Week 1 of the 2016 NFL season has arrived! While pointspread and total bettors rejoice, daily fantasy football players are still fine tuning their lineups in hopes of winning a life changing tournament. With millions of dollars up for grabs in Week 1, I’m here to help you decipher all the action to help put together that once in a lifetime lineup or finish in the green in your cash games.
QB
Derek Carr (50/50) – The New Orleans Saints were a train wreck defensively last season in allowing 413.4 total yards per game and 29.8 points per game. Good for second to last and last in the league. Most importantly, they owned the NFL’s No. 31 ranked pass defense that conceded over 310 yards per game, and ranked No. 26 defending quarterbacks allowing 383.6 fantasy points per game. They allowed multiple passing touchdowns in 13 games last season, and not much was done to shore this unit up in the offseason. This game has one of the highest posted totals of Week 1, and the matchup looks legit. Look for Carr to feast upon this defense with 300+ yards passing and at least a pair of scoring strikes.
Robert Griffin III (GPP) – The Browns were a dumpster fire on offense last season. There’s no way to go but up in 2016. RG III looks to restart his NFL career in Cleveland, and while he has limited weapons surrounding him, we truly don’t know what Cleveland has in store for us on that side of the ball. He built a solid rapport with Terrelle Pryor in the preseason, so if he can connect on a couple long scoring strikes, Griffin will most certainly serve you well at the QB position in a GPP if you plan to load up elsewhere.
RB
Doug Martin – The Bucs find themselves short underdogs for their Week 1 clash, but it wouldn’t shock me in the least if the line fell to a pick ‘em or Tampa Bay the short favorite come kick-off. They swept the Falcons last season, and Atlanta ranked 31st in rushing points allowed per attempt. The “Muscle Hamster” averaged 5.2 YPC and 101 yards against the 10 teams he faced ranked in the bottom third of that stat. With the Falcons more adept at defending the pass, Martin is going to get a heavy workload in this matchup and looks to be a rightful fit into one of your cash game RB slots.
Christine Michael – Be careful with this one as Michael might find himself on more DFS rosters now that he’s surpassed Thomas Rawls on the Seahawks’ RB pecking order. Still, at his current price point, he’s worth taking the risk if that doesn’t turn out to be the case. Seattle is the biggest favorite on the board in Week 1, so there’s a great chance it will be looking to salt the game away late which bodes well for Michael here as the top running back. Miami allowed 11 top-12 scoring running backs last season, which just so happened to be the most in the league. If you don’t go Spencer Ware, go Michael if looking for salary cap relief at the RB position in GPPs.
WR
Keenan Allen – The Chiefs possess one of the best run defenses in the league. It finished behind only the Seahawks and Jets in yards allowed to running backs per game at 108.8. For the Chargers to compete in this one, they’ll look to the air. That means Keenan Allen will get some heavy use considering he ranked 7th in the league in yards per game prior to going down with a season ending injury last season. KC allowed the 10th most yards to wide receivers at 175.4. With a more palatable salary than most top dog wide receivers, you’re getting a discount on one that will likely be Phillip Rivers’ primary target. Start Keenan up in cash games!
Kamar Aiken – The Bills might possess a rock solid secondary, but it was exploitable on the interior. Baltimore threw the rock better than 42 times per game in 2015, the most of any other team. With Joe Flacco back in the mix, that number could increase or stay on track if the Ravens continue to have major issues running the ball. Aiken received close to 25 percent of targets after Steve Smith went down to a season ending injury. He’s still not 100 percent. Baltimore will have to throw the ball a ton to win this game, and I foresee Aiken on the receiving end of a bulk of those throws. At his current price point, that makes him an excellent WR3 in GPPs.
Best of luck with all your Week 1 DFS action – now go make that paper!
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