Week 1 is officially in the books, and the injuries are already piling up. Several key players left their games early or landed on IR, creating immediate roster decisions heading into Week 2.
Key Injury Updates
Sam Darnold suffered an abdominal injury on Wednesday night and is expected to miss 4–6 weeks.
A.J. Brown also exited that game with a high ankle sprain and has been placed on IR, meaning he will miss at least the next four games.
De’Zhaun Stribling left Thursday’s game with a high ankle sprain and is expected to be sidelined for about a month.
Kyler Murray exited early on Sunday with a serious-looking concussion and will likely miss the next two to three weeks.
Ladd McConkey left the Chargers game with a chest injury, and his Week 2 status remains uncertain.
Roster Management and Waiver Strategy
With shorter benches this season, managing IR spots carefully will be especially important. Ideally, injured players will become IR-eligible before Week 2 waiver claims are due, allowing managers to make moves without dropping healthy contributors.
As always, Week 1 brings plenty of intriguing waiver options. Some players who were not expected to see major roles ended up receiving heavy usage and some teams offensive game plans were more productive than anticipated. Do your research, and you may be able to find a diamond in the rough.
Week 1 Recap
It is still a little too early for updated rankings. I will wait until the Week 3 games are complete before revisiting them. Until then, assume the draft grades remain the best reflection of each team’s overall ability. In the meantime, I will provide a quick write-up of the previous week’s games in place of rankings.
Springfield Flanders 163 John’s Scary Team 138
D’Andre Swift (33), Tyler Shough (29), and Chris Olave (28) powered Flanders to a comfortable win over John’s Scary Team. Flanders’ quarterback situation looked less concerning than expected, with Shough delivering a strong start and Bryce Young wasting 38 points from the bench. John’s Scary Team got solid outings from Jalen Hurts (30), JSN (28), and the Steelers D/ST (19), but the rest of the lineup offered little support, with no other player topping 15 points.
Stick Rock 173.96 MKBA 173.72
We have our first Monday Night miracle of the season! MKBA scored a ton of points despite getting nothing from Kyle Pitts. Jahmyr Gibbs (34), LaMar Jackson (27) and Jayden Daniels (21) were the top scorers this week for Pete. Meanwhile, things looked bleak for Rock. Down big going into the Monday Night Game, they needed 36.9 points from KWIII to win. And on his last touch of the game he picked up six yards to give Stick Rock the victory by .24 points. Brock Purdy (27), Jonathan Taylor (25) and Dallas Goedert (25) kept them within striking distance. The -8 from Texan’s D/ST nearly cost them the win.
Ghostbusters 166 Wrath of Kahn 122
Ghostbusters opened their 2026 redemption tour with a runaway win over Wrath of Khan. Jimmy grabbed an early 7–0 lead when the Pats D/ST opened the scoring on Wednesday night, but that was as good as it would get. Kyren Williams answered with 15 points on Thursday, and the Ghostbusters’ stars took over from there. Caleb Williams (41), Ashton Jeanty (33), and Amon-Ra St. Brown (28) nearly beat Khan by themselves. Isaiah Likely tried to make things interesting for Khan with a strong 27-point performance on Sunday night, but by then the outcome had already been decided. No other Wrath of Khan starter topped 18 points.
Peeping Tomlin 137 Dark Helmet 129
Dan’s QB-heavy draft paid off right away, with Jaxson Dart (32) and Trevor Lawrence (34) both delivering strong debuts for Dark Helmet. Jared took a similar draft approach, and the Tomlins QB room of Dak Prescott (18) and Patrick Mahomes (26) did just enough to snatch the victory. Justin Jefferson (31) and DJ Moore (23) provided the scoring to keep things close on Sunday so that they were in position for the MNF comeback win.
Dan’s quarterbacks set the tone in Week 1 helped by Trey McBride’s (24) strong outing. But Courtland Sutton’s (3) Monday Night no-show cost Helmet the victory.
Milford Football Team 170 Skoal Bandits 154
The season’s first father-son matchup featured the Milford Football Team against the Skoal Bandits. The game stayed tight throughout, with only 13 points separating the teams heading into Monday night. For the Bandits to win, Bo Nix needed to outscore Rashee Rice by 14 points. And…. He didn’t
MFT’s top scorers were Josh Allen (39), Derrick Henry (36), and David Montgomery (28). The Bandits were led by Bijan Robinson (31), Zay Flowers (28), and Nico Collins (21).
AI Insights for Week 1
High Score
Stick Rock led the league this week with an impressive 174pts
Bottom of the Pile😬
It wasn’t the finest week for Wrath of Khan, who was left in the dust with a lowly 122pts
Bragging Rights💪
Black Ghostbusters blew out Wrath of Khan by 44.62pts (166.9pts to 122.28pts)
Bad Beat🤕
Mel Kiper’s Best Available lost to Stick Rock by a razor thin margin of just 0.24pts! Keep an eye on those stat corrections... 😰
Lucky Break🍀
“Lucky” is an understatement for Peeping Tomlins, as they took away the win with an all-play record of 2-7 🍀🍀🍀
Not So Lucky...😡
If you ain’t first you’re last, and the 2nd highest score in the league wasn’t enough for Mel Kiper’s Best Available to get a win this week, as they went down 173.72pts to 173.96pts to Stick Rock 🤮
Sharp-Shooter🎯
Take a bow, Dark Helmet. You led the league this week with a 98% accuracy score!