Week 1 of the 2016-17 NFL regular season has arrived. With that, all fantasy football drafts should be in the books as well unless your commissioner likes to wait till the last second and schedule it the night before the season opening Thursday nighter. If you’re in a 10-12 team league, setting this week’s lineup should be pretty easy. But if you’re in a larger league or in the mood to gamble, I’ve got some sleepers you might want to lock into your lineups for your first matchup.
Dak Prescott had himself a marvelous collegiate career leading Mississippi State to some of the program’s most memorable moments. With Tony Romo likely unavailable for the first half of the regular season, Jason Garrett has given him the keys to the Cowboys’ offense. Dak ripped it up in the preseason throwing for 454 yards and five touchdowns. Now granted, most of the output came against guys now serving French fries at McDonald’s, but the overall body of work was impressive nonetheless.
The Giants will enter this tilt with a rebuilt stop unit looking to improve upon their league-worst pass defense and No. 30 scoring defense. He’s got one of the best offensive lines working in front of him that will no doubt open some holes for the run game. Once that happens, he should have an easier time of it connecting with Dez Bryant and Jason Witten in the open field. If not, he can always tuck it and run and tally mass fantasy points with his legs. Quarterbacks that can run the football are fantasy gold!
Even with Jamaal Charles out for a bulk of last season, Andy Reid’s Chiefs still ranked out as the No. 2 rushing attack in the AFC and No. 6 overall. Charles is still not 100 percent after working his way back from another major knee injury. While he’ll likely get some work in this game, it won’t be nearly enough to prevent fantasy owners from giving Spencer Ware a run in their flex position. He will be KC’s workhorse in this game.
Ware is being bred as the future of Kansas City’s rushing attack, and he could go off in a big way against division rival San Diego who was simply putrid against the run last season in giving up an average of 125.3 yards per game; 14th out of 16 teams in the AFC and No. 27 overall in the league. Tennessee made them look foolish in preseason Week 1 racking up an ungodly 288 yards on 33 carries. That’s nearly 9.0 yards per carry people - Get Ware in your lineup!
Quarterback turned wide receiver, Terrelle Pryor, figures to be a major component of the Browns passing attack this season. No, he won’t be the No. 1 target on the team that gets targeted upwards of 10 times per game, but all it could take is 4-5 targets per game to equate to 100+ yards and a touchdown.
The RG III to Pryor duo already hooked up for a 50 yard touchdown in the preseason, and let’s face it, Cleveland is truly void of any other real major playmakers at the wide receiver position until Josh Gordon returns from suspension. Corey Coleman could turn some heads provided he progresses, but he’s a rookie. Griffin will be scanning the field for No. 11 whenever he drops back looking to make a big score downfield. That will bode well for Pryor owners in Week 1 against a Philadelphia defense that was allergic to defending pigskins in the air last season.
Jared Cook has had moments of brilliance over the course of his seven year career, but his eighth in the league just might be his best now that he’s got one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game slinging him the pigskin. Last season was the first since his rookie year that Cook failed to snag a touchdown grab, but now that he’s proven to be a major contributor within Green Bay’s attack, that could change in Week 1.
Jacksonville broke the piggy bank in making wholesale changes to its defense in the offseason, but nothing changed at the linebacker position and the Jags conceded the fifth most receiving yards to the tight end position last season. It’s highly likely Cook makes a splash in his green and gold debut.
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