Our weekly collection of the best of the NFL weekend is back, but with a twist this year.
Instead of picking Sunday’s best performers, we’re picking our All-Stars from Thursday night through Monday night each week. We also have a new name, too, as we pick which players stood out at each skill position and defensive position while also highlighting the best offensive line in the league.
This was not an easy week, and there were players who missed the cut at multiple positions who would make the list many weeks. We’re trying to be equitable between several teams’ strong offensive showings to open the 2026 season, as there was a tie for the most points scored in Week 1 in NFL history. Here goes …
How good was the quarterback play this week? Trevor Lawrence threw for four touchdowns in a little more than a half, and it’s hard to really give it real consideration because it was against the Cleveland Browns. Caleb Williams had four touchdowns in a 59-point outburst for the Chicago Bears in their win over the Carolina Panthers.
But we’ll go with Allen, who threw for two scores and ran for two more in a 36-31 win over the Houston Texans, who perhaps have the league’s best defense. By volume, it might be Williams, but given the strength of the opponent, we’ll go with Allen as he developed a strong connection with D.J. Moore in their first game together.
There are some really good days missing out here. Jahmyr Gibbs had three touchdowns and 186 total yards in the Detroit Lions’ win over the New Orleans Saints. Ashton Jeanty had two touchdowns and 147 total yards in the Las Vegas Raiders’ victory over the Miami Dolphins.
And poor D’Andre Swift. If this were like last year and we published the list after Sunday’s games, the Chicago Bears running back would’ve made this team. He ran for 124 yards on 6.9 yards per carry and three touchdowns as part of a 291-yard rushing day for the Bears in their 59-37 win over the Carolina Panthers.
There were a pair of other running back performances that were just a bit stronger than Swift’s, though. Derrick Henry, who continues not to show his age and dominate, had 24 carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns in the Baltimore Ravens’ win over the Indianapolis Colts.
And Kenneth Walker III stole Swift’s spot on this team with his impressive performance in his Kansas City Chiefs debut on Monday night. His 60-yard touchdown helped the Chiefs pull away from the Denver Broncos early in the second half. He finished with 173 rushing yards, the most for any Kansas City back in 14 years, when Jamaal Charles went for 226 in 2012. He added a second touchdown on a short flip from Patrick Mahomes.
In a strong week for backs all around, Walker forced his way onto this team, as Monday’s performance also doubled as a career-high in rushing yards.
We could reach back to Wednesday night and pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was electric with 122 yards and a touchdown in the Seattle Seahawks’ opening win. And Gibbs wasn’t the only Lions star to put on a show on Sunday, recording two touchdowns in their win over the Saints.
A familiar name had one of his best performances in a while on Sunday, though. Justin Jefferson helped the Minnesota Vikings pull out a wild division win despite losing quarterback Kyler Murray early to a concussion. Carson Wentz came in and played well, with Jefferson getting 92 yards and two touchdowns as he had eight catches on nine targets.
Jalek Coker, meanwhile, didn’t help his team to victory. His numbers were too strong to leave him off the list, though. He had eight catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns as Carolina tried to keep up with the Bears.
A real three-wide battle here. Isaiah Likely had some spectacular catches in the New York Giants’ prime-time win over the Dallas Cowboys, getting eight catches for 78 yards and two scores after following John Harbaugh to New York.
It’s a close nod over the Philadelphia Eagles’ Dallas Goedert, who had 77 yards and two touchdowns in a close win over the Washington Commanders. And he’ll be on here a lot, but Trey McBride was his usual self in the Arizona Cardinals’ surprising win over the Chargers, with nine catches for 95 yards and a touchdown.
OL: Chicago Bears
We can’t completely shut out an offense that put up 59 points in a game this week. We also can’t leave out the unsung part of any team’s offensive success, so each week we’ll name the starting five for the league’s best line. Chicago went off for 59 points and eight touchdowns, so give credit where it’s due: left tackle Braxton Jones, left guard Joe Thuney, center Garrett Bradbury, right guard Jonah Jackson and right tackle Darnell Wright. We could have easily gone with another 500-yard effort from the Ravens, or a solid debut from a new-look line for the Lions as well.
Some huge showings here. We’ll mention the Bills’ Greg Rousseau getting two sacks, two forced fumbles and five quarterback hits in a monster game. But we have to start with T.J. Watt, who came through with a pick-six in the fourth quarter to help the Steelers fend off the Atlanta Falcons, to go with two sacks and three tackles for loss on the day as well. And the Minnesota Vikings were only up three with five minutes to go when Van Ginkel not only sacked Jordan Love but forced a fumble and returned it to the 1, the biggest play in Minnesota’s 29-point burst to end a big division win.
Josiah Trotter is the first rookie to make the list this season. The second-round pick from Missouri became the first player in NFL history to get a pick-six and a sack in his debut, stepping up as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tried to rally back against the Cincinnati Bengals. Roquan Smith had 11 tackles and a pick for the Baltimore Ravens, but we’ll go with the Bucs rookie — whose father Jeremiah had two pick-sixes in his career — for an auspicious first game.
You have to go back to Wednesday, but an enormous play from Josh Jobe secured the win for Seattle. New England was in range for a tying field goal, took one more shot at the end zone, and with 21 seconds left, Jobe made an acrobatic toe-tap interception off Drake Maye to give the Seahawks a big win in the much-anticipated Super Bowl rematch.
If you haven’t seen the highlight yet, take a minute and look up Owens, who drew double-coverage from Philadelphia as a gunner for Washington, stiff-arming two Eagles players to the ground and dropping the returner with a WWE-caliber takedown. The 25-year-old is in his third season as a special-teams ace for Washington, with 21 special-teams tackles in his first two years.
We should also give a nod here to Cardinals receiver Simi Fehoko, who blocked a Chargers punt to the 2-yard line in the fourth quarter of a two-point game to help Arizona pull off a great upset win.
