2019 Fantasy Football Week 1 Rankings

This NFL season really crept up on me, especially since I've been on vacation for the last few days.  It was supposed to be a few more, but for the second year in a row, we were evacuated early from the Outer Banks.  It's all good though.  I think now we'll just plan another vacation in a couple of months to try to get some down time before the holidays.

But enough about that.  Now it's time to get down to business.  Below are my Week 1 rankings, and I've made a few comments on various positions below the rankings about guys I like/don't like as much versus the FantasyPros ECR (Expert Consensus Rankings).

Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments, and I might even have one more thing for you before Sunday.  Stay tuned...

2019 Fantasy Football Rankings powered by FantasyProsECR ™ - Expert Consensus Rankings

QBs
I have Philip Rivers as a top-10 fantasy QB against the Colts at home, but the current ECR is way down at 18.  I like his weapons, and without Melvin Gordon, I expect him to throw for 300+ yards and have a pair of touchdown passes.  I'm down on Mahomes and Rodgers in bad road matchups, and I tend to hate Big Ben on the road.  I don't see Roethisberger as a top-15 fantasy QB this season, and that especially goes for games on the road (and even more especially in Foxboro).

RBs
Two guys I like a little more than the experts and who I'll be starting in DFS leagues on Sunday are Todd Gurley and Chris Carson.  I also believe a little more in Tevin Coleman, while the ECR seems to really like Matt Breida more against the Bucs.  We'll see how the touches play out, but I have a feeling Coleman will get more fantasy points and has a great chance to be a top-20 RB this week.  I don't really like some of the rookies in Week 1, as I'm down on David Montgomery, Miles Sanders, Devin Singletary, and Justice Hill.  Right now I'm at least 10 spots lower than the ECR on all of those guys.  I just don't expect teams to hand the ball off to rookies right out of the gates.  We'll see though!

WRs
If you go deep into my WR rankings, you'll notice I really like Paul Richardson (currently +32 versus ECR).  Washington will be playing from behind in this game, and Keenum doesn't have many options on the outside.  I think Richardson could see double digit targets and could be a high volume play in Week 1.  I also noticed the Seahawks cut Jaron Brown only to re-sign him.  I expect him to be the #2 WR against the Bengals in Week 1, but the ECR doesn't even have him as a top-100 WR.  That seems nuts.  He should easily be a top-50 receiver if he's in the starting lineup.  As for guys I don't like, I'm not super confident in Will Fuller's knee just yet, and I've been down on Courtland Sutton all preseason.  I don't like either versus the ECR this week.

TEs
The guy I like the most versus the ECR is Matt LaCosse.  I have him as a top-20 TE, which is nearly 20 spots higher than the expert consensus.  Tom Brady doesn't have a ton of healthy targets, and he likes his tight ends.  He'll throw it to LaCosse a handful of times, and he's a sneaky play in DFS.  I'm down on another rookie in Noah Fant, who isn't even listed as the starting tight end on the team's official depth chart.  I don't expect him to be heavily involved in Week 1.


DEFs
I have the Browns as my #1 fantasy defense this week, so I'm a few spots higher than the experts on them.  I also like Kansas City as a top-12 unit in Jacksonville.  I think Nick Foles could seriously struggle in his first start with his new team.  I'm slightly down on the Rams, who are a top-12 defense based on the ECR.  I have a feeling the Panthers will score a lot in this game and won't turn the ball over.  We'll see how it all plays out here in Week 1!

Cheers,
Bart