NFL Week 1 Game Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Thursday’s game

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

PFF’s fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2025.

Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles

Javonte Williams shines in his Cowboys’ debut: Dallas’ first two drives both ended with touchdowns by Williams.

The Cowboys spent the offseason giving their running back room a complete makeover, moving on from Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook, while bringing in free agents Williams and Miles Sanders and spending a fifth-round pick on Jaydon Blue. The Cowboys rested their starters during the preseason, which led to Williams not playing. Both Sanders and Blue dealt with injuries. They both played during the preseason, but in different games. This left us with little insight into how the running backs would rotate in the regular season. This game was, by far, our best look at how this backfield will shake out early in the season.

We received our first insight into the rotation 90 minutes before kickoff, when Blue was a healthy inactive. He missed a lot of training camp but didn’t appear on the injury report leading up to the game. The Cowboys have fullback Hunter Luepke, who can also play halfback, making it somewhat understandable that Blue sat. Anyone who drafted Blue should keep him on their roster for at least the first few weeks, as things could easily change between now and a month from now.

Williams started the game and had a larger role than he had at any point with the Broncos last season, and better than Dowdle had most of last season. There were a few stretches of the game where Sanders took a few snaps at a time, but other than that, it was all Williams. That included taking snaps in short yardage, at the goal line, on third downs and during the two-minute drill. It appeared the backfield could have shifted once Sanders broke a 49-yard run, but he fumbled. While Williams’ role is great, it’s worth remembering that the Cowboys had the sixth-fewest receptions by running backs last season. Although Williams has a reputation for being a receiving back, the running backs were not a priority in the passing game.

Williams will be a borderline fantasy starter until Blue becomes more involved with the offense. The decision to start him will largely depend on the quality of his opponent and the projected game script. Dallas faces the New York Giants at home next week, which should be a situation where you can start Williams.

KaVontae Turpin continues in a larger role: Turpin ended last season playing just over 50% of Dallas’ offensive snaps, and he continued playing a similar role.

Dallas moved on from Brandin Cooks this offseason, replacing him with George Pickens. While Pickens unsurprisingly played a high percentage of Dallas’ offensive snaps, there was some question about who would be the third wide receiver on the team. Jalen Tolbert was the incumbent third receiver, but returner extraordinaire KaVontae Turpin has been listed ahead of Tolbert on the depth chart. Turpin was among the starters who sat out the preseason, while Tolbert had to play the first two games. This suggested that Turpin would be the third receiver.

Tolbert started because Turpin is the primary kick returner. Tolbert continued to be on the field to start most drives, but Turpin joined on the following play. Turpin was the primary receiver in three-receiver sets on the second play of drives until the end of drives. Tolbert remained similar to Turpin in terms of snaps because he was the primary wide receiver in 13 personnel.

While Turpin made a few plays, it’s unlikely he can be trusted in fantasy starting lineups this season because he will remain a part-time player in three-receiver sets.

Monitor Will Shipley’s health: Shipley suffered a rib injury and was deemed questionable to return.

The Eagles moved on from long-time backup running back Kenneth Gainwell this offseason, allowing 2024 fourth-round pick Shipley to step into the primary backup spot. Philadelphia started the game with two long drives, in which Shipley took three snaps in the middle of the first drive and two snaps in the middle of the second. He gained 26 yards on three carries, mainly from a 20-yard run.

It’s unclear when the rib injury occurred, but Barkley took all eight snaps for the final drive of the first half. In the second half, it was former Green Bay Packer A.J. Dillon who entered the game to give Barkley a break. Barkley’s playing time was relatively similar to last season in terms of total snaps. However, last season, the Eagles tended to give Barkley his breaks on third downs and during the two-minute drill. In this game, it was more of the early downs where Barkley left the game. If Shipley misses significant time, then it becomes even more likely that Barkley will take his off snaps on early downs.

This may lead to a slight decrease in Barkley’s touches, but he could make up for that with more catches, helping him in PPR leagues. Assuming Shipley is healthy, the first half made it a little clearer that Shipley is Barkley’s clear handcuff.

Miscellaneous Notes

• As the season progressed, the Eagles became less versatile in their A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith usage. Brown’s rates as an outside receiver on the line of scrimmage were rising, as did Smith’s rates of lining up in the slot. That continued in this game.
• Brown had a very quiet game, a trend that occurred in multiple games last season. While Brown has the talent of a top-five wide receiver, the Eagles have too much talent on offense, which is why Brown wasn’t drafted until WR10.
• Jahan Dotson has 122 receiving yards in his first 17 games with the Eagles, but he has generated 153 yards in his last two. He remains the clear third receiver in Philadelphia’s three-receiver sets.
• The Eagles have two new backup wide receivers in John Metchie III and undrafted rookie Darius Cooper. Neither played an offensive snap in the first half, while both took offensive snaps in the second half.
• Eagles third-string quarterback Tanner McKee was inactive for this game due to a right thumb injury.
• Eagles fullback Ben VanSumeren was injured on the opening kickoff and was carted off the field. The Eagles used more 13 personnel than they typically played last season, in part because of the VanSumeren injury.
• The Cowboys’ tight end rotation with Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker and Brevyn Spann-Ford was remarkably similar to last season. Jake Ferguson was almost always the tight end in 11 personnel on passing downs, often in 11 personnel on early downs, but he only played less than half of the snaps in two-tight-end sets.
• The Cowboys elevated wide receiver Ryan Flournoy to the active roster for this game. The Cowboys only had four other wide receivers on the roster. Jonathan Mingo is on injured reserve with a designation to return.

Table notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.

This news was originally published on this post .

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