The 2022 NFL season is off and running. One game in, the Bills have quickly established themselves as the Super Bowl favorite, and the Rams offered the ultimate representation of “Super Bowl hangover.” A lot happened in Buffalo’s 31-10 win at SoFi Stadium, and we certainly saw enough to make a few knee-jerk fantasy reactions:
Josh Allen is ridiculous
So in my fantasy league with old college buddies, there’s this one guy who’s not really a big football fan and certainly not a “fantasy guy.” He has the fourth overall pick in our draft, and after the first three picks were the usual suspects of tier-one running backs and receivers, this guy drafted Josh Allen. So yes, he’s “that guy” who reaches for a QB in Round 1. Well, he’s also that guy who has an early 33.48-point lead in his Week 1 matchup. Can Allen produce 353 total yards and four touchdowns every week? On Thursday night, he looked like he could. (Still, here’s why you don’t draft a QB in the first round: My friend with Allen is playing a team with Justin Herbert at QB. While Allen was the fourth player drafted, Herbert went in the middle of Round 3. That’s still pretty high, but the fantasy manager with Herbert also has Austin Ekeler and Deebo Samuel. The top skill-position guys on Allen’s fantasy team are Javonte Williams and Tyreek Hill. Which trio would you rather have?)
Diggin’ on Diggs
While much of the preseason fantasy chatter was dedicated to figuring out whether Gabriel Davis or Isaiah McKenzie would emerge as Buffalo’s WR2, we may have been sleeping on Stefon Diggs. The Bills WR1 had the seventh-most fantasy points among receivers last season, but he was WR3 two years ago. With eight catches for 122 yards and one TD Thursday night, he looked like he should have been a first-round pick in your fantasy draft. Davis and McKenzie did both have TD grabs as well. Davis got more targets than McKenzie or Jamison Crowder, but it’s clear that Allen will a) be spreading the ball around; and b) giving Diggs the lion’s share of targets.
