ALERT: The Saints have ruled out Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave, and Derek Carr for Monday Night.

Preseason Week 1 Highlights

Friday, Aug 10, 2018 at 12:00 pm ET


Yes, it's just Week 1 and most of the key skilled-position players didn't play, but that doesn't mean that there weren't a few nuggets to take away from the opening week. We're looking at who showed flashes of brilliance, who looked rusty, and how some of the workload was shared.

* Saquon BarkleySaquon Barkley's first play was a beautiful 39-yard run. He didn't do much after that, but we got a chance to see what he's capable of and it was impressive.

* Andrew Luck played. This was the first time in 19 months that the QB was under center in a competitive situation. While his stats weren't impressive, the bigger takeaway is that he was having fun, playing well, and got up immediately after taking two big hits.

* Another QB coming back from injury is Texans QB Deshaun Watson who saw very little action (1-for-1 for 4 yards), but simply being on the field was the significant piece. Watson is ranked 4th among QB's on FFN and carries injury risk. The Texans are being careful with him, but it was good to see him on the field.

* The Bills' QB situation is going to be a question mark, but what isn't in question is how many targets we can expect for WR Kelvin Benjamin. He was targeted 4 times catching all of them for 59 yards and a trip to the endzone.

* The Panthers used RB Christian McCaffrey instead of C.J. Anderson on the goalline and he was able to find the endzone from 2 yards out.

* We are expecting a lot from Bengals RB Joe Mixon and he didn't disappoint. He looked very impressive against the Bears finding the endzone on a 24-yard receiving score.

* Browns TE David Njoku, a potential breakout candidate this season, surprised many with two scores last night - one from Tyrod Taylor and the other from Baker Mayfield (who received a ton of work and made the most of his opportunities). Njoku is currently the 14th ranked TE on FFN and that could change in the next few weeks.

* The Titans backfield was split 3 to 1 with Derrick Henry getting a bit more work than Dion Lewis.

* Jaguars QB Blake Bortles only played on one drive, but he looked good going 6-for-9, 53 yards, and a score. Both Dede Westbrook and Donte Moncrief saw 3 targets from him.

* With 7 targets, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes spread the ball around effectively looking Kelce's way 3 times and Hill & Hunt twice.

Obviously we need to take Week 1 Preseason with a grain of salt, but there are some positive takeaways that we can build upon.

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