Fantasy Football Bold Predictions: Ashton Jeanty Finishes RB1, Tee Higgins Goes Big-Game Hunting

Fantasy football is an unpredictable game. Things will happen that are out of the ordinary on a weekly basis. For that reason, I am going to make some bold predictions for Week 1 of fantasy football. I have a hunch that the following outcomes will become reality. Let's have some fun!

Newly Healthy Ashton Jeanty Finishes RB1

Jeanty has been sidelined for about 3 weeks now. There was concern that he might not play Week 1, but fantasy owners got good news. Jeanty will play, and he expects no dip in efficiency.

The other concern among fans is that of rookie Mike Washington Jr. Will he cut into Jeanty's workload? I do not think that he does. Instead, I think Washington Jr. takes all of the secondary ball-carrying work. Both Dylan Laube and Roman Hemby have zero projections for this week. Washington Jr. is my RB46 for the week with about 6 rushing attempts to his name.

Facing the NFL's worst-projected defense (Miami), Jeanty can easily get loose for some explosive plays. Let's remind ourselves how good this man is by clicking here to view his unreal college highlights at Boise St.

Javonte Williams Scores the Most Non-QB Touchdowns

Cowboys COO/co-owner Stephen Jones says on @1053thefan that RB Malik Davis suffered a "pretty serious injury" that "could take him out for some period of time."
— Tommy Yarrish (@tommy_yarrish) September 11, 2026

Malik Davis was named the Cowboys' backup over Jaydon Blue and Emari Demercado. That situation was very short-lived as Davis endured a serious hip injury just two days before the team'sshort-lived season debut. Davis is now out for the season. As for Blue, he is not on the current roster, which means that Demercado is the sole backup on the active roster.

Given the shallow depth chart, Williams' yard-share projection rose from 68% to 78% this week. He is expected to have 19 rushing attempts for 85 yards and 0.8 touchdowns, which is the 5th most on the week among running backs. Despite being viewed as the RB13, I think that Williams has tremendous upside, all thanks to an immense usage rate that will ensue on Sunday night.

Tyler Allgeier Scores, and Jeremiyah Love Does Not

With a ton of caution, the Cardinals have listed Love as active for the Cardinals' Week 1 game. Nonetheless, Love is not expected to be 100%. In that case, I have accounted for a mild rise in the run splits, a slight increase between Love and Allgeier.

The new projection finds Love at 50% and Allgeier at 38% of the Cardinals' Week 1 rushing yards. Given Allgeier's bruising ability, do not be surprised to see him in goal-line sets over Love. Bijan Robinson's owners know that all too well. On the week, Love is the RB25 to Allgeier's RB41 designation. Love is projected to have just 0.4 touchdowns to Allgeier's 0.3.

Tee Higgins Outperforms Ja'Marr Chase

Consider this a tout for Higgins, not so much a knock on Chase. As discussed in my top lineup stacks of the week piece, Higgins has a slightly better matchup against the Bengals' secondary. He shall see more of Jacob Parrish and Chase, more of Zyon McCollum. Parrish has recently moved from nickel to boundary cornerback. His statistics do not show anything that scary.

If we want to twist the words here, can we say that both Chase and Higgins finish as top-10 wide receivers? That is something to be perfectly fine in stating. Chase is my WR2 this week, as he could be WR1 since Puka Nacua underperformed. Higgins is the WR15.

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