What's next for Zach Wilson and the Jets? 🤔

Aaron Rodgers in New York could realistically go down as one of the greatest one ifs in NFL history – or in all of sports history, for that matter.

What’s in store:

• The football Gods frowned upon Aaron Rodgers the Jet. Zach Wilson will take over, but is he worth rostering?

• Target Dalton Kincaid? The Bills rookie TE turned in some very promising usage on Monday night.

• Could this be Raheem Mostert’s peak value? Zach thinks so - and he’s suggesting you sell him high.

• Wait a minute… we’ve been here before with Cam Akers. After a Week 1 performance that left much to be desired, this stat tells a concerning story about what we’ve seen so far in the Rams’ backfield.

• Jets QB Aaron Rodgers manages just four snaps before tearing Achilles, will miss the entire 2023 season

  • The nightmare scenario took all of three minutes to unfold at MetLife on Monday night. Rodgers is expected to miss the entire 2023 season in what will likely go down as one of the biggest deflations of potential in NFL history. Meanwhile, the Jets offense will be forced to lean on Zach Wilson at QB for the time being. In most leagues, Zach Wilson can be left on waivers, but he could be worth a pickup in 2QB and superflex leagues with plenty of weapons (Breece Hall, Dalvin Cook, Garrett Wilson) in the Jets offense. It’s also a possibility that the Jets add another quarterback via trade or free agency in 2023, so it’s best to treat the QB situation in New York as a fluid one until further notice. Zach Wilson draws a tough matchup once again in Week 2 against the Cowboys.

• Broncos TE Greg Dulcich is expected to miss multiple weeks with a hamstring injury

  • The injury comes after Dulcich ran less routes and saw fewer snaps than fellow TE Adam Trautman, so it’s a double stock down for the second year man out of UCLA. At this point, Dulcich is a likely drop candidate with plenty of more attractive options being available on waivers and as streamers, and clogging your IR spot with a tight end that’s not running enough routes to begin with is just bad business practice. As long as Trautman is healthy and the Broncos continue to limit Dulcich’s snaps, he’ll be unstartable in almost every league size and format.

• Steelers WR Diontae Johnson will likely miss a few weeks with a hamstring injury

  • With Johnson missing time, Pat Freiermuth, George Pickens, and Calvin Austin all get boosts moving forward. Calvin Austin was utilized as a 1:1 replacement in relief of Diontae Johnson when he left the game last week, so it will be interesting to see if that continues in Week 2. Regardless, Johnson was easily the Steelers’ top target earner when he was on the field, earning the highest targets per route run of any Pittsburgh pass catcher on the day. What’s more: Calvin Austin came in and averaged a higher targets per route run than Freiermuth, Robinson, and Pickens. With plenty of targets available in the Steelers offense, all of the aforementioned names stand to benefit in the coming weeks until Johnson is ready to return.

BUY RB Jahmyr Gibbs, DET

• Among RBs with 5+ carries: 1st in MTF/ATT, 3rd in YCO/ATT

• Gibbs and Montgomery really go hand in hand as buys and sells. Montgomery got the majority of the work on the ground, and that was problematic in Week 1 – but do we really think this is going to be the split the rest of the way when Gibbs looked as good as he did last Thursday?

• I didn’t think that people would be quick to give up on Gibbs after one game, but some of the trade questions I’ve heard and I know you’ve heard over the past week have been really surprising. If the guy that has Gibbs in your league is panicking, go get Gibbs pronto. It’s not just the eye test that Gibbs passes - he forced missed tackles at the highest rate in the NFL in Week 1. Obviously, it was a very light workload, but it was every time he touched the ball that he was making dudes just look silly.

• The Lions love him, and they said his workload was intentionally low in Week 1. The sooner they ramp up his touches, the better, but you have to imagine that he’ll be fully involved by Week 4 at the latest, right?

BUY TE Dalton Kincaid, BUF

• The Bills had a really hard time last night against your Jets, but nobody would have been surprised if you told them that would happen even before the game. The Jets have had the Bills number for a while, and the Aaron Rodgers drama hung incredibly heavy over the night - which actually allowed one Dalton Kincaid’s performance to slip through the cracks a bit last night.

• He was heavily utilized: the Bills ran tons of 12 personnel, and he saw 55 snaps on the night to go along with four targets. But Josh Allen was just uncharacteristically bad. Besides the obvious turnover issues, it was a triple feature of him holding onto the ball too long, getting harassed by the Jets defensive line, and taking ill-advised rushing attempts. Allen will bounce back, and so will the Bills offense, and that has me excited for what Kincaid can be.

• It was a quiet box score finish for him, but there’s no No. 2 in Buffalo right now. Dawson Knox has been around and Gabe Davis still isn’t reliable enough to qualify as one, so that leaves Kincaid as the lone contender for that role - and his usage in the first game suggests that he could grow into that kind of role sooner rather than later.

SELL RB Raheem Mostert, MIA

• Tua threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns in an offensive shootout with the Chargers that saw Miami lean beyond heavily on the passing game – and that formula worked for them. And by some miracle, Raheem Mostert managed to put up 13 PPR points and score a touchdown for good measure!

• That pushed him into sell-high territory in my book, primarily because you’re just not going to be able to realistically flip him for a solid RB2 a few weeks from now when Jeff Wilson is back and potentially even Devon Achane. That’s not to say that you’re going to be able to pull off some miraculous 1:1 trade with Mostert, but package up Mostert and a guy like Nico Collins and start firing out offers to whoever lost J.K. Dobbins in Week 1 and pick up a guy like Brandin Cooks, Tyler Lockett, or even an Amari Cooper depending on the guy you’re trading with.

• These are aiming high, obviously, but Mostert isn’t going to be anything besides a throw in by midseason and you can take advantage of the early season panic.

Coming into the 2023 season, Cam Akers had some momentum to ride after a very strong finish to 2022 that saw him dominate the Rams backfield and finish among the league’s best in terms of fantasy production (RB4 overall in points over the last five weeks). While he certainly saw the volume on the ground in Week 1 (22 touches), it was the sudden emergence of Kyren Williams that limited Cam Akers in the Rams’ first game action of the season.

After having TOTAL control of the red zone and goal line touches down the stretch in 2022, Cam Akers lost it to Kyren Williams against the Seahawks in Week 1. Akers has just two red zone carries to Williams’ six and just one rushing touchdown to Williams’ two. Moreover, Williams looked much more dynamic with the ball in his hands, with Cam Akers trudging to an average yards per carry of an abysmal 1.32.

Akers playing behind another running back to open the season isn’t just any novel occurrence, either. Akers famously played behind Darrell Henderson in Week 1 of the 2022 season as well, and it looks like he could be in for more of the same treatment in 2023. Things could still tip in his favor, but the Rams leaned heavily on Williams and he delivered in a surprising 30-13 win over Seattle.