Week 1 rankings are tough. You are predicting outcomes against defenses that you haven’t seen yet. It all seems to be based on last year’s performance and off season moves. We don’t have a good gauge of what is going on in the locker room yet and how the new players will mesh with the old. Was the coach of the team A showing his hand in the preseason with RB snaps? Who knows. Beat writers are hit or miss. A running back can be named a starter but might not see a second series until the second quarter. We’ve seen it all before. All we can do is try. That doesn’t stop me from trying to read into every little thing to predict the closest outcome that I possibly can. Here are some players that I like and don’t like before you view my rankings in full.
*Rankings will be updated periodically throughout the rest of the week.
- I like Cam Newton as my #2 overall quarterback this week. He is healthy, he has all of his weapons (aside from Curtis Samuel), and the match up against the Cowboys shouldn’t provide hell to pay for him. That is, unless Randy Gregory comes right out of the gate looking like a world beater.
- James Conner is worth a start this week if Le’veon Bell doesn’t suit up. He has a nice match up against a team that is coached by Hue Jackson. Pittsburgh should get ahead early leading to plenty of touches.
- Legarrette Blount is flex-worthy against the Jets. It’s hard to imagine a situation where he doesn’t fall into the end zone at least once.
- Royce Freeman should be in your line up. The kid is very talented and I’m not so sure that Seattle is anymore on the defensive side of the ball.
- Michael Thomas should see plenty of targets and he will probably torch Tampa Bay’s weak secondary. He easily fits into the #2 wide receiver spot this week.
- I love Chris Hogan against Houston. Plenty of targets in what should be a game with some points scored.
- I think Mike Evans will get maintained for the majority of this game. Remember that there is some bad blood here between the Saint’s secondary and himself. Things do not fall in his favor with Ryan Fitzpatrick under center.
- Brandin Cooks starts outside of the top 30 where he may end up for much of the season. The match up is nice but nobody has a clue what to do with the usage. I think I have Goff a few spots higher than he usually will be.