role early in the year and could dust Tim Patrick as Detroit’s WR3 by the end of the season.

Green Bay Packers

Matthew Golden plays an every-down role

The No. 23 overall pick wasn’t an elite prospect and I was largely out on him during the pre-draft process. For fantasy purposes, I have an “L” to hold here. Golden matched Brian Thomas Jr. in career College Dominator Rating (22 percent) and came up .1 yards per route run (1.85) behind him. He was also taken at the same spot in the draft. BTJ was a better prospect because of how much more impressive his year three peak was, but I can squint and see the similarities. Now he’s locked into an every-down role out of the gates? Golden is a strong click in fantasy drafts as a WR4.

Indianapolis Colts

Anthony Richardson flops

If there’s one thing Anthony Richardson couldn’t afford to do in Indy’s matchup with the Ravens, it was open the door for Daniel Jones. Richardson did just that by turning his back to a free pass-rusher and taking a sack that dislocated his pinky finger. He left the game but has already resumed throwing. Even if the health scare was nothing more than a close call, Richardson can’t get out of his own way to lock up the starting gig for Week 1.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Travis Hunter gets normal receiver usage

The obvious concern with Travis Hunter as a fantasy asset has been the potential for his role on defense to cut into his route rate on the other side of the ball. That couldn’t have been further from the truth in his preseason debut. Hunter played 11-of-12 snaps with the starters on offense and didn’t take the field on defense until later in the game. This could all change next week, but as of right now, the No. 2 overall pick is playing a full-time wide receiver role. He currently goes as a WR3 in Best Ball drafts.

Kansas City Chiefs

Jalen Royals down bad

There’s not much to say other than Jalen Royals played behind Jason Brownlee and Tyquan Thornton, both of whom got a brief look with the starters. It was only three snaps, so maybe Royals would have joined Mahomes had the drive gone longer, but there’s too much risk of Royals being a zero to take him in any fantasy format.

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Las Vegas Raiders

Dont’e Thornton’s strong offseason rolls on

The Raiders took Jack Bech in the second round and doubled down on receiver in the fourth with Dont’e Thornton. The latter played over Bech before training camp, operating as the X receiver. That held into camp and nothing changed for the duo over the weekend. Thornton got the start and then continued to play with the backups. Bech didn’t see the field until starting Z receiver Tre Tucker took the bench for the night. Thornton is a sneaky late-round dart while Bech should largely be saved for dynasty formats.

Los Angeles Chargers

Quiet preseason continues for Tre Harris

Between the Hall of Fame Game and Week 1 of the preseason, second-round rookie Tre Harris has run 25 routes. He has earned two targets on those routes, neither of which he caught. Fellow rookie Keandre Lambert-Smith, on the other hand, has 43 yards and a score on three targets while running just one more route. Two games of partial playing time aren’t going to decide which rookie wins out in the long run, but they are seemingly fighting for the WR4 job with Keenan Allen back in LA, and KLS has played better in live action.

Los Angeles Rams

Rams split backup duties

The Rams didn’t give either one of their backup running backs the lion’s share of the snaps with the second-team offense. Blake Corum got the start and notably saw all three of the goal-to-go carries with the 2s. He punched in two touchdowns on those attempts. Corum out-carried Jarquez Hunter 9-4 with the second-team offense, though the rookie did play to a draw in routes at eight apiece. This looks like a committee in the making if anything happens to Kyren Williams, and Corum appears to have the edge over Hunter for now.

Miami Dolphins

Alexander Mattison suffers a season-ending neck injury

Alexander Mattison won’t play this year after going down with a neck injury. The team signed Mike Boone and Aaron Shampklin as potential replacements. Jaylen Wright was the only backup to see any run with the starters, indicating he is the favorite to take on what’s left of the vacated Raheem Mostert role. Rookie Ollie Gordon could still push him for that gig as training camp progresses.

Minnesota Vikings

Jalen Nailor remains ahead of Tai Felton

The Vikings made Maryland’s Tai Felton the final pick of Day Two of the draft. Felton hasn’t made much headway on the depth chart since then. He was never going to pass either of Minnesota’s top two receivers, but a WR3 gig wasn’t out of the question. That now appears to be the case after Jalen Nailor played all 12 snaps with the starters over the weekend. This confirms previous reports from the beats in Minnesota. Nailor averaged 13.4 points per game in two contests with Addison out last year. Addison is slated to miss the first three weeks of the season while serving a suspension, putting Nailor in the DFS mix at least.

New Orleans Saints

Ups and downs for Tyler Shough

The Saints took Louisville’s Tyler Shough at the top of the second round with the hope that a seven-year college quarterback would be ready to start out of the gates. He has reportedly been a disaster in camp and has played behind both Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener at times. While it was nice to see him hit a wide-open Mason Tipton for a long touchdown, his pick-six against backup defenders was the stuff of nightmares.

New England Patriots

TreVeyon Henderson is the truth

The second-round former Buckeye would have had a strong debut if you simply looked at his role. He ran six routes to Rhamondre Stevenson’s five and played on 7-of-14 snaps with Drake Maye. OC Josh McDaniels then talked about Henderson being one of the fastest backs he has ever coached.

If all of this wasn’t enough, Henderson showed off his game-breaking speed with a kickoff return touchdown to start the game. The hype around Henderson is already reaching an Ameer Abdullah pitch in Best Ball drafts.

New York Giants

Fumble issues continue for Tyrone Tracy

Tyrone Tracy dethroned Devin Singletary as the Giants’ starter as a rookie, an impressive feat for any Day Three back, let alone one who switched positions a year before entering the NFL. His inexperience, however, did show at times, namely with four fumbles. That issue reared its head in the preseason once again with a close call on one of his three carries. It was eventually ruled that Tracy’s knee was down, negating the turnover. If rookie Cam Skattebo can recover from his hamstring issue sooner rather than later, he could be a legitimate threat to Tracy’s job.

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New York Jets

Warning signs for Breece Hall

This is not the type of running back rotation I would expect for a team with a workhorse runner.

That, of course, might be my fault for expecting Breece Hall to be a three-down back. Jets coach Aaron Glenn said in March that the team has “three running backs on this team that we’re going to utilize as much as possible.” Braelon Allen has drawn praise throughout the offseason and into camp. Hall is entering a contract year. Even second-year back Isaiah Davis has gotten some live from the coaches. Hall is undoubtedly the most talented of the three, but the stars are aligning for him to be a prototypical dead zone back.

Philadelphia Eagles

Will Shipley gets two drives

Will Shipley got every snap of the first two drives for Philly, though head coach Nick Sirriani didn’t play many of his starters. The Eagles have been singing Shipley’s praises this offseason, even as Dillon occasionally mixes in ahead of him in practice. Dillon is on a one-year deal worth little more than the veteran minimum. Shipley is a fourth-round pick entering his second year. If anything happens to Saquon Barkley, I expect it to be the Shipley show.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Kenneth Gainwell draws the start

Free agent addition Kenneth Gainwell drew the start over rookie Kaleb Johnson. Gainwell only played a handful of snaps before taking the bench alongside Jaylen Warren, who was rested. Johnson was repeatedly bottled up by the Jaguars’ defense and averaged a pitiful 2.5 yards per carry on his eight attempts. Johnson struggling while playing behind a replacement-level veteran is the perfect setup for a Warren rebound.

San Francisco 49ers

Nothing to see here

There wasn’t a single fantasy-relevant note to be found in San Francisco’s offense. The 49ers rested their healthy starters and were without several starters and backups due to injury:

• Jauan Jennings – calf
• Brandon Aiyuk – ACL, on the PUP list
• Jacob Cowing – calf
• Isaac Guerendo – shoulder
• Jordan James – finger

Simply put, you’ll have to watch the newsfeed to stay up to date on the bevy of injuries in San Francisco.

Seattle Seahawks

Tory Horton is inevitable

New OC Klint Kubiak brought Marquez Valdez-Scantling with him from New Orleans and the veteran wideout is expected to start for Seattle. While that may be true in Week 1, rookie Tory Horton isn’t going to make it easy for him. Horton and the other backups drew the start versus Vegas. Horton was the standout of the game with three catches for 31 yards and a score.

Horton has been making noise in camp and recently got some reps with the 1s. He was a high-upside prospect who is now knocking on the door of a starting job early in his career. Keep an eye on him in dynasty leagues.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Rachaad White (groin) is day-to-day

Rachaad White suffered a groin injury versus the Titans but escaped with a “day-to-day” designation according to head coach Todd Bowles. White ceded nearly all of the between-the-tackles work to Bucky Irving down the stretch last year but still clung to passing-downs duties until the bitter end. Even a minor injury could clear the way for a full Bucky takeover.

Tennessee Titans

Tyjae Spears carted off the field

Tyjae Spears hobbled to the sideline before riding the cart to the locker room. He was later diagnosed with a dreaded high-ankle sprain and is expected to miss a few weeks. Tony Pollard averaged 13.6 carries and 3.5 targets in games with Spears active last year. That jumped to 22 carries and 3.8 targets with Spears inactive.