Every Sunday in the weekly fantasy chats, I get asked about my favorite plays of the week or who is my player pool that weekend for DFS.
This article series covers exactly that.
I will go through the players I am targeting as the tournament plays for all formats and will cover core players and games to target for stacks in other posts.
The idea is that this will paint a clearer picture of framing lineups.
Week 1 DFS Content:
It is not that all tournament players cannot be used in cash games. If a player here works out for your team structure in cash games surrounding your primary core, use them.
These are just the players that come with some element of inherent risk but are the primary players that I still want to be ahead of the field on compared to the percentage of rosters they are projected to make this weekend.
Week 1 is always a unique week for NFL DFS.
We have a clean slate for teams. Players and coaches have changed teams. What was yesterday is not today and we have yet to build up a sample on the 2023 season.
The other element playing here is that DFS player pricing was set several weeks ago as opposed to the several days it will be moving forward.
With the pricing being released so early, we have a plethora of discounted options compared to a normal week.
Week 1 almost always has too many plays.
I will have some analysis on the player selections and game writeups, but check out the Week 1 Worksheet for a fully detailed breakdown of the players and games.
Quarterback
All my core quarterbacks and the ones discussed in the game stacks portion of this article will be the players I am targeting for tournaments. Please check those out for further detailed information on quarterbacks.
Running Back
J.K. Dobbins ($6,600 DraftKings/$6,500 FanDuel)
This is a tremendous spot for Dobbins, and he comes with potential leverage on Lamar Jackson attached to the largest home favorite on the slate (-9.5 points).
Houston allowed 91.1 explosive rushing yards per game, the most in the league in 2022.
Among all backs with 100 or more carries last season, Dobbins ranked first in the rate of runs to gain 10 or more yards (18.1%) and first in the rate of runs to result in a first down or touchdown (27.6%).
Opposing running backs averaged 5.2 yards per carry (third most) against Houston a year ago and 3.66 yards after contact per carry (second most). Houston surrendered a league-high 21.9 rushing points per game to opposing backfields.
We are at the mercy that Dobbins may not catch any passes, so we are going to touchdowns from him. That gives him just enough volatility to keep him from being a core player.
