Brock Osweiler, Will Fuller, DeAndre Hopkins' Post-Week 1 Fantasy Advice

The Houston Texans started their 2016 season with a 23-14 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, and fantasy football players were rewarded with a solid performance from the team’s passing attack.

Quarterback Brock Osweiler threw two touchdowns, with one going to fantasy stalwart DeAndre Hopkins and the other going to breakthrough rookie Will Fuller. Here is a look at the Week 1 stats for the three playmakers:

Completions	Passing Yards	Passing Touchdowns	Interceptions	Rushing Yards	Rushing Touchdowns
22-of-35	231	2	1	14	0

Player	Catches	Targets	Receiving Yards	Touchdown Catches
DeAndre Hopkins	5	8	54	1
Will Fuller	5	11	107	1

There are a couple of general observations about Houston’s passing attack that should be noted. For one, the Bears were playing without top cornerback Kyle Fuller because of knee concerns, per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. That likely opened up the field some for Houston’s aerial game.

However, this was still a Bears defense that was an impressive fourth in the league against the pass in 2015 even though the team finished at a dismal 6-10. Chicago probably won’t contend for the playoffs this year, but it wasn’t a walkover defense that Osweiler and Co. had success against on Sunday.

Fuller found plenty of space, Osweiler settled in after the first-quarter interception and Lamar Miller topped 100 rushing yards (106) against that defense. If Miller can consistently do that throughout the season, the Texans receivers will have plenty of space to operate while opposing defenses are forced to commit additional players to the box.

Hopkins surprisingly wasn’t a huge factor yardage-wise with Kyle Fuller out, but Chicago certainly accounted for him on every play and often shaded additional defenders his way.

There is no real reason for concern from fantasy players relying on Hopkins because he still saw eight targets, which was more than every Houston receiver not named Fuller. Plus, he scored a touchdown, which is basically all fantasy players can ask for from their impact playmakers on a week-to-week basis.

What’s more, few players have the track record of Hopkins from the past couple of seasons. He finished the 2015 campaign with 1,521 receiving yards and 11 touchdown catches even though Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, T.J. Yates and Brandon Weeden all played quarterback for Houston.

Perhaps Osweiler can give Hopkins some consistency at the position, although that didn’t have much of an impact on his head-turning numbers last year.

He also posted 1,210 receiving yards and six touchdown catches in 2014 and proved his durability by playing a full 16 games in each of his first three seasons in the league.

As for Fuller, the most encouraging fantasy pattern that emerged on Sunday was the fact fellow rookie Braxton Miller tallied only one catch. It appears Fuller is the clear-cut No. 2 option through one game, even if it is a dangerously small sample size. He saw a game-high 11 targets in a matchup that featured superstars Hopkins and Alshon Jeffery at the wide receiver position.

He made the most of one of those targets on an 18-yard screen pass that went for a touchdown and gave the Texans the lead for good in the fourth quarter. He accelerated through holes in the defense and demonstrated his breakaway speed that will bolster his fantasy value as he racks up yards after the catch this year.

The Texans noticed that speed on their Twitter account:

Defenses are always going to have to account for Hopkins, and Miller will force linebackers and safeties to play closer to the line of scrimmage. If Sunday’s outing was any implication, no player is set to benefit more from that than Fuller, who dominated the Bears secondary as arguably the most important player in the victory.

Hopkins and Fuller appear to be fantasy difference-makers, but it would be wise to exercise some level of caution with Osweiler.

He first burst onto the NFL scene last year when he played eight games for the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos and posted a solid 1,967 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. His early interception was likely worrisome for fantasy players who still don’t have a large statistical track record to fall back on, but he settled in and engineered the comeback win.

Despite the win, Osweiler’s schedule doesn’t get much easier in the immediate future with his next two games coming against the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots. The Chiefs were ninth in the league against the pass last year, while the Patriots have made the playoffs seven straight years and 12 of the last 13.

If Osweiler looks comfortable in those contests and puts up solid numbers against potential AFC playoff teams, it is time to start considering him a definitive starting candidate for fantasy purposes. For now, adopt a wait-and-see approach, but don’t hesitate to play his top two pass-catchers based on Sunday’s performance.