By Stephen Vilardo, SuperWest Sports
The 2026 season opened with one of the highest-scoring season-opening weeks in NFL history.
Following the Monday Night game, league teams have combined for 791 points, tying the record for most combined points in Kickoff weekend since 2012.
An exciting opening weekend for sure, and Week 1 in the NFL saw some phenomenal performances from players who played collegiately in the West.
Here are my picks for the best NFL performances by former players from the region.
1. Josh Allen, QB, Bills/Wyoming
Allen had a big game in the season-opening win over Houston, throwing for 334 yards and two touchdowns for a 130.5 rating, along with two touchdowns on the ground.
The former Cowboy is the sixth player in NFL history with at least four combined passing and rushing touchdowns in 25 career games.
He now has 303 combined passing and rushing touchdowns (222 passing, 81 rushing) in 129 games, becoming the fastest quarterback in NFL history to reach 300 career combined TDs.
2. Caleb Williams, QB, Bears/USC
The former Trojan threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns for a 124.1 rating and rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns in the Bears’ Week 1 win over Carolina.
Williams is the fourth quarterback in NFL history with at least 250 passing yards, 50 rushing yards, two touchdown passes, two rushing touchdowns, and a 120-or-higher passer rating in a game.
3. Fred Warner, LB, 49ers/BYU
The 49ers defense stifled the Rams in the season opener in Australia.
That San Francisco unit was led by the former Cougar, who opened his ninth season in fine fashion with a game-high 11 tackles, forced a fumble, and broke up a pass.
4. Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Lions/USC
The former USC pass-catcher had 10 receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns in the Lions’ comeback win over the Saints in overtime.
It marked his 12th career game with at least 10 receptions, tied for the third-most such games by a player in his first six seasons in NFL history.
5. Trey McBride, TE, Cardinals/Colorado State
The former CSU star began his season with nine receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown in the Cardinals’ season-opening win.
It was his 38th career game with at least five receptions, tied with Antonio Gates and Kellen Winslow Sr., a pair of Hall of Famers, for the second-most such games by a tight end in his first five seasons in NFL history.
6. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Raiders/Boise State
The former Boise State star opened his second season with a strong performance as the Raiders began the 2026 campaign 1-0.
Jeanty ran the ball 23 times for 102 yards.
He also led Vegas in receiving with six catches for 45 yards and a pair of TDs.
7. Dalton Kincaid, TE, Bills/Utah
The former Ute was Josh Allen’s favorite target on Sunday.
Kincaid went over 100 receiving yards for just the third time in his career as he hauled in five receptions for a career-high 130 yards.
His 26 yards per reception were more than double his career average of 11.3 yards per catch.
8. Justin Herbert, QB, Chargers/Oregon
The former Oregon signal caller threw for 209 yards and a touchdown against Arizona.
That brings his career passing total to 25,029 yards in 96 games.
In accomplishing that feat, he became the fourth-fastest quarterback in NFL history to reach 25,000 career passing yards.
9. Quentin Lake, DB, Rams/UCLA
The Rams struggled Down Under, but the former Bruin had a fine start to his season.
He led Los Angeles with 10 total tackles.
He also added an interception in coverage, one of his three total passes defended in the season-opening loss to the 49ers.
10. Daiyan Henley, LB, Chargers/Washington State
The former WSU Coug had a nice season debut for the Chargers.
He led the team with eight tackles, adding a half sack and getting an additional hit on Jacoby Brissett.
11. Cam Skattebo, RB, Giants/Arizona State
The former Sun Devil showed little ill effects in his return from injury.
He opened the season with 18 carries for 81 yards and a TD as the Giants knocked off the Cowboys to begin the season.
12. Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Jets/Oregon
The former Duck TE caught three passes for 21 yards in his NFL debut.
The real noteworthy figure for Sadiq was his one carry on the ground for a three-yard TD.
In finding the end zone on the ground he became just the second tight end in NFL history to record a rushing touchdown in his first career game. (Ozzie Newsome did so for the Browns in 1978 in his debut.)
Other Notables (in no order)
Bryce Boettcher, LB, Colts/Oregon—7 tackles in NFL Debut
Rigoberto Sanchez, P, Colts/Hawaii—5 punts, 52.6 yards per punt
Dillon Thieneman, DB, Bears/Oregon—10 tackles in NFL debut
Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Panthers/Arizona—5 receptions 75 yards
Matt Araiza, P, Chiefs/San Diego State—4 punts, 218 yards, 54.5 per punt
writes about various topics for SuperWest sports, including stats and records, college sports, and motorsports. He also founded and runs the Sports and Entertainment Research Center (SERC).
