Top-ranked daily fantasy sports pro Jason Mezrahi, founder and CEO of WinDailySports.com, breaks down his favorite DFS plays at various salary ranges for Week 1 of the NFL season.
These are some of the players Jason will be locking in his lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel for this weekend’s slate.
QUARTERBACKS
MATT RYAN, ATL
$6,700 DRAFTKINGS, $7,800 FANDUEL
This may be the best offensive weaponry that Matty Ice has ever had. If you have followed my show on SiriusXM Fantasy, I was pushing all of our listeners at Win Daily to get shares of this offense and specifically Matt Ryan. He now has an upgrade at running back with the addition of Todd Gurley, which should open things up even more.
I believe TE Hayden Hurst is and upgrade over Austin Hooper (now with the Cleveland Browns) at the tight end position. Add a more mature Calvin Ridley — paired with Julio Jones — giving Ryan the upside at lower ownership than the other quarterbacks in his pricing tier.
The upgrades on offense, combined with a soft matchup against the average at best Seahawks defense, inside a dome is a nice spot to be in Week 1.
TOM BRADY, TBB
$6,500 DRAFTKINGS, $7,500 FANDUEL
I don’t believe I wrote up Brady one time all of last year in my articles and maybe played him once or twice in DFS. The old man, aka the GOAT, has moved to Tampa Bay and now has the best offense on paper that he has ever had. Weapons galore across the field!
The only difficult part for me is to figure out who to pair him with. At this current point, I feel comfortable playing him “naked,” which means not stacking him with a receiver or tight end. Ownership will be down on Brady and most players will opt for Drew Brees or other quarterbacks in this price range. This is a statement game for Brady and I believe he has a chip on his shoulder to show the world he can win without Bill Belichick. Give me Brady in Week 1 and lets hope he still has more left in the tank.
RUNNING BACKS
AUSTIN EKELER, LAC
$7,000 DRAFTKINGS, $7,700 FANDUEL
If there was a mini version of Christian McCaffrey, it is Ekeler. By all means play McCaffrey in any lineup you can afford him and lock him into your cash games. McCaffrey is very good at football.
In most cases I will have both McCaffrey and Ekeler paired as my two running backs, but let me tell you why I like Ekeler: Some people may view Tyrod Taylor as a downgrade to Philip Rivers, which has a negative impact on Ekeler… but I think he will be just fine. With Taylor not being a downfield passer as much as Rivers was, I see even more targets for Ekeler. Once he gets the ball in space, he can turn any catch into a touchdown. He is a three-down back who catches a ton of passes and game script says the Chargers should be leading in this game, which should mean even extra work for Ekeler.
ANTONIO GIBSON, WAS
$4,000 DRAFTKINGS, $4,600 FANDUEL
Antonio Gibson is one of your best Week 1 values. I truly hope is ownership is not through the roof; but, either way, the savings is too much to pass up.
As I am writing this, we don’t know his workload or complete role but we do know the Washington Football Team let go of Adrian Peterson and Gibson was a major reason why. Gibson was a highlight reel in college and was used in various roles as a pass catching back and receiver. This is a great matchup versus the Eagles; we could see a shootout, or a solid amount of garbage time dump offs to Gibson.
WIDE RECEIVERS
DAVANTE ADAMS, GBP
$7,300 DRAFTKINGS, $8,400 FANDUEL
Lets keep this one simple. Who is else will Aaron Rodgers throw the ball to?
Adams is, and will be, the main guy in Green Bay for the rest of this year and, unlike other wide receivers, he shouldn’t be competing for target shares. Adams is a stud and is priced lower than the top tier.
I love the discount we get on DraftKings! On FanDuel I can make the case for both Julio Jones and Michael Thomas, which are both in play. Similar to the next guy I’m going to mention below, this will be the cheapest price you see on Adams all season on DraftKings. Enjoy the short-lived savings.
KENNY GOLLADAY, DET
$6,200 DRAFTKINGS, $7,900 FANDUEL
This is a pricing mistake and you have to enforce it. Golladay is a true number 1 receiver. Whoever decided to price him on DraftKings should check his resume.
Golladay is a beast and he put up numbers with one of the worst combination of quarterbacks last year after QB Matthew Stafford went down. Golladay now has his leader back and is setup for nice game at home in the dome. Lets lock in Golladay for 100+ yards receiving and a TD.
TIGHT ENDS
ZACH ERTZ, PHI
$5,800 DRAFTKINGS, $6,600 FANDUEL
With all of the injuries the Eagles have on offense, Ertz is the safe way to attack this Washington defense.
Ertz will be getting the majority of targets in the passing game and is the first option whenever they get in the red zone. He has the upside to double the points of most of the tight ends on the slate. He comes in as my safest tight end play in Week 1, due to the combination of a fair price and the target share he is in line to receive.
HUNTER HENRY, LAC
$5,300 DRAFTKINGS, $6,000 FANDUEL
Henry is another safe play at tight end at a nice price.
This matchup looks good and, with the uncertainty of Mike Williams, should see a rise in targets for Henry in Week 1. The best time to play Henry is when he’s healthy, so lock him in after a long offseason to rest up. With Tyrod Taylor now at quarterback the combination of Ekeler and Henry should be his outlets.
DFS EXTRA PRO TIP: In lineups I lock Ekeler in, I will be pivoting off Henry and vice versa.
DEFENSES
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
$3,200 DRAFTKINGS, $4,600 FANDUEL
As you will see week to week, defenses are tough to project out because a pick-six is impossible to get right every week. What we will be doing is picking on weak offenses, turnover prone quarterbacks, and teams who let up a bunch of sacks.
With the Patriots facing Miami in Week 1, it looks like we have some opportunities to lock in a nice floor with some upside because we know Dolphins QB Ryan Fitzpatrick loves to force balls into tight coverage. If we get a repeat performance of last year’s version of the Patriots defense, we should be looking pretty in Week 1.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
$3,000 DRAFTKINGS, $3,700 FANDUEL
I don’t believe in Jacksonville Jaguars QB Gardner Minshew, I don’t believe in the Jaguars offense, and the organization as a whole. Besides WR DJ Chark, the talent on offense is missing and the Colts should have a field day and comfortable lead to apply pressure to Minshew.
With no real running back threat, all the pressure will be on Minshew and I believe that leads to turnovers and fantasy points for the Colts defense in Week 1.
Jason Mezrahi has been a professional, top-ranked Daily Fantasy Player on FanDuel and DraftKings for more than eight years. He has won FanDuel’s $155,555 King of the Diamond competition and placed second in DraftKings’ Fantasy Basketball World Championship, earning him $300,000. He owns and operates WinDailySports.com, which supports the DFS and Sports Betting community with resources such as tools, projection models, expert chat, in-depth written analysis and podcasts, plus much more.
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