The Fantasy football grind is back. The NFL kicks off on Thursday with the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Baltimore Ravens. Then, for the first time in NFL history, we have a game being played in Sao Paolo, Brazil on Friday night. All that will lead up to the Sunday matchups and the real fantasy season starts. It has been a long offseason and a lot of fantasy owners players have been waiting for this week. The Fantasy Football Start ’em, Sit ’em articles are here to help you get the win in Week 1.
The obvious starts are stars such as Tyreek Hill, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Justin Jefferson. This article is here to help you with the wide receivers who are not so high on the tier list. With this being Week 1, there are some question marks that no one will have the answers to until after this week. To help you through these tough decisions, check out our weekly fantasy football rankings and read on for our Week 1 fantasy football start ’em, sit ’em analysis at WR.
Running Backs — Week 1 Fantasy Football Start/Sit
Tight Ends — Week 1 Fantasy Football Start/Sit
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Fantasy Football Start ’em, Sit ’em: Week 1 WRs
Start: Mike Evans Fantasy Outlook vs. Washington Commanders
Veteran Mike Evans will start out the Fantasy Football Start ’em sit ’em article (no pun intended). Evans ended the regular season by going over 15 points in six out of the last nine games. He also added another 10-pointer in one of those other three. In the playoffs, he also went off against the Detroit Lions, scoring 29.7 points in the Divisional Round. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought back a lot of their offense, including Baker Mayfield who threw to Evans all of last season.
In Week 1, the Bucs play against the Washington Commanders. The Commanders gave up the most points to WRs last season (503). Besides the Philadelphia Eagles, who gave up 500 fantasy points to WRs, no other team was within 50 points of the Commanders last season. Evans should continue to be WR1 for the Bucs and put up a lot of points this week.
Start: Amari Cooper Fantasy Outlook vs Dallas Cowboys
The Cleveland Browns star faces his old team. Amari Cooper gets the second start slot for the WRs. Cooper ended his regular season with three straight games of double-digit points, including his monster game on Christmas Eve against the Houston Texans (53.5 points). Unfortunately, he was injured in that game and missed the last two weeks. He came back in the Browns’ Wild Card loss to the Texans again, but he did not have the same game he had before. Cooper returns to the Browns as WR1
On the flip side of the ball is the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys have a returning Trevon Diggs off of a torn ACL. CB2 for the Cowboys Daron Bland had foot surgery that will keep him out for the first four games. Amari Cooper is in good shape to have a good revenge game against the Dallas Cowboys.
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Sit: Brandon Aiyuk Fantasy Outlook vs the New York Jets
The man who caused a saga for all of us to watch and wait to see what happens is on the sit list. Brandon Aiyuk is a good WR; there is no doubt about that. However, he has a nightmare of a matchup in Week 1. The San Francisco 49ers returned most of their starters from last season, so Aiyuk returns to his WR2 spot. Aiyuk ended the regular season only outside of the top 22 only three times after the bye week. In the playoffs, he only had one game above 10 points. With Pearsall out for (at least) the first four games, Aiyuk will probably see an uptick in targets.
That may not help as much when he is playing against the New York Jets. The Jets have an ELITE DB corps. DJ Reed, Micheal Carter II and Ahmad Gardner helped the Jets allow the fewest points to WRs last season. The Jets defense was why they won a lot of their games and they should be an elite core this season as well. Sit Brandon Aiyuk for the opening week.
Sit: Diontae Johnson Fantasy Outlook vs the New Orleans Saints
What a surprise; a guy on a new team with a QB who is still very questionable in the NFL is on the sit list. Diontae Johnson gets his first taste of the NFC South when he plays the New Orleans Saints. Johnson scored over 10 points in five of his last six games last season. Last year, the only Carolina WR who averaged more than 10 points per game was Adam Thielen.
On the other side of the ball is the Saints CB trio of Marshon Lattimore, Paulsen Adebo and Kool-aid Mckinstry. The Lattimore and Adebo duo have proven themselves as some of the better CBs in the league. Johnson is more than likely getting one of those two covering him in the game. Diontae Johnson should be left alone on your bench this week.
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