Week 1 fantasy football sleepers: Bryce Young, Drake Maye poised for hot starts

You've heard the Drake Maye hype all offseason. He's been the late-round quarterback that all your favorite (and not-so-favorite) fantasy analysts love. Maye flashed at times during his rookie campaign. The problem was that the Patriots had, in terms of combined receiving yards, the worst WR room in the league. They took pains to change that this year. We're not sure how much 31-year-old Stefon Diggs has left in the tank after tearing his ACL in 2024, but he's better on paper than anyone New England trotted out last year. The Pats also added a new (old?) offensive coordinator, reuniting with Josh McDaniels yet again. 

The Raiders feel like a good opening test for Maye and the Pats. Las Vegas had a middling pass defense last season, finishing 15th in passing yards allowed. But they did give up a lot of aerial touchdowns (29, tied for fifth-most in the NFL) and did not notch a ton of interceptions (10, tied for 22nd) or sacks (38, tied for 21st). Pete Carroll will aim to improve those defensive numbers, but it might not happen right away. Here's a chance for the second-year pro to get off to a hot start while also showing there might be more in the New England receiver corps than we anticipated. 

I've been happy taking Young as my QB2 in the late rounds. His short career has already been a study in patience. The football world was ready to give up on him after Year 1. In Year 2, it seemed like the Panthers were ready to give up on him, at least temporarily. But by the end of his second season, Young had made obvious strides. From Weeks 12-18 in 2024, he was the QB6 in fantasy points, buoyed by a healthy dose of rushing yards. 

Carolina has tried to surround him with talent at the skill positions. The latest effort included spending the eighth overall pick on receiver Tetairoa McMillan, and the Panthers apparently felt good enough about their receiver room that they were willing to trade Adam Thielen back to the Vikings. On Sunday, Dave Canales' offense will take on a Jaguars defense that allowed a league-high 4,375 passing yards last season. Young is a definite starter in multiple-QB formats and could have fringe QB1 appeal in deep leagues. 

One of the burning questions about the Jaguars' offense has centered on the backfield. Last season, Bigsby and Travis Etienne engaged in an apparent power struggle, and the ultimate winner was ... unclear. The duo posted similar totals (820 yards from scrimmage on 175 touches for Bigsby, 812 scrimmage yards on 189 touches for Etienne), though Bigsby had a distinct edge in touchdowns (10 to two) while Etienne was the pass-catching back of choice (with 39 catches to Bigsby's seven). The arrival of a new coaching staff under Liam Coen has not cleared up the pecking order. 

Regardless of who is officially named RB1 in a given game, Bigsby is in line to handle a substantial workload and should get plenty of touches -- especially around the goal line. This week, he gets to go against a Panthers run defense hoping to rise from an abysmal 2024. Down the line, this could be a muddied backfield if rookie Bhayshul Tuten gets involved. For now, the elusive Bigsby should be on fantasy radars as a flex option in deeper leagues. 

This isn't an indictment of Aaron Jones. I still believe in the veteran and think he'll have a solid season. It is, however, an acknowledgment that the Vikings might want to take some work off the 30-year-old's plate after he logged a career-high 306 touches in 2024. Mason was a popular add early last year, when he subbed in for the Niners while Christian McCaffrey rehabbed an Achilles' injury -- at least until Mason suffered an injury of his own. In San Francisco's first seven games, Mason averaged 95 rushing yards while tallying three scores. With his path to significant touches still blocked by CMC, the Niners dealt Mason to the Twin Cities.

Mason won't be the starter in Minnesota, either, barring an injury to Jones. But he should get more consistent usage behind a veteran who topped 250 touches in a season just twice before last year. Teams ran frequently against the Bears last season -- in part because Chicago's offense struggled to sustain possessions. Facing Minnesota's Brian Flores-led defense won't be conducive to marching up and down the field for the Bears. If the Vikings deploy a run-heavy offensive script, Mason should be heavily involved. 

Remember when I wrote about the Panthers feeling good enough about their receiver room to trade away Adam Thielen? McMillan is the centerpiece of that Era of Good Feeling. Carolina is looking for any kind of consistent playmaker in its passing game. Last year, Xavier Legette led the squad in receptions ... with 49. Bryce Young's evolution is exciting. But he's going to need more from his pass catchers. 

Enter McMillan. The 6-foot-5 wideout was uber-productive during his last two seasons at Arizona. Over his final 25 collegiate games, McMillan logged 174 catches for 2,721 yards and 18 touchdowns. More importantly, he offers the kind of big target and jump-ball threat that Carolina's offense has been missing on the outside. Expect to see those attributes on display against the Jaguars in Week 1. If we're lucky, we might even get a McMillan-Travis Hunter matchup. Wouldn't that be fun? 

The first step to getting help is admitting you have a problem. Coleman took that first step by calling his rookie season "trash." I wouldn't have been so harsh, but it was definitely underwhelming. After being drafted with the 33rd overall pick in 2024, Coleman posted just 29 catches for 556 yards. Missing four games with a hand/wrist injury didn't help matters. 

Now, though, combine Coleman's desire to improve with glowing camp reports from coaches, teammates and reporters alike. There's space for Coleman to make a leap in 2025 in a passing game that doesn't feature many sure things. Khalil Shakir is solid but unspectacular, while Josh Palmer has never lived up to expectations. Week 1 features a tough Ravens defense. Then again, this matchup also figures to be one of the higher-scoring games of the week. Targets aplenty could be funneled Coleman's way, and a statement game could set the second-year pro toward a big season. 

When evaluating the Texans' pass-catching options over the past two offseasons, we've done a lot of handwringing about how the target distribution was going to go, often boiling the situation down to "Nico Collins and Everybody Else" (which sounds like a cool name for a retro-soul band). But somehow, Everybody Else rarely included Dalton Schultz. Yes, his eventual TE20 finish in 2024 was unsatisfying, and he likely finished the year on plenty of waiver wires -- but he was also second in Houston in targets and receptions while finishing third in receiving yards.  

Fast-forward to 2025, and we're doing it again. Except this year, Everybody Else doesn't feature Tank Dell, Stefon Diggs, or even Joe Mixon -- at least for now. Meanwhile, here's Dalton Schultz, still standing. You'll have to pick your spots with Schultz. His floor is unstable, and the ceiling isn't particularly high. But if there was ever a week for C.J. Stroud to feature Schultz, it's this one, taking on a Rams defense that was a boon for opposing tight ends in 2024.

When evaluating Taylor, some have fallen back on his family lineage as the son of Jason Taylor and the nephew of Zach Thomas. But I'm no geneticist, so let's skip that (somewhat silly) conversation and focus on the playmaking ability Taylor the Younger flashed during his collegiate career, despite never being one of LSU's top two targets -- that'll happen when you play alongside Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. 

In 2025, Taylor has the chance to do the funniest thing ever: be the first Jets tight end in a long time (maybe ever?) with fantasy relevance. That's not a very high bar. The Jets have never had a tight end reach 900 yards in a season. Taylor might not hit that plateau in his rookie season, but he could get off to a quick start in an offense devoid of pass-catching playmakers beyond Garrett Wilson. Taylor is a definite stash and could be a low-end TE1 if he can find the end zone. 

See, here's the thing about the Saints' offense: It's probably going to be bad. Ideally, I'd end the analysis right here, but my editors will send it back to me and ask for "elaboration." Sigh. OK. 

Last season, the Saints ranked 24th among scoring offenses. That was after tallying 91 total points in their first two games. That was also with Derek Carr under center for much of the season. In the six games Spencer Rattler started at QB, New Orleans averaged 12.3 points per game with nine total giveaways. Saints fans will hope for more from Rattler as their current QB1. But with a new offensive coaching staff, that improvement might not happen immediately. If you're the type to stream your defense, the Redbirds are a sneaky option. 

See, here's the thing about the Steelers offen -- OK, I won't do that again. I don't expect Pittsburgh to be as offensively challenged as their black-and-gold clad brethren to the south. But I don't expect the Steelers to be a juggernaut, either. Replacing George Pickens with DK Metcalf is a lateral move, statistically. Stylistically, the same could be said of inserting Kaleb Johnson in Najee Harris' place. And maybe Aaron Rodgers could go on a revenge tour in his NFL swan song. But signs point to him being closer to washed than ever, including his completion percentage over expectation (-4.7%) and total EPA (-41.3) last season, his lowest such marks since 2016, per Next Gen Stats.

As for the Jets' defense, it didn't surrender a lot of yards last season. However, it was let down by an offense that couldn't sustain drives. (I'm drawing a blank on who their quarterback was last year. Give me a moment, it'll come to me.) Anyway, Gang Green did a decent job of getting to the passer in 2024, ranking in the top half of the league in sacks. If Aaron Glenn and Steve Wilks can turn up the heat, the Jets could cook in Week 1.