Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Fantasy Football Matchup Breakdown For Week 1

The 2026 NFL season kicks off with a Super Bowl 60 rematch between the Seahawks and Patriots; let's dive into everything you need for your fantasy football lineup setting.

Seahawks vs. Patriots Fantasy Football Matchup Breakdown For Week 1

Score Prediction (via the Fantasy Life Betting Game Model): SEA 24, NE 20

New England travels up to the Pacific Northwest in search of revenge for a championship loss, in a game I’m expecting very little scoring in …

Seattle Seahawks Fantasy Football Preview vs. Patriots

Another season kicks off with a championship rematch, but pump the brakes on a perfect replica this time around without Kenneth Walker in the mix — last year’s Super Bowl MVP soaked up 29 total touches for 161 scrimmage yards in the big game. Whoa. This very obvious workload gap steers us head-on into one of this year’s most prevalent fantasy questions … What do we do with his replacement, Jadarian Price?

For starters, don’t clump me in with the doubters; I’ve been drafting the late first-round rookie with both hands since the second Seattle selected him. At least with Zach Charbonnet on the PUP shelf for a month, we’re going to get the chance to find out. Price is our projected RB22 going into this weekend, and while fair for a mean outlook, I’m higher on what’s going to be found inside this mystery box.

To me, the Seahawks’ ability to parse college talent for carry-over traits in the pros speaks for itself. How many teams can honestly say they’ve gotten more from homegrown talent in recent years? The answer’s not many.

Don’t be overly impressed by New England’s run-stopping totals from 2025 (101.7 rushing yards/game, 11 rushing TDs) — they played from ahead most of the season. Not to bury a good defensive unit, but NE did wind up in the bottom half of the NFL in EPA/rush (0.04), success rate (60.1%) and stuffed run rate (18.9%). Just saying there's a ceiling here …

I'm fully expecting Jadarian Price to carry the lion’s share of SEA’s backfield workload, and yes, despite being browbeaten to the contrary, even catch passes. Why? Seattle’s pass game is almost entirely predicated on sucking in the defense to go over the top with play-action schemes. Sam Darnold led the NFL with 10.6 pass yards per play-action attempt — that element of their game isn’t going anywhere, with or without Klint Kubiak.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s obviously a must-start player (even against Christian Gonzalez), but outside of that I’m out. As much as I’ve touted Rashid Shaheed’s talent in the past, Seattle’s lack of pace and play volume caps a true ceiling outcome in an already rough spot. It’s ok to want to see it first.

Start: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (consensus WR4), Jadarian Price (RB22)
Sit: Sam Darnold (QB23), Rashid Shaheed (WR60)

New England Patriots Fantasy Football Preview vs. Seahawks

New England’s out to show they’re better than last year’s weak strength of schedule might suggest, and that their ascent has just begun. Of course it all begins with Drake Maye, who finished just one vote shy of league MVP honors on the back of an NFL-best EPA/dropback (+0.42) and EPA/attempt (+0.28). Year 3 could be the big one and bringing in A.J. Brown can’t hurt.

Outside of knowing when to tuck and run, part of what makes Maye’s game so dangerously diverse is how darn pretty his deep ball is. Once again, he’s leading the way in EPA per attempt on deep shots (+0.95!) — completing 34 passes of +20 air yards, ranking just six behind Matthew Stafford for the lead on 23 fewer tries. Impressive stuff. And you’ll need to threaten every single blade of grass in order to stymie these savvy Seahawks.

Seattle’s macro defensive metrics popped in 2025, leading the NFL in scoring defense (17.1), success rate (58.6%), EPA/play (+0.12), and explosive play rate (7.4%). Pretty extraordinary considering the fact that their D racked up 17 more splash plays than anyone else (and roughly 150 more than the last-place Titans).

Mostly deploying 5-DB zones with a heavy box up front, SEA’s secondary was tough before adding two top-100 picks in this year’s draft. Talk about leaning into strength — the Seahawks were already creating the sixth-highest pressure rate on a middle-of-the-pack 14.1% blitz rate. Long story long, Maye’s got his work cut out for him.

Start your obvious studs like A.J. Brown, but please cap expectations for the Pats’ passing game in Week 1. And definitely don’t be surprised when it’s actually Romeo Doubs beating zones underneath and DeMario Douglas winning in the slot to move the ball for NE.

Bad news out of Foxboro. Second-year RB TreVeyon Henderson is officially out, removing him from projections and paving the way for a massive Rhamondre Stevenson workload. Deepest leaguers are already doing their best hyena impression, immediately wondering who the next man up is. My best estimation? Second-year UDFA out of Cincinnati, Corey Kiner. FL projects him for just a handful of low-calorie touches, but whenever opportunities are up for grabs, it could be worth a flier. A setback for TreVeyon could cost him extended time. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Start: Drake Maye (QB14), A.J. Brown (WR14), Romeo Doubs (WR51), Rhamondre Stevenson (RB18)
Sit: Hunter Henry (TE17)

Predicting Next Week’s Bold Headlines

Jadarian Price emerges as the Seahawks’ clear bell cow, and his 5 receptions (ladder play, anyone?) set the fantasy world on fire
FL projections nail A.J. Brown’s ~14-point output, but the combination of target depth plus volume makes his second-round ADP appear to be a steal in what’s looking like a massive upcoming campaign
DeMario Douglas gets spammed from the slot to rack up high-probability catches all game, obliterating his understandably low projections and prop lines. Right around min price for a skill-position player in DFS, Pop’s the piece you needed in the season’s first showdown.

Players Mentioned in this Article

JadarianPrice
RBSEA
Proj
11.2
JaxonSmith-Njigba
WRSEA
PPG
16.8
Proj
13.7
SamDarnold
QBSEA
PPG
14.1
Proj
14.6
DrakeMaye
QBNE
PPG
19.5
Proj
17.1

Published Sep 9, 2026, 11:15 AM ETUpdated Sep 9, 2026, 11:56 AM ET