*(same intro every day) Right before the new preseason starts, I like to go back and re-read our Week 1 reports from the prior season...just for fun and for seeing what our first reactions to the new season were--what did we see that we would soon regret, what was revealed that we were wrong about all preseason (last preseason), and where we were on the money for the season about to unfold...were we more right than wrong about the first reactions to 2025 going into it.
So, I'm going to post one a day for 16 days leading right up to the 2026 HOF game that kicks off the preseason. I'm not adding any notes or trying to explain or make excuses or let you know we figured it out the next week. It's just here to read...open source, not behind the paywall. Judge it how you like to judge it if you're a nonsubscriber--I'm not going to try to whitewash anything or give extra explanations. This just some reading material from what is the single most important thing we do each year--watch and scout the games each week and report out our findings and make FF reactions to them. Every week, it's a new week to make adjustments to. This is just every team's Week 1 as we wrote it. Enjoy...or don't.
What I like is some of the memories of Week 1 that comes rushing back when I'm reading these a year later...on top of seeing what we were seeing right off the bat.
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Ding-Dong, the wicked witch/the Chiefs are dead.
Not that the Chiefs are not a viable title threat still, maybe...but I think the AFC West ‘leader torch’ was grabbed away from KC by LAC in this very game...and I don’t think they’re giving it back anytime soon. And Denver is in this AFC West mix too...so, KC might really be the 3rd-best team in the AFC West now...but granted that’s three powerhouse teams there.
Last season was probably the tipping point of the KC dynasty, where they were good...but they also got incredibly lucky in so many games that they dodged-ducked-dipped-dived and dodged all the way to the Super Bowl and then got spanked. You could see the carryover of last year’s decline in this game...Kelce is slowing down...their weapons are not as good as LAC’s weapons...their defense is melting. They are still very good...just not as good as LAC, and probably not as good as Denver...nor as good as the Ravens...nor as good as the Bills. And the Chiefs face Philly Week 2...so (0-2) is staring them in the face. Baltimore Week 4, Detroit Week 6...a (2-4) potential start, on their way to a 9-10 win season, perhaps -- and that won’t fly in/win the AFC West.
You could see the frustration in the Chiefs faces and body language in this game...they knew this game was bigger than ‘wow/surprise the Chargers finally won’. I think the Chiefs could/can see the end of the era is at hand. Players were jawing at each other on the field. The Chiefs sideline was nowhere as enthusiastic as the Chargers. This wasn’t a scoreboard ‘thing’...it was an ‘end of an era thing’...and that realization feels really heavy. If they get smacked down by Philly Week 2, then you’re really gonna see it in the players’ body language. And if this team wins just 9-10 games and is then clearly going to have to retool the roster in years to come to catch up to LAC and Denver...we’re probably looking at Andy Reid’s final season as an NFL head coach this season. He’ll retire and await his Hall of Fame knock on the door.
You know how good the Chargers were here? They tried to do every stupid Chargers thing they could to let KC win this game...they tried to blow their lead all game, but they overcame even their own jinxed selves. The slap to the head penalty to extend a drive against Kelce for no reason...the Omarion Hampton run out of bounds before halftime to allow KC to get the ball back with a timeout still in stock as KC raced down the field for a quick, gift score before the half...the dropped Quentin Johnston TD pass. The Chargers didn’t help themselves...and STILL won this game...STILL pretty much dominated the Chiefs.
All hail the new AFC West King, the L.A. Chargers. At least, for this week. If Herbert goes down...it’s over before it gets started.
Player Notes...
-- Well, that was a good start for Justin Herbert (25-34 for 318 yards, 3 TDs/0 INT)...our preferred either emergency redraft QB pick if we missed on the ‘Big 5’ or our early pick #2 QB to go with one of the ‘Big 5’. If you had him on the bench for Week 1...take solace in the fact that exactly what we were hoping for with Herbert was on display in this game -- the arms, the legs, the vision...THE VOLUME!
Anyone think I’m crazy now for rating Herbert the #2 QB talent in all of football in a summer ‘QB hierarchy’? Better than Mahomes, sorry...it was true in August and it’s true now. If I could re-rank/project the QBs for redraft 2025...I would have Herbert ahead of Jalen Hurts and debating him ahead of Josh Allen...it was THAT impressive here.
And Herbert left some stuff on the table...a 20+ yard run of his called back due to a silly penalty. A long TD pass to Ladd McConkey, just overthrown by a half a yard. QJ dropping a TD pass. Herbert was very close to having a monster performance against a pretty decent defense.
I have no doubts about Herbert this season...Ross Jacobs was on the money this summer letting us all know this would be a higher volume Chargers passing game and higher volume Herbert running...beautiful things for FF purposes.
-- Chargers WR notes...
I can not like it all I want, and he can drop every other pass thrown to him...but Quentin Johnston (5-79-2/7) is beloved by Jim Harbaugh, so I’m done saying anything bad against QJ. I love him now...always have. I can’t fight this anymore. On 31 other teams, QJ is benched...on the Chargers, he’s a TD machine. It’s kinda brilliant...a plan of be so bad that the defense is not worried about covering you assuming you’ll drop any pass your way.
Ladd McConkey (6-74-0/9) had a solid FF game. He’s always open. He had a 30+ yard TD in the bag, beating double coverage (as he does) but Herbie overthrew him by a half of a yard or so. He catches that and Ladd posts another 20+ spot for PPR.
The best thing the Chargers may have done for their 2025 season...for Justin Herbert to go to the next level...was to sign Keenan Allen (7-68-1/10). How much better is this offense with Keenan there in the lineup instead of rookies...or QJ taking an even more prominent role? Biggest game for the Chargers in the Harbaugh era, and they guy they signed a few weeks ago leads them in targets and catches. Keenan is legit for FF 2025.
So is Ladd.
So is my all-time favorite, Quentin.
Tre Harris and KLS...better luck next year.
-- Patrick Mahomes (24-39 for 258 yards, 1 TD/0 INT, 6-57-1) showed off his new physique and ran for 57 yards and played an overall good game but looked nothing like the meticulous Herbert.
Whereas Herbert has Ladd, and now Hall of Famer Keenan Allen, and decent #3-4-5 WR options...Mahomes is having the Chiefs terrible WR scouting over the years catch up to them. Rashee Rice suspended. Xavier Worthy, an injury fear on thin frame...hurt 3rd play of the game and then was gone. JuJu-Hollywood...nice about 7 years ago. With all those headwinds, Mahomes still had a good game. And the fact that KC may have no run game/O-Line (or it may be the LAC defense is stellar, or both)...Mahomes is gonna have to carry the team, and that might be excellent for FF...as the team fights just to make the playoffs.
-- Chiefs WR Report...
If Xavier Worthy (0-0-0/1) is out for a while, with Rashee gone, KC has nowhere to turn for help...no one is gonna be trading real WRs right now. It’s gonna be a pecking order of...
Hollywood Brown (10-99-0/16) as the #1 look...16 targets in this game lets you know where Mahomes’s mind is at. That’s a bad, but serviceable, #1 WR in the Year of Our Lord 2025.
JuJu Smith-Schuster (5-55-0/5) is the probable #2, but a distance off of #1 target Hollywood. I thought JuJu looked good/solid here. He can be a WR3-ish option while Rice/Worthy are gone.
Tyquan Thornton (2-41-0/4) will be the Xavier Worthy fill in, and thus someone that will have heat off waivers this upcoming week. Thornton is similar to Worthy...he’ll be a big play threat. He had a great summer. He had flashes with NE. I have some interest here, depending...
I’ve yet to mention Travis Kelce (2-47-1/4)...on purpose. This is where he will be at in the pecking order--4 targets a game guy, give or take. If there was any time that there should have been a Kelce RISE for/with Mahomes...it was this moment with the WR suspensions and injuries...with the #1 and #2 WRs gone and LAC controlling the game...and Mahomes in dire need...and Kelce gets just 4 targets...dropping/miscommunicated on a 2nd TD. Kelce is on the Mark Andrews 2024-2025 trajectory...slowly fading away. Father Time is eventually undefeated. But Kelce can get 6-8 TDs with his 1-3 catches a game and be a TE1-ish option...but gone is the old Kelce top tier FF magic. It was gone last year.
-- Chiefs RB report...
Other Chiefs’ magic from the past is now gone...the run game/Isiah Pacheco (5-25-0, 2-3-0/3). It’s not that Pacheco looked bad, but he’s only human like many RBs...RBs that will be as good as the situation they’re in. Between a worse O-Line than in their glory years, a tougher opponent...the stage was set poorly, but then the biggest thing is -- Pacheco is NOT considered by the coach as ‘the man’ in this backfield. 51% of the snaps played...5 carries...2 targets. Pacheco is headed towards an RB2/3 season...more ‘lean’ RB3.
Kareem Hunt (5-16-0, 2-10-0/3), I maintain, is Andy Reid’s favorite RB of his stable...but he likes Pacheco too. When crisis hit/LAC controlling the game/the game getting down to a 4th-quarter battle...it was Kareem Hunt getting as many snaps and touches/more visible down the stretch. Hunt has RB3 potential...Hunt has ‘takeover the backfield lead’ potential, but that really not meaning anything that FF-special. Pacheco will always see work too.
Brashard Smith (0-0-0, 0-0-0/0) was in a decent amount for a rookie with Pacheco-Hunt ahead of him, but he’s there for ‘gimmickry’ (jet sweeps, some WR work, some traditional RB work) -- but Mahomes dealt him nothing.
-- Chargers RB report...
Anyone else not really that impressed with Omarion Hampton (15-48-0, 2-13-0/2)? Not that he was bad, but he was a basic bully runner up the middle...looked fine enough doing it, but he wasn’t making plays...he was just running straight ahead and crashing into things.
It’s a rookie debut, so we’ll give some grace on this unique Brazil stage...but the first game impression was not anything that blew me away. How is Hampton a 1st-round pick and Braelon Allen a 4th-round pick after a million other backs were taken that draft and is now just a backup for the Jets? Allen is bigger and as good as Hampton for the NFL...but not as good/viable for FF yet.
Najee Harris (1-5-0, 1-5-0/1) didn’t get any special treatment here. Hampton was so ‘meh’, I wonder if Najee is gonna work towards a more equal work split ahead. Hampton may break out in 1-3 weeks and we’re going nuts over Omarion...but not today.
-- A very good/solid game by the Chargers DST. It could be a combination of the Chargers D is solid, and the Chiefs offense just isn’t what we tend to think it is. I’ll love them at Las Vegas Week 2!
-- IDP notes...
Drue Tranquill (5 tackles, 2.0 sacks) looked reborn/not taking crap from anyone. He was about to get into a fight with Chris Jones on the field late. Tranquill is talented...a tough cookie/someone not to mess with...a starter...and a team captain.
Daiyan Henley (8 tackles,1 sack) is gonna be a top 10 LB for IDP this year, if healthy.
LAC CB Tarheeb Still (3 tackles)...the dude just makes plays...whether preseason or regular. Great scouting by LAC.
Snap Counts of Interest:
65 = Bolton
54 = Tranquill
23 = Chenal
09 = Gillotte
00 = Nohl Williams
