Seahawks vs. Patriots Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 1

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 1 matchup between the Seahawks and Patriots on NFL Opening Night.

Find a breakdown of every Week 1 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Seahawks vs. Patriots Fantasy Quarterback Preview

Drake Maye

Maye's second-year breakout led to a second-place MVP finish and a Super Bowl appearance.

Maye led the NFL in quarterback rating (113.5), QBR (77.2), EPA per play (0.27), and was second in success rate (51.6%).

He completed a league-high 72% of his passes for a league-high 8.9 yards per pass attempt.

He also added 450 yards and 4 touchdowns on the ground, averaging 4.1 rushing fantasy points per game (QB11).

We cannot talk about Maye's 2025 breakout without at least bringing up the layout.

At this time a year ago, Maye's strength of schedule was a factor in him being a target as one of the best potential breakouts at the position.

This offense still has plenty of room to grow when facing front-end competition.

In the postseason, the Patriots averaged 4.5 yards per play and 1.13 points per drive with a 36.1% success rate.

In the regular season, they averaged 6.2 yards per play, 2.60 points per drive, and had a 46% success rate.

After completing 72% of his passes in the regular season for 8.9 yards per attempt, Maye completed 58.3% in the postseason for 6.9 Y/A.

He threw 6 touchdowns to 4 interceptions, fumbled 7 times, and took 21 sacks.

He averaged 16.2 fantasy points per game in the postseason, which was right on par with Sam Darnold and eighth among playoff quarterbacks.

Seattle was a dominant pass defense in 2025.

They allowed 11.5 passing points per game (7th), ranking third in passing points allowed per attempt (0.325) and fourth in touchdown rate (3.3%).

They allowed the fewest yards per pass attempt (6.0) and yards per completion (9.7).

Mike Macdonald's defense is predicated on you throwing the ball where they want you to throw it.

Opponents had a 47.2% open rate against Seattle (the highest in the league), but by prioritizing coverage against explosive deep plays, the defense forced opposing quarterbacks to throw checkdowns.

In the Super Bowl, Maye did manage to put up 17.5 fantasy points, but that was in large part due to a jailbreak final quarter.

Maye had only 1.9 fantasy points through three quarters, completing 8 of 18 passes (44.4%) for 60 yards (3.3 yards per attempt).

He scored 15.6 points in the final quarter, completing 19 of 25 passes for 235 yards (9.4 Y/A) with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Seattle stymied this passing game with a 48.1% rate in Cover-6, the highest rate Maye faced last season.

Against those looks last year, Maye threw for 6.9 Y/A with 1 touchdown to 4 interceptions.

Against everything else, he threw for 8.8 Y/A with 36 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.

Maye was also pressured on 43.4% of his dropbacks in the Super Bowl.

When pressured in the game, he completed 6 of 13 passes for 75 yards (5.8 Y/A) with a touchdown and an interception while taking 6 sacks.

Gamers did not select Maye early to sit him in Week 1, but this spot comes with plenty of volatility and lower potential for ceiling output, even if he does not bottom out.

I will have a hard time putting Maye in my top 12 quarterbacks for the season opener.

As for the potential for things to be better than they were in the Super Bowl, the Seahawks did not lose much this offseason, but the core pieces were on defense.

Coby Bryant, Boye Mafe, and Riq Woolen are no longer with the team.

Second-round pick Bud Clark suffered a season-ending broken ankle in the preseason.

Josh Jobe and Ty Okada will be sliding into primary roles in the secondary.

Jobe already played 86% of the snaps in the Super Bowl, so that should force Nehemiah Pritchett or third-round rookie Julian Neal into more snaps in the opener.

Okada started 11 games last year but played only 19 playoff snaps, with zero in the Super Bowl.

We will keep tabs on Nick Emmanwori‘s status heading into Wednesday night, but he is trending toward missing the season opener.

He is still recovering from ankle surgery.

When Emmanwori did miss time last season, Seattle still held up defensively.

On 203 dropbacks with him off the field, Seattle still held opponents to a league-low 5.9 yards per pass attempt.

Still, with Seattle moving so many parts this early in the season, they may be more vulnerable in the opener than we will see as this unit comes together.

Maye has improved weaponry in A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs, while the offensive line is potentially in a stronger place.

With Garrett Bradbury traded and the addition of Alijah Vera-Tucker, Jared Wilson can now slide into the center spot for his second season.

Will Campbell allowed 8 pressures in the Super Bowl, so he will still be tested.

Maye's other out is on the ground.

The Seahawks allowed 2.8 rushing points per game to passers last season (18th), which included 37 yards to Maye in the Super Bowl.

Sam Darnold

Darnold is coming off career highs in completion rate (67.7%) and yards per pass attempt (8.5).

He threw 25 touchdowns.

As good as that season was for the Seattle fanbase, leading to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, Darnold was QB24 in points per game (15.1) for fantasy.

Seattle is due for some top-down offensive regression in 2026 with a harder schedule and the loss of Klint Kubiak.

Reunited with Kubiak last season, Darnold was under center for a career-high 53.9% of his snaps.

He was one of the most effective passers using play action, averaging 11.4 yards per pass attempt (2nd) with a league-high 16.8 yards per completion on those attempts.

With Kubiak taking a head coaching job in Las Vegas, the Seahawks brought in Brian Fleury as their new offensive coordinator.

Fleury is a first-time play-caller, but he does have a foundation similar to Kubiak's.

Fleury was with the 49ers from 2019 through last season.

He was even in the same building as Darnold when the quarterback was with the 49ers in 2023, with Fleury serving as the tight ends coach that season.

Teams did adjust to Seattle last year, so even if Kubiak were returning, we would still have some question marks for fantasy upside.

Over the final 10 games through the postseason, Darnold averaged 6.8 air yards per attempt (22nd) with 29.5% of his passes traveling 10 or more yards downfield (25th) and 7.4% traveling 20 or more yards downfield (28th).

Before that, Darnold averaged 9.0 air yards per pass attempt (3rd) with 39% of his passes going 10 or more yards (4th) and 14.7% of his throws 20 or more yards downfield (5th).

We talked a lot about Maye, but Seattle's strength of schedule was also favorable.

Seattle faced only four defenses all season that were in the top 10 of passing points allowed.

Those defenses were Houston, Carolina, Minnesota, and then New England in the Super Bowl.

Darnold did not throw multiple touchdown passes in any of those games.

Darnold had six games with a yards-per-attempt figure below 7.0.

Four of those came in the matchups against Houston (6.9), Carolina (5.4), Minnesota (4.9), and New England (5.3).

Darnold completed fewer than 60% of his passes four times.

Three of those were against Houston (54.8%), Minnesota (53.8%), and New England (50%).

Darnold did miss some potential chunk plays in the Super Bowl, but he still ultimately only posted 12.6 points, leaving Darnold as a QB2 option in the opener.

Seahawks vs. Patriots Fantasy Running Back Preview

Jadarian Price

We did not see Price play in the preseason.

Seattle used their first-round pick on him this spring after losing Kenneth Walker in free agency and with an unknown timetable for Zach Charbonnet, who was placed on PUP to start the year.

Price was electric per touch in college at Notre Dame, averaging over 6.0 yards per touch in all three of his college seasons.

He forced a missed tackle on a class-high 26.9% of his touches.

But Price also had just 295 touches on his college resume.

On one hand, there are far worse things than saying, “Well, Price was just not as good as Jeremiyah Love,” and that's why he was limited.

On the other hand, it still leaves us with some guesswork, since we do not see many backs with such light collegiate workloads selected highly in the NFL.

That is the fewest number of touches any first-round running back has had in the 2000s.

With Price, the steps of faith we must take are in areas we have not yet seen.

The first is a high-variance area: ball security.

Price fumbled 4 times on his light workload, the third-highest rate in this class.

The second is in the passing game.

Price had 15 career college receptions.

He was targeted on 9.9% of his routes, the second-lowest rate in this class.

Love was targeted on 22.2% of his routes, the second-highest rate in this class.

I do believe Price can be a viable pass catcher, but the last area ties into the former: pass protection.

We have a small sample, but it could signal why Price was not working into the passing game to begin with.

Price had the second-lowest pass-protection grade in this draft class, per Pro Football Focus.

He is 203 pounds, which could also signal workload and pass-protection limitations he faced in college.

The early word from Seattle is that they are expecting him to be in a “Walker-type” role and want Price to earn his opportunities.

That tracks. It ties into Price's biggest concerns as he enters the NFL and lets him focus on doing one thing well while he works on rounding out his portfolio.

Walker was a rushing-dependent player last year, limited by his lack of trust in the passing game.

Seattle ran the ball 51.5% of the time when Walker was on the field, which was ninth among running backs.

In the postseason, that rate was 58.5%.

In the Super Bowl, that was 60.9%.

George Holani should push Price for passing snaps early in the season.

In the Super Bowl, Holani played 33.8% of the snaps but only managed 3 touches.

Seattle threw the ball on 87.5% of his snaps.

That leaves goal-line usage in the air.

Emanuel Wilson (226 pounds) can factor in here until Charbonnet returns, but we could still see Price get his opportunities near the end zone early on to prove himself.

New England was tough on opposing backs last season, allowing 3.9 yards per carry (6th) with a 61.9% success rate (10th).

They allowed a first down or touchdown on 21% of backfield runs, ninth in the league.

They were more vulnerable to backs in the passing game, allowing 8.9 receiving points per game (19th).

Walker had success in the Super Bowl, however, rushing 27 times for 135 yards while catching 2 passes for 26 yards.

Seattle had their most success running inside zone.

In that game, Walker rushed 10 times for 53 yards on inside zone runs.

With Price in his first outing, the matchup still looking tough on paper, and a new offense for Seattle, I am keeping early expectations in check here with Price as a volatile RB2/FLEX.

Rhamondre Stevenson

We will follow the injury status of TreVeyon Henderson entering Week 1, but things are trending towards Stevenson opening the season with the backfield largely to himself.

Henderson suffered an ankle injury in practice at the end of August and has not been on the field entering the first week.

Should Henderson miss Week 1, that pushes Stevenson into more of a volume-based RB2/FLEX spot.

This is a tough matchup on paper, so any added confidence in playing time and touches gives gamers more to latch onto.

When Stevenson missed three weeks last year, Henderson accrued 60%, 75%, and 88.9% of the backfield touches in those contests.

When Henderson left Week 16 early last season with a concussion, Stevenson ended up on the field for a regular-season-high 83.8% of the snaps.

In the Super Bowl, Stevenson played 64.2% of the snaps, handling 12 touches for 63 yards and a touchdown.

Henderson played 38.8% of the snaps, turning 9 touches for 45 yards.

Given how the game script played out, neither back was effective on the ground.

Stevenson rushed 7 times for 23 yards while Henderson rushed 6 times for 19 yards.

That was par for the course against Seattle in 2025.

The Seahawks allowed a league-low 3.5 YPC to running backs last season.

They were also tied for allowing a league-low 5 rushing touchdowns to backs.

Impressively, they did this while playing sub packages on a league-high 92% of snaps.

With five or more defensive backs on the field, the Seahawks allowed a league-best 3.7 YPC to backs.

The NFL average was 4.7 YPC.

They were even better when they went into base defense, allowing just 2.6 YPC to running backs.

Seattle was 28th in receiving points allowed per game to backfields (10.2).

That is the area where these backs found their fleeting success in the Super Bowl and where gamers have to look for production in Week 1.

Seahawks vs. Patriots Fantasy Wide Receiver Preview

Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Smith-Njigba is coming off a remarkable season, catching 119 passes for a league-leading 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Looking at the context of his offense, his performance last season was even more impressive.

He became the first player in the Super Bowl era to lead the NFL in receiving yards while playing for a team in the bottom three of pass rate.

Smith-Njigba produced 3.73 receiving yards per team pass attempt, the most I have in my scoring database going back to 1990.

Steve Smith's 3.48 yards per team attempt in 2005 was the previous high.

JSN accounted for 36.6% of his team's receptions, which was only bested by Brandon Marshall in 2012 (41.1%) and Steve Smith in 2005 (38.3%).

Smith-Njigba accounted for 44.1% of his team's receiving yards, the fourth-highest rate since 1990.

His 35.8% target share was second over that span.

His 50% team air yards share was third.

Making a leap to the apex of the position, Smith-Njigba netted a monster payday this offseason, signing an extension through 2031 worth up to $168.8 million and becoming the league's highest-paid receiver.

The only question for Smith-Njigba regarding 2026 fantasy output is where the expected natural regression will settle.

Like Saquon Barkley's 2024 campaign, JSN's 2025 was a special intersection of production that will be nearly impossible to fully replicate.

This is where I remind you that not all expected regression means we have to abandon ship.

We still fully expect Smith-Njigba to lead Seattle in targets and for this passing game to run through him again, but there are a few loose threads as we find out exactly where things fall into place this season.

A coordinator change is underway, and we should expect Rashid Shaheed to be more involved this upcoming season, with a full offseason to acclimate to the offense.

Seattle's strength of schedule was also favorable, as noted with Darnold.

Smith-Njigba showed how good he can be, lighting up Houston for 8 catches, 123 yards, and a touchdown, but also had his softest points of the year against Carolina (9-72-0), Minnesota (2-23-0), and in this matchup against New England (4-27-0), the other teams that showed up as high-end opponents in Darnold's section.

I believe that has more to do with Darnold's ability to punch up than with Smith-Njigba.

Smith-Njigba had big plays available in the Super Bowl that Darnold missed.

He had a potential 70-yard touchdown behind the defense in the opening quarter that was overthrown. Then he beat Christian Gonzalez on another potential touchdown before the half when the ball was late and behind.

But as noted, Darnold did not throw multiple touchdown passes in any of those games against good pass defenses last year and posted among his worst efficiency marks of the year when tasked with going up in competition.

Among the players we have covered in what we expect to be a lower-scoring affair, Smith-Njigba is still a player I am comfortably starting, while pricing in the tougher matchup.

New England was ninth in points allowed to opposing WR1 targets last year (12.8 per game), and we will see Smith-Njigba draw a lot of Gonzalez in the opener.

Gonzalez has been trying to get a new contract before the season, and there are some whispers that he could hold out, but he has been practicing.

That is something to keep track of heading into the game, but we will approach things early on as if he will be out there.

Gonzalez allowed a 43.4% catch rate on throws into his coverage last year, the lowest rate in the league.

That was while facing 106 targets over the full season, the second-most in the league.

He allowed only 1 touchdown.

In the Super Bowl, Gonzalez was targeted 5 times, allowing 1 reception for 16 yards.

A.J. Brown

Although Brown is coming off a down season based on his lofty standards, he still managed to post 1,003 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns on 78 receptions for the Eagles last year.

The top-down stats also do not tell the complete story.

Brown opened the season slowly, missing time in August before the kickoff with a hamstring injury.

From Week 11 to Week 17 (the starters rested in Week 18), Brown was fourth among all wide receivers in receptions and fifth in receiving yards, posting 95 or more yards in four of those games with three 100-yard outings.

He was the WR5 in fantasy points per game over that stretch (18.6).

The Philadelphia passing concepts did not do Brown any favors.

24% of Brown's routes last season were hitches, the highest rate of his career.

After an 8.2% crossing route rate in 2024, that sagged to 5.8% in 2025, the second-lowest rate of his career.

Brown also had a career low of 24 targets on play action last year to top things off.

Over the past three seasons, Brown's rate of play-action targets:

• 22.2% in 2023
• 25.8% in 2024
• 19.8% in 2025

Over the previous three seasons before that dip, he had 33.9% of his targets as play-action targets in 2020, 42.9% in 2021, and 36.7% in 2022.

Over his four seasons with the Eagles, Brown totaled 19 targets with his quarterback under center.

For his career on 420 routes, he has averaged 4.35 yards per route run with his quarterback under center.

Changing scenery to New England, Brown will be going to one of the league's most explosive passing offenses from a year ago.

Maye ranked 10th in snaps under center last year on passes (23%), while Jalen Hurts ranked 29th (9.1%).

While anticipating Brown to have a strong season in this system, things do get off to a challenging start.

The Seahawks were third in fantasy points allowed per target to wide receivers last year (1.43) while allowing a league-low 6.3 yards per target to the position.

Seattle only allowed three WR1 scoring weeks in all of 2025.

I am still starting Brown where I have him, just with WR2 expectations.

As noted earlier with Maye, the secondary for Seattle is where they have the most moving parts.

Devon Witherspoon is still here to lock up with Brown, but Witherspoon also has played more in the slot due to his versatility and ability to defend the run.

Without the size and length of Riq Woolen on the outside, Brown can make life tough on Josh Jobe, Nehemiah Pritchett, and Julian Neal with his physicality, should he run into opportunities against those defenders.

Romeo Doubs

Doubs was a solid and arguably underrated player over his rookie contract in Green Bay, but he has not yet hit 100 targets in an NFL season, with a career-high of 724 receiving yards set last season.

Doubs was targeted on 20.7% of his routes (WR31 among 76 qualified wide receivers) for 1.77 yards per route run (WR24) last season.

He is a better full-field player than Kayshon Boutte, who was traded to the Texans, and is expected to play more as a slot receiver in New England.

Doubs only played 14% of his snaps from the slot in Green Bay.

The rub here is that if he is playing more from the slot, that can put him in a position to see more of Witherspoon than the new starters for Seattle.

Against slot receivers last season, Seattle allowed a 62.8% catch rate (4th) and 7.1 yards per target (12th) with a 3.5% touchdown rate (11th).

Doubs will not just play in the slot, giving him opportunities outside, but he is more of a touchdown-dependent WR4/FLEX option in this game.

Rashid Shaheed

Over his nine regular-season games with Seattle, Shaheed caught 15 of 26 targets for 188 yards and no touchdowns.

In the postseason, he had only 3 catches for 78 yards, which included catching 2 of 5 targets for 27 yards in the Super Bowl.

Onboarding a Seattle offense that was heavily working through Smith-Njigba at the time, it is easy to see how Shaheed never established any real footing.

Buzz this offseason is that he will be more involved in the offense, but that is also a low bar to clear compared to a year ago.

New England has not only Gonzalez on the outside but also Carlton Davis to contend with.

In a tougher matchup, while still getting a feel for his role in the new offense, Shaheed is a big play-dependent WR5/FLEX.

Cooper Kupp

Kupp posted career lows of 2.9 receptions for 37.1 yards per game in his first season away from Los Angeles, also catching a career-low 2 touchdowns.

While Kupp has low-leverage appeal outside of deeper formats and single-game DFS, he did receive a season-high 12 targets in this matchup (6 catches for 61 yards) in the Super Bowl.

Patriots WRs

The Patriots threw a lot at the wide receiver position and had one of the largest rotations in the league in 2025.

No wide receiver was on the field for 70% of the dropbacks last year.

The additions of Brown and Doubs should condense that rotation, leaving Kyle Williams and Mack Hollins to fight for the extra work.

They are only in play for single-game DFS to open the year.

Williams ripped things up this preseason, catching 6 of 11 targets for 166 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Hollins only ran 6 routes working back from injury, but he was a key player in the run game last season and made splash plays of his own.

Hollins caught 4 of 8 targets for 78 yards and a touchdown in the Super Bowl, with the caveat that Brown and Doubs were not on the roster.

Seahawks vs. Patriots Fantasy Tight End Preview

Hunter Henry

Henry had a career-high 768 receiving yards last season, catching 60 passes to go along with 7 touchdowns.

You are getting attachment to Drake Maye with Henry, but even in an MVP-caliber season from Maye, Henry was a volatile fantasy option.

He logged six TE1-scoring weeks, with five of those tied to reaching the end zone.

He had only 87 targets while drawing a target on 18.9% of his routes (TE31).

Henry averaged 17.1 points per game in his weeks with a touchdown compared to 6.9 points per game without.

That makes Henry a touchdown-dependent TE2.

Seattle faced a 25% target rate to tight ends last season (20th) and ranked 28th in receptions allowed per game (6.2) to the position.

But they also only allowed a 4.2% touchdown rate (6th) to tight ends.

Henry caught 3 of 5 targets for 31 yards in the Super Bowl.

Seattle also has the absences of Coby Bryant and Bud Clark to deal with at safety, which provides some added outs.

A.J. Barner

Barner had a solid second season, grabbing 52 of 68 targets for 519 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2025.

He also added a rushing touchdown with 10 attempts in Seattle's version of the Tush Push.

He ended the year on a high note, catching 4 passes for 54 yards and a touchdown in the Super Bowl victory.

Barner was second on the team in receptions last year, checking out as the TE16 in target share (14.9%).

Like Henry, Barner is also a touchdown-reliant TE2.

28.5% of his fantasy points were via touchdowns, and five of his TE1 scoring weeks came with a trip to the end zone.

Barner only averaged 4.4 air yards per target (TE57) paired with 5.2 yards after the catch (TE31).

His run-blocking will keep him on the field more than Elijah Arroyo, but Arroyo coming back healthy in a new offense in Year 2 opens the door for some added push and lighter route participation.

In the games in which Arroyo was available, Barner was on the field for 66.9% of the dropbacks, which is mid-TE2 range.

Elijah Arroyo

Arroyo did not get much run as a rookie, catching 15 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown.

He was on the field for 26.6% of Seattle's dropbacks, limited at the end of the year by a knee injury.

He played 19 offensive snaps in the Super Bowl, failing to draw a target.

When he did play, he showed some potential as a downfield asset if you are hoping that there is more opportunity here to kick things off in single-game DFS.

19.2% of Arroyo's targets were 20 yards or more downfield.

Eli Raridon

Raridon caught 1 of 4 targets for 8 yards on 16 routes in the preseason.

Finding out how much playing time he can see out of the blocks, Raridon is only a deep dart in single-game DFS in Week 1.

More Week 1 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet: