It's the news that seemed expected after the Tua Tagovailoa practice video on Thursday: Cooper Rush will step up and start on Sunday for the Atlanta Falcons as they face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The tough part in fantasy football is that there's so much talent on the Falcons' roster. Michael Penix Jr. will be inactive, so it was going to be Tagovailoa tossing the ball to Kyle Pitts, Drake London and beyond. Now, it'll be Rush.
Let's dive in with some notes about some of those players as we get ready for the rest of the 2026 Week 1 slate:
Cooper Rush isn't that much of a downgrade at QB
Tagovailoa had his share of struggles this preseason, so it's not like you were upgrading London et al here. Rush will be fine... and there's a world in which maybe he's better?
Drake London, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson should all be at the same fantasy football Week 1 rankings
Bijan Robinson is still RB2 or RB1
this week. Drake London might see enough volume to be a WR1-level scorer this week. Same goes for Kyle Pitts, who is just outside the top-five TEs this week.
Who is Cooper Rush?
He's a journeyman quarterback who originally signed with the Dallas Cowboys out of Central Michigan. He was with the Baltimore Ravens last season. He has a career record of 9-7 with 20 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 42 total games and 16 starts in his NFL career.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: How Cooper Rush starting for Falcons affects Atlanta fantasy football players
