The 2016 Fantasy Football season is back! 

There were some strong Fantasy performances last night, so let’s jump right in and take a look at what happened.

I’ll start with the Denver Broncos.

This was a tough matchup, but I expect to see the same type of performances moving forward from quarterback Trevor Siemian.

He just needs to be a game manager in this offense.

Unfortunately for owners of Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, this is going to limit their Fantasy production (especially in standard leagues). Siemian only attempted 26 passes last night, and finished with just 178 passing yards.

Thomas posted a 4-48-0 line, and Sanders posted a 5-49-0 line. One of the players I’m still interested in, though, is Virgil Green.

Green caught four passes for 28 yards, but he did almost haul in a touchdown. He was wide open, but Siemian’s pass was swatted away. If he had caught that pass, Green would have finished with 12 points in PPR leagues.

His receiving stats are going to be limited, but Green should continue to see targets in the red zone.

Of course, the star of this game was C.J. Anderson. He earned the first-round price tag or second-round price tag he had last season. But because he underperformed in 2015 and was drafted too high, his ADP price tag corrected itself and gave savvy players a nice discount in Round 4 or Round 5.

Anderson actually recorded fewer offensive snaps than Ronnie Hillman last season, but he was clearly the lead back on Thursday. He turned 20 carries into 92 rushing yards and scored a rushing touchdown. He also posted a 4-47-1 stat line as a receiver.

When I looked at the 20 MFL10 teams I drafted, I was glad to see Anderson was on five of my rosters.

The only thing you have to worry about with Anderson is an excessive workload. But as a 25-year old back, he at least has his age on his side and hasn’t had a heavy workload in the previous seasons to wear him down.

Here are the final stats for the players on Denver for PPR leagues:

For the Carolina Panthers, Cam Newton looked very poised for most of the game in this rematch.

This was a tough matchup, but he was still able to nab his owners 24.1 points. Newton’s passing stats weren’t amazing: 18 completions, 194 yards, one touchdown pass. But he was able to add value through running the ball.

Newton had 11 carries for 54 yards and a rushing touchdown.

As a Jonathan Stewart owner in one of my season long leagues, it did hurt to see Newton rush that touchdown in from the two-yard line. That’s going to be a concern all season, but it was nice to see Stewart was effective with the touches he did have against a strong defense.

He turned 15 carries into 64 rushing yards. He was only targeted once in the passing attack, though, so he needs to see a lot of carries to get his owners Fantasy points.

Looking ahead to Week 2, I expect Stewart to be much more productive. He tied for second in red-zone rushing attempts last season, and he has a friendly matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

If you sat Kelvin Benjamin, I wouldn’t have blamed you. All week, we heard how he would be on a limited snap count. We also heard over the last several week how Devin Funchess has been pushing Benjamin for targets.

But Benjamin was clearly Newton’s favorite target last night. He was targeted 12 times, caught six passes, recorded 91 receiving yards, and caught a 14-yard touchdown pass.

If Benjamin wasn’t in your lineup last night, I know he will be next week.

Greg Olsen didn’t make a lot of noise in the first half. But Newton started to look his way more in the second half. For the night, he posted a 7-73-0 line. That was a solid performance for PPR leagues.

Outside of that, there weren’t any players to focus on for Fantasy for the Panthers.

Here are the final stats for Newton, Stewart, Benjamin, and Olsen in PPR leagues:

If you’re still trying to set your lineup for the rest of the week, make sure to check out my Week 1 rankings.

Categories: 2016 Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football

Tags: 2016 Fantasy Football Week 1 Recap, Cam Newton Fantasy Football Week 1, Denver Broncos Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos Carolina Panthers Week 1, Week 1 Denver Broncos Recap