Week 1 Lineup Winners: 6 Must-Start Fantasy Football Players (Ep. 2182)

0:00This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zacharyson, host of the award-winning Late Round Podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the Late Round Fantasy Football Podcast on the I Heart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. A whole rye and welcome into the fantasy pros fantasy football podcast. By the time you're tuning in the NFL season has certainly kicked off. But if you played someone like AJ Brown or maybe even Drake May, you might be chasing some upside and in need of some must-start players. So we got you covered with this primer episode of the program. I'm your host, Seth Wilcox. Join by a man who puts pen to paper each and every single week here for us at FPN long form fashion.

1:03He's downtown Derek Brown, D-Bro. How are you following a relatively rocky start to the pro football season returning on Wednesday night? Oh, man. I mean, the betting record's good. Anybody not following me on the betting pros app? I don't know what the hell you're doing. We're already making money here, baby. But outside of that, yeah, you're not too happy in the fantasy streets, but man, Drake May, not a good game. Ramon James Davidson, volume this way to a decent game. Yeah. So I mean, dude, he would have been like a top five play this week if he'd gotten the end zone. But outside of him, you started at AJ Brown, you're not happy. You started in a hundred Henry. You're not happy. Yes. You started anybody from the Seattle backfield. You're not happy. Sam's art running as super flex. You're not happy. So a lot of unhappy people out there that we got to help here, Seth. Yeah, we absolutely do. And that is the point of this program. We're shooting for upside. We're shooting for those players. Maybe towards the end of your bench, or maybe even out there on the way, or that you can acquire and go and fire up this week with confidence and deep room before we jump in everything. Can you just give us like a 500 foot level of what the primer is and where we can find

2:04it each week, man? VannisPros.com, baby. It is live every Thursday morning during the regular season. It's a living breathing document. It's my love letter of every single week of the NFL season. So I bring you down the rabbit hole of my process with coverages and plays and matchups and everything in between. Try to give you as much in-depth information in a TLDR fashion as I can because I know everybody's busy. I know everybody's got no attention spans for all this kind of stuff. So, you know, if you're going to hop around the primer and that's one of the big things that I love that VannisPros is done with the primer since the last five years, the ability to... Yeah, sure. You can control F and search your players and do all this kind of stuff. You can also hop around the primer from game to game with the links that are in the primer for all the players that you need. So, if you want to go read my capsule on a player from the Buccaneers, fine, go ahead and do it. You want to go back and bounce back and go see what's going on with the Steelers and you're

3:05looking at... Maybe do I have Aaron Rogers in a Superflex? Hmm, scary. But this is all to say that it's 15 to 20,000 words every single week on every single player that I think matters for fantasy. And... But we have the easy functionality that you don't have to go wait in the waters at 20,000 words. You can just get in, look at all the players you need. And as well as take advantage of my primer, if you have all your leagues, sink two, Fantasy Bros. As well, you got the app and stuff. So whether you're going my primer or you're going to hop around the primer article itself, it's all there for you, man. It's almost kind of like the sports bar of fantasy football articles, I would say, where you can slide in, pony up to a bar, stole, get a drink real quick. Hey, maybe I just want some wings. They'll be out in 10 minutes, baby. I can grab those wings. I can scar from down. I'm out the door in 30 minutes. You know, we're not like the fast food. We're not on McDonald's or a bird. You can't have it your way. But we are going to give you the right takes here from Derek Brown in the primer every single week. So make sure you guys...

4:06That's a wonderful analogy. That's a wonderful analogy, Seth, because also if you want to stay in play for a little bit and buy around a shot for the whole room, you could do that as well. Going on the touch tunes a little bit, you know, maybe fire up a little country music on there. I'm about it, man. I'm about it. Absolutely. All right, now we've gone too far. Now we've gone too far. Can't go the country music. We've gone too far. Do you have a number one touch tune song, Derek? Is there a number one that if the bars crowded, people were vibing pretty good. What do you throw it on the touch tunes? Journey. Don't stop believing. Okay. I like it. I like it. Everyone knows how I sing that one. Absolutely. And before we jump into the plays, folks, quick shout out to everyone who's tuning in, either on the fan's pros, YouTube channel or that audio feed. We're trying to get to 300,000 subscribers on YouTube by the end of this season. We're going to get there with your help. So please give this video a thumbs up and make sure you subscribe to the channel if you're new. Now let's go ahead and jump right into the play starting at quarterback where Derek, you think it might be a pretty nice debut for one Malik Willis out there in Sin City.

5:07I definitely do, man. This is not like, you know, kind of a sideways Brock Bower's take on the Raiders and stuff like that. But yeah, I'm looking at Malik Willis and the week one rankings and ECR over on fantasy pros.com, a QB 19 and I think it's kind of wild, dude. I would be starting him over a laundry list of guys that are going out there. Like if you got Malik Willis and Brock party, give me Malik Willis. Because and I know we're, you know, we're recording this into the future and that game has already taken place. But Malik Willis, I think he can't come out and have a really solid game. And this all goes back to yes, the throwing, but the rushing, dude. If you draft a Malik Willis, if you're considering starting in week one, you know what you bred as butter, dude. And that's Malik Willis on the ground, man. He's averaged 44.8 rushing arts per game and his starts over the last two seasons. Over the last two years or last three years amongst quarterbacks, that would rank top five in every single season. You have a Raiders defense that yes, okay, they brought in a lot of guys. They could be better. Is that they're automatically better in week one?

6:09We shall see. And if that's not the case, we're talking about a Raiders defense last year that gave up the fourth most rushing arts to design QB runs. Okay, Malik Willis, let's go. As well as giving up the 10th highest pass rating and the 9th highest pass and a success rate. So while we can have hope for the Raiders defense, I don't think we see them come out and be formidable and just an elite unit in week one and Malik Willis can get it down with his legs. And I think you're going to have success throwing the ball through the air. I'm really excited about Malik Willis this week, Derek. So much like I'm contemplating in a couple of different spots. Do I fire up someone like Jared Goff first? Malik Willis, I think I'm still going Goff in that certain sense. But it's a real conversation, right? Because the Raiders here, I'm not certain they're going to be able to move the ball that well. I'm not sure they're going to be able to possess the ball for that long with time with no Brock Barrett's Ashen Gentie, not at 100% and Malik Willis boot scooting, boogie, and all around. I'm all about it here. Even from a betting standpoint, Derek, he's three to one for any time touchdown. He scored two touchdowns in his one start last year for the Packers.

7:10So, you know, I'm there on that side of the things too. So Malik Willis this week, I think he gets it down to Miami. He's going to get creative. Past catcher, right? Find H and out of the backfield. Can we get one of these rookies like Caleb Douglas going? We shall see. Chris Bell and not on a snap count. They've already come out with that. You're not going to be on a snap count. So there you go. All right. Derek, take us to the running back position where you're going to start featuring a former love of mine, a Pittsburgh stealer who has now gone south. Like a lot of these retirees do in this part of the state. So you've lost that love and feeling? You don't have it for Kenny Gainwell anymore, Seth? I still have it. I still have it. It's like an old flame from high school that's like kind of fading. You know what I mean? Kind of fading. Well, I'll just tell you, you need to text the old flame then because in a game, well, I think it's a done a week one, dude. For all the upgrades of this bangle's defense this all season got better in the D line, got better back into the secondary. Their linebacker room is still quietly terrible, Seth. And I think when you're looking at just telling yourself a story of how the bucks game plays

8:13out, I'm low on a mecha. Booga, then he gets a shadow from DJ Turner, not even agnostic of the toast off. I think not only does it, you know, Chris Godwin, we will talk about here in a little bit, but I think Kenneth Gainwell gets done through the air in this game. So if you got, if you're in a PPR league, you look at him as a strong PPR flex going against the Cincinnati defense that gave the six most yards per target, the second most jack perception and the third highest yards per route run to running back through the air. Can we get a better matchup for Kenny Gamewell out the gate in week one? I don't think so. Got to play him. Yeah, I don't hate it. And like keep in mind, dude, this is the same team. Like Logan Wilson was really like, I felt like just an absolute stalwart there in that linebacker position. He retired at the age of 29 earlier this off season. So, you know, I think that does leave a big hole that the bangles didn't necessarily fail. And if you think the bangles are going to go out there and score points, well, wouldn't you think that Tampa Bay is going to want their best pass catching running back

9:15out there on the field to and Kenneth Gainwell. And we've seen him not only working out of the backfield. He's been in the slot at times. He's also worked into running back sets. So I think they create a, I like Kenneth Gainwell this week. I think he was a value in drafts. And speaking of a value in drafts, man, this was one that I left my homelie draft on Sunday without him. And I took Harold Fingen and junior over him. And I already have buyers for Brett. I know. You should. Shame. Shame upon your house. Shame upon your name, sir. What do you have out there from the running back position? Oh, young Marcion Lloyd making a history debut against the Vikings. ECR apparently hates a man. He's a RB 29. And I don't feel that it is low. He is a locked in RB two for this week. Who's taking work away from this man? You're worried about Chris Brooks. You shouldn't be. You worried about Caleb Johnson? You shouldn't be. Josh Jacobs, they walking through the door for week one people. So what the hell are we doing here? Like Marcion Lloyd, I understand the Vikings like we can talk about.

10:17Okay, their defense might be improved. We'll see, man. They made a lot of different changes and their D line. They got two rookies. Now, how fast are they? Jell and Caleb banks and big citrus there up front? Can they hit the ground running a week one? If they don't, we're talking about a Vikings run defense last year. That was middle road, dude. 16th and explosive run rate allowed 15th in yards of to contact for a 10th allowed. Give it the sixth highest Russian success rate. And at the fourth lowest stuff rate last year. So if this is not a truly improved unit, I think Kyler Murray also struggles in this game. Marcion Lloyd is going to have opportunities both on the ground through the air. We saw him in the, I mean, it's scored in a preseason on a damn angle route. You know, so I think Marcion Lloyd is locked into 15 plus opportunities split those between past game and rushing and the gets in the end zone. Man, he's a top 15 back this week. And yet he's being ranked as an RV three. This felt like low hanging fruit in the ECR and the rankings where I was like, I pulled it up.

11:18And I was like, what are we doing here? Y'all are really starting Jeremiah love over Marcion Lloyd. Everybody really ranked JDR in price over Marcion Lloyd. They ranked Jalen Warren, Quinshaw Judkins, Chuba Hubbard, Basel Tuton, Rico Dowdell over Marcion Lloyd. This cannot be. Especially with Tucker Kraft, not 100% right? Like him and Josh Jacobs, man, those two have been really the, you know, returning studs of this team the last couple of years, right? And both of them are not going to be, I mean, Jacobs won't be out there. And we're not going to see Tucker Kraft likely to 100% probably on a snap count here to start week one. So it feels like you know, you got what you got? I'm Christian Watson. Jane Reed is going to get his gimmicky touches as always, right? We don't really know if Matthew Goulton will take that next step. But Marcion Lloyd feels like kind of just a blatant opportunity in front of everyone's faces. And they're not seeing it. So yeah, I like that a lot. I like that a lot, man. And also what I like Derek is giving away free stuff. And that's what we have right now for everyone. If you want a chance to win a side, Kyron Williams, Los Angeles Rams, many helmet,

12:22then this is your shot. All you have to do right now is leave a review on either Apple podcasts or Spotify, screenshot that review and then email it to mailbag at fancy pros.com. And then mailbag at fancy pros.com. We will now say winner right here on the program. So make sure you ring the bell so you can know when all podcasts are up. And then you can tune in and make sure you find out if you win that prize, if you're a lucky winner. They're giving a giveaway winner. I haven't won many giveaways over my life. I think I have a signed Tyree Kild Jersey, but I think that's about all I have, which isn't worth much now. Yeah. I don't think you're going to get that. That might be time to just head to Goodwill with that one. Yeah. You know what? Going back, I won two giveaways in like when I was like a kid, like school age and stuff. Okay. But pass that. Like a bike or something. I never got like, yeah, I never went to a pro game and got like the t-shirt cannon or anything like that. Like, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not, I'm not lucky, Seth. So you are not a, you are not someone who lucky and receives, but you are certainly someone who gives away that good luck.

13:26And you're going to do it here. And once again, touching my heart with the Pittsburgh stealer here, what do you got? Do you get mecha? I have weak, man. I think he's going to ball out in week one. And this is a combination of coverage matchup and the Atlanta Falcons, woeful secondary week, 12 to 18 last year. The Atlanta Falcons had the fourth highest single high rate in the NFL. 59.4% of their snaps. Why does this matter? It's because DK Metcalf, man, it's been easy. No one to start him and no one to not start him is single high matchups, fire of DK. Two high matchups, sit DK. This is going back all the way to freaking Seattle, dude. And last year, the splits held true against single high DK. Maccalf had a 28% target per route run rate, 2.38 yards per route run. Again, looking at this secondary week, 12 through 18, the Atlanta Falcons gave up the seventh most receiving arts to perimeter wide receivers. Wow. I think Metcalf gets it done in week one, dude. Yeah. I mean, it feels like a good spot for him. We know he's healthy. We know some of these other receivers still kind of working on that chemistry with Aaron Rogers.

14:29Apparently, like him and DK are best friends. And with some of the things I've heard recently about what DK believes is happening down there in Antarctica. I'm not super surprised. Right. So I just researched this yesterday. We recorded an episode of the tailgate. And I think Alfredo brought it up where he was like, you do realize DK thinks that there's a secret civilization in Antarctica. And I was like, I am today, years old, finding this out. Are you serious? What are we talking about, man? Like, I mean, there's 10 foil hats and there's 10 foil hats. My man, that's why. Yeah. And I just think two sealers are set up really well here to just run away from the Falcons. Right. I mean, this is a team with a serious pass rush going up against one of the most brittle and beat in quarterbacks. That I don't even know if he lasts this whole game with Captain Jack, Nick Herbig, TJ Watt and Alex Heismith coming off the edge. Right. And we know Aaron Rodgers, track record of success is not only very strong and weak one, also super strong in three straight up against or with Mike McCarthy there at the helm calling these plays.

15:32So excited to see what happens out there in the steel city at one a PM Eastern time. Let's go ahead and move forward where again, I think you're paying her to me because not a forward Pittsburgh Stealer, but a former Penn State Knitney line hashtag. We are baby. Oh, here we go. Oh, my. Your Penn State love is so undefeated. I should be. You see what we splanked Marshall man. Come on. It's Marshall. My man. Don't get to don't get to get far out ahead of your skis. But I think people can do this with Chris Godwin this week. I think Godwin's going to eat in this matchup kind of talked about it with Kenny Game. Well, I think DJ Turner is going to be on a mecca. Boca's going to push targets to other players in this offense. I think one will be Kenny Game. Well, another benefactor of this is Chris Godwin, dude. You look at the last year or weeks 13 through 18. He's back on the field. Chris Godwin is not washed, dude. In that sample, one he did. He was in his customary role, played almost 60% of the snaps out of the slot. He had 1.88 yards per out run zero point one, oh, seven, first downs per out run for context.

16:35The arts per out run. That's pretty freaking solid. That first downs per out run mark is elite. So Chris Godwin is not washed. You're looking at a Cincinnati defense. That was horrible against defending the slot last year. And again, going back to I think the Bengals are going to field and improve defense. But there are still some issues with this defense that they got to clear up this year. Ma'am, Jalen Davis was not good. Last year amongst 33 qualifying slot corners. He gave the fourth highest rate of step or separation. He was 15th and blanketed rate. This team overall, this defense gave up the fifth most yards per target to opposing slot receivers. This all is to say, Chris Godwin and ECR, wide receiver 31. I'm not telling you that you have to start him as a confident wide receiver to, but I think he can produce as that in week one DK Metcalf, Chris Godwin back to back in ECR. Who do you like more this week if you had to pick between one of them? Half point. I'll go DK because the touchdown. Okay. In that offense PPR.

17:36It's Chris Godwin all day. Okay. All right. Veteran move there from Derek Brown and speaking of veterans. He's selecting one here at the tight end position when he got D bro. Oh, I'm not telling everybody to feel good about Mark Andrews and season long formats, but I'm telling you good, feel good at week one for Mark Andrews. And again, I'm just picking on the Bengals in this episode. So looking at the Colts defense, Lewin Rumo has given up production to receiving tight ends year after year after year after year, after year. If anybody again, once a nice little spend of their time, go look at the Cincinnati Bengals defense over the last five to 10 years versus tight ends. Not last year, but all the years before for Lewin Rumo during his 10 year with the Bengals. It has got awful. That's when they were like historically bad against tight ends for a couple of years, right? Yep. Yep. Dude, I mean, but it holds up like over like six or seven straight years. You're talking about a defense that's top 12 and receiving yards allowed to tight ends. Old tweet Lew brought it over to the Colts last year.

18:39Indy last season, fourth most yards per target, 12th most fantasy points per opportunity allowed to tight ends. Again, I'm not telling you to feel good about Mark Andrews for the whole season. Sure. But I am feeling good about him week one. I think he scores a touchdown. I think he can be a top 12 tight end. If you're dealing with Brock Bauer's issues and you picked up Mark Andrews late, or you've got other guys that are in that Lewin tight end, one category, like just looking at ECR for fantasy pros right now. If you're debating between Isaiah likely or Michael Mayer and you have Mark Andrews on your roster, even other guys like a George Kiddell adult can cade, I'm playing Mark Andrews over these guys. Yeah, I don't hate that. Call it all. I was talking about this game earlier today with Andrew Erickson. And while we do like the under in this matchup, I'm playing the under. No doubt. I think the interesting thing is that like this is a brand new interior offensive line for Baltimore. How well is there a Henry getting acquitted to that? And also like I know all the Jacobi Lane hype and you know, I'm a big Elijah Sriracha.

19:44These are still rookies, right? Like aside from Zay flowers, Mark Andrews is the number two target in this offense. So not a bad play. You know, and I like you're, you know, your thought there that, Hey, I don't feel great about him. Season long goes back to our bar analogy. I don't want to be in a bar every single day, right? But a couple a couple of times a month hanging out with the boys crushing a couple of bruise. Maybe a couple burgers and wings. I'm there for it. So well, speaking of the bar analogy, it's kind of like with Andrews, you're cool hanging out from like 10 to midnight. Right. But once it gets past midnight, nothing good happens after about 2 a.m. So like week four through on for Mark Andrews, nothing good probably happens. So we're just heading out of the bar at midnight. Just leave the bar at midnight. Yep. It's going from 10 to 12. It's fine. Yes. Yes. Go for dinner. Have some late night drinks, but I agree. I am in home, talked away, hopefully by midnight. And hopefully y'all are tucked away. Some great fantasy football starting options here from downtown Derek Brown. That's going to do it though for us on this episode of the fantasy pros fans football podcasts.

20:44Comment down below your favorite week one must start players who want to hear from you. And while you're here, make sure you smash that like button and subscribing to the channel. If you're new for Derek Brown, I'm Seth Wolcock. Take care y'all. Thanks for listening to the fantasy pros fantasy football podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple podcasts at fantasy pros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram and TikTok at fantasy pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasy pros. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league.

21:47I'm JJ Zacharyson, host of the award winning late round podcast. Before your draft are players to target and players to avoid episodes tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the late round fantasy football podcast and the iHeart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. College football will hijack your weekend ruin your sleep and break your heart. And that's why we make the solid verbal college football show. I'm Ty Hildenbrand. He's Dan Rubenstein. Every week we preview the games that matter in the story lines that are going to ignite your group chat. And you can join us in the aftermath as we react to what happened, why it matters and how the sport went completely bonkers yet again. Listen to the solid verbal college football show on the iHeart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Mike Am and I'm Trevor Sikama and together we host the NFL fantasy football show. Are you ready to dominate your fantasy league this season?

22:50Because if you aren't locked in with us on the NFL fantasy football show, you're already playing from behind. Whether you're a first time player or a grizzled vet chasing another championship would give you the advantage and the confidence you need to make every move count. Listen to the NFL fantasy football show on the iHeart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Whether you're a seasoned NFL fan or new to the game, there's one place to keep up with all of it. The league's newest podcast, the NFL report posted by me, Andrew Sicilian, oh, it is your home for everything football breaking news expert analysis game picks and here from your favorite players to join me and at all star cast of experts for everything you need to know from around the league. Get new episode to the NFL report Monday through Friday all season long. Listen to the NFL report podcast on the iHeart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human.