The NFL season is here, and that means fantasy football season too! There are few things more exciting than deciding your Thursday Night Football starting lineup in Week 1. You haven’t had to deal with the annoying reality of losses, injuries, or other disappointments. It’s all optimism.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get the best fantasy picks for Thursday Night Football – even in a game with as much offensive power as Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens. You know you have players like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson in the starting lineup, but what about some of the picks you made in the middle or late rounds for each team?
Let’s take a look at some of the best fantasy picks you should be targeting tonight.
Starting player: Xavier Worthy, WR, Kansas City Chiefs: Am I worried about a rookie making his debut with a Super Bowl contender? A little, sure. But it’s all about the upside here — you’re not really thinking about playing scared in Week 1, are you? With Hollywood Brown out, Worthy is a top-three receiver option in one of the NFL’s best offenses. And with his superior speed and field-stretching role on the outside, Worthy only needs one or two plays to deliver a strong fantasy performance. If he has three or four, he could be a matchup winner. And if we’re looking for additional reasons to be excited about Worthy? Among Ravens DBs who played 50+ coverage snaps last year (per PFF), Marlon Humphrey had the lowest coverage grade And faced the second-highest average depth of target. Deep balls could be the key to the Chiefs’ victory.
Starting player Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore Ravens: I don’t have to tell you about Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, or Mark Andrews. But you might be a little nervous about Zay Flowers. Don’t be. The Chiefs defense is really good, but Flowers also had 5 catches, 115 yards, and a touchdown in his last game against KC. If we exclude Week 17, when he played few snaps, Flowers averaged 4.9 catches, 50.1 yards, and 0.33 touchdowns (12.0 PPR fantasy points) per game. He was better than those numbers suggest, though, because that average includes a few total duds that came in blowout wins when the Ravens didn’t have to throw the ball much (3 catches in a 28-3 win over the Browns, 1 catch in a 37-3 win over the Seahawks, 1 catch in a 23-7 win over the Jaguars). This game won’t be a blowout win, so Flowers should be heavily involved.
Bench Samaje Perine and Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, Kansas City Chiefs: Another way to read this is, “Basically put every Chief you drafted in the starting lineup.” Perine and CEH will have gone undrafted in many leagues, and even if you made a late throw, you probably wouldn’t consider putting Perine in your lineup (while CEH is on the non-football injured list and can’t get into the starting lineup anyway). I guess what I’m really trying to tell you here is that that’s the limit of playable Chiefs. Mahomes? Rice? Kelce? Pacheco? You already knew you were going to put them in the starting lineup. I guess if you drafted Carson Steele, you could add him to that “sit” list too, but that’s about it.
Rashod Bateman, WR, Baltimore Ravens, benched: I said I’m not worried about the Chiefs defense because of Flowers, but I’m not so unconcerned that I’d go so far as to start Rashod Bateman. If you drafted him, you have to take a wait-and-see approach. The No. 3 pick in the pecking order for targets (behind Flowers and Mark Andrews) hasn’t typically translated into fantasy success on the Ravens’ offense. Maybe Bateman takes a leap forward this year or maybe Baltimore becomes a bit more pass-happy, but until we see that, don’t consider starting Bateman.
Looking for complete Week 1 starting and sit-em picks? We’ve got you covered for every position: Quarterback | Running Back | Wide Receiver | Tight End | Kicker & Defense
