NFL DFS First Look at DraftKings Salaries for Week 1 (Fantasy Football)
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If you’ve been out of the loop or still don’t have your head around the matchups for Week 1, this is a great place to start.
Every week the First Look article gives you a taste of the slate and some of the more intriguing salaries that DraftKings releases. The goal is to identify early-week cash game considerations, as well as potential tournament plays before we piece together the stacking options. On Tuesdays, I share some of these insights on the Fantasy Footballers DFS & Betting Podcast if you want further commentary on some of the salary standouts.
Check back later in the week when Matthew Betz and I share our official DFS picks for cash and GPPs exclusively in the DFS Pass.
Here are the games for this week’s games including team-implied totals (TIP) for each matchup.
Overview
For newcomers, the main slate for DFS includes the Sunday early (1:00 EST) and afternoon games (4:05/4:25 EST). At first glance, here are a couple of things to note:
- Off the Main Slate: BAL, KC, GB, PHI, LAR, DET, NYJ, SF
- There are some high-end QBs (Lamar, Mahomes, Love, Hurts) not on this slate
- The elite TEs (Andrews, Kelce, LaPorta, Kittle) are also off this slate making punting the position tempting. As you’ll see in the TE section, the pickings are slim for Week 1.
- Three games stand above them all in terms of totals of 48 or more. They are all in the early window.
- The afternoon window have totals below 43 but there are a number of offenses (DAL, SEA, TB) intriguing for stacking purposes and late swapping.
For more on the strategy of DFS, make sure you check out some of our most popular articles including:
- Optimal Roster Construction for DFS Tournaments
- The Weekly Schedule of Players Who Want to Get Better
- How to Approach Each Position & Gain an Edge
- Roster Construction & How to Use Roster Percentages
Quarterbacks
- Josh Allen ($8000) & Kyler Murray ($6400) both look like they will be targets for single-stacking in Week 1, especially with their TEs. The game sports the 3rd highest total on the main slate and we know how bad Arizona’s defense was last year.
- Joe Burrow ($6500) is underpriced relative to the team total the Bengals are carrying. At 25.3, Cincinnati has the 4th highest on the main slate. Stacking Burrow with Ja’Marr Chase (please report!) or Tee Higgins looks like an easy way to lean into an offense that ranked #1 in pass rate over expectation after the 1st month of last season.
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