Preseason Week 1 Game Recap: Immediate fantasy football takeaways from Sunday's game

• Luther Burden III is sixth on the depth chart: The Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver missed significant practice time, which had him playing longer than you would typically expect for a high second-round pick.
Malik Washington was constantly given the ball: Washington either received a pass or received a handoff on five of his seven offensive snaps before his day was done earlier than most Miami Dolphins starters.
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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.

Miami Dolphins @ Chicago Bears

Luther Burden III begins far down the depth chart: Burden III played throughout the first half while other wide receivers exited the game early.

When Burden was drafted, he was expected to be the Bears’ third wide receiver behind D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze. However, he missed two months during OTAs due to a hamstring injury, so he’s had a slower start than most rookies. The Bears sat starters and key backups, which included Moore, Odunze and free-agent addition Olamide Zaccheaus. It’s at least possible Zaccheaus is the Bears' third wide receiver in Week 1.

Burden started this game along with backups Tyler Scott and Devin Duvernay. Over the first 14 offensive plays, Burden only played in three-receiver sets. Sometimes a player only plays in three-receiver sets because they are the slot receiver, but in this case, it was because Burden was lower on the depth chart. Burden was the primary slot receiver, but Scott also played multiple snaps out of the slot on plays where Burden lined up out wide. Duvernay stopped playing on offense midway through their second drive, and at that point, Burden started playing in two-receiver sets as well as three.

There is plenty of time for Burden to work his way up the depth chart, but at this point, he needs to surpass Zaccheaus, Scott and Duvernay for playing time this season. That is certainly possible, but anyone drafting Burden shouldn’t expect immediate returns on their investment.

Malik Washington poised to make a larger impact: Washington was the focal point of the Dolphins' offense at the start of the first drive.

Washington was the Dolphins' clear third wide receiver last season but averaged less than two receptions per game. The Dolphins brought in competition in former Tennessee Titans’ starter Nick Westbrook-Ikhine. Tyreek Hill sat out this game due to an oblique injury. Jaylen Waddle also didn’t warm up to play, although it’s less clear why he was absent. This led Washington and Westbrook-Ikhine to be the starters, with Dee Eskridge joining them for three receiver sets.

Washington played each of the first five plays, and the last three were a three-yard reception, a four-yard reception and a six-yard reception. He took two plays off, which is understandable for any receiver after multiple consecutive catches. He returned for a five-yard reception, took another play off, and then took an end-around for six yards. His day on offense was over at that point, finishing with a ridiculous five touches on seven snaps. A high usage rate with the starters won’t guarantee Washington a higher usage rate once the regular season starts, but his usage to start this game, along with an early exit roughly at the same time as De’Von Achane and before Tua Tagovailoa, certainly doesn’t hurt.

Miscellaneous Notes

The Bears rested several starters and key backups for this game. That included quarterback Caleb Williams, running back D’Andre Swift, wide receivers D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze and Olamide Zaccheaus and tight end Cole Kmet.
Bears backup running back Roschon Johnson is dealing with a foot injury, which led him to sit out. There is some concern about the severity of the injury, considering the Bears recently brought in multiple running backs for a visit and are expected to sign one.
Bears seventh-round rookie Kyle Monangai is third on the depth chart and could move up to second. While we can’t tell his odds of moving to second on the depth chart from this game, it was at least good to see that he is clearly ahead of Travis Homer, and that the Bears are comfortable trying him in all situations.
The Bears' first-round pick, tight end Colston Loveland, played the first six plays before his day was done earlier than the rest of the Bears, who started this game.
Dolphins tight end Darren Waller remains on the physically unable to perform list, but he was already listed first on the Dolphins depth chart.
Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold also missed this game because he is in the concussion protocol.
Dolphins running back De’Von Achane played each of the first nine offensive snaps, and then his day was done before the rest of the starters.
While Alexander Mattison and Ollie Gordon II played late into the game, it’s still possible that one or both of these running backs make an impact this season. Miami only has four halfbacks on the roster, so it had to play these running backs late in the game. Jaylen Wright got stuffed on the goal line for three straight plays, and Mattison and Gordon are bigger backs. Mattison scored on a goal-line carry on the following drive. It’s possible one of them would take the goal-line touches once the regular season starts.

New Orleans Saints @ Los Angeles Chargers

Kendre Miller remains the favorite for the backup running back job for now: Miller started and took every snap on the first two drives.

The Saints have struggled to find an adequate backup running back for Alvin Kamara since losing Mark Ingram II in his prime. The Saints retained Miller, who has missed significant time with injury, added veterans Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Cam Akers, and drafted Devin Neal in the sixth round of the draft. Unfortunately, Neal is expected to miss a few weeks due to a hamstring injury. Missing the preseason and part of training camp will make it difficult for him to play significant snaps early in the season.

Miller started the game, running the ball six times and catching a pass. Akers took over on the following drive, and Miller returned to the game for the fourth drive. If this weren’t a competition, we would have expected Miller’s day to be done after two drives. In competitions like this, the incumbent player typically holds the lead early in the preseason. While Miller might have a slight edge for the backup job, this competition will remain ongoing.

Tyler Conklin plays but doesn’t start: The former New York Jets tight end played three of the first four plays.

The Chargers have a crowded tight end room with returning tight ends Will Dissly and Tucker Fisk, rookie Oronde Gadsden, and Conklin, who was the only one of the four to sit out the Hall of Fame game. Los Angeles rested even more players this week than in the Hall of Fame game, including running back Omarion Hampton and tight end Dissly. This made it odd that Conklin was the opposite.

Gadsden and Fisk started the game in 12 personnel, while Conklin replaced Fisk on the second play. The third play was out of 22 personnel with Fisk and Conklin as the tight ends. Conklin's final play was out of 21 personnel. Fisk took a 21-personnel snap on the fifth play of the drive, while Gadsden played the one-third down snap. The next several drives consisted of Gadsden and Fisk rotating. Gadsden tended to play in passing situations while Fisk played in rushing situations, similar to the Hall of Fame game once Dissly left.

It’s impossible to take anything concrete out of the Chargers' first drive from this game and the first drive from the Hall of Fame game without seeing Dissley and Conklin together, and Conklin potentially only playing the three plays Sunday, regardless of what happened after those plays. However, it’s worth noting that Gadsden has played in two of three snaps out of 11 personnel, and all three snaps out of 12 personnel during the drives where Conklin and Dissly played. The one play out of 11 personnel where he wasn’t on the field was at the six-yard line, so it’s possible they wanted a better run blocker on the field.

This suggests Gadsden will be the Chargers' receiving tight end this season, but he would need to play in both 11 and 12 personnel to have a chance of being fantasy-relevant. This will remain a situation to watch, and ideally, we will gain more information in their preseason game next week.

Miscellaneous Notes

The Chargers rested quarterback Justin Herbert and wide receiver Quentin Johnston, as they did in the Hall of Fame game.
Saints tight ends Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau remain on the physically unable to perform list.
Star wide receiver Chris Olave is dealing with a minor ankle injury, which left him out of this game.
New Orleans also rested some of their starters, including running back Alvin Kamara and wide receiver Rashid Shaheed.
The Saints used two running backs on the field at the same time four times early in the game. Velus Jones Jr. was the second running back. Head coach Kellen Moore tried this eight times with the Philadelphia Eagles last season with Will Shipley as the second running back, and half of those plays came in Week 1 last year.
Moore’s offense typically highlights the slot receiver, but there has been minimal discussion around who the primary slot receiver will be. It seems unlikely to be Brandin Cooks, who played on the first drive of this game and took six snaps out wide compared to two from the slot. Projected backup Cedrick Wilson Jr. played the majority of slot snaps. This leaves either Olave or Shaheed.
Chargers running back Najee Harris remains on the non-football injury list after an eye injury from a Fourth of July incident.
Star wide receiver Ladd McConkey has been held out of practice recently but returned on Friday. However, the Chargers still held him out of this game. Newly signed Keenan Allen also didn’t play.
Chargers running back Kimani Vidal started the game but rotated with Hassan Haskins for the first three drives, and Nyheim Miller-Hines on the fourth drive. Vidal is the favorite for the third running back spot, but the competition isn’t over.
The Chargers continue to use KeAndre Lambert-Smith as an X receiver and Tre Harris as a Z receiver. This suggests Lambert-Smith will be Johnston's primary backup, while Harris will be Allen's backup. This makes it unlikely Harris will earn enough playing time to be worth drafting in a typical redraft league.

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.