FOOTBALL. FOOTBALL STARTS TONIGHT.

What a summer, what an offseason, what a time. I can smell the fall air already and football is back to consume our TV time all weekend long.

Let’s talk some fantasy football, it’s time to get to winning.

In this week’s newsletter:
- What the heck happened this week?
- Week 1 ranking highlights
- Rival Fantasy Spotlight
- Week One Strategy
- Booms and Busts

📰 What the heck happened this week?

• Travis Kelce unlikely to play Week 1

  • Yuck. One of the worst news a fantasy manager could get is that their first round pick is unable to play. After hyperextending his knee in practice, Travis Kelce appears unlikely to play in KC’s week 1 game against DET.

• Travis Kelce Alternatives

  • A few guys I don’t mind starting this week at TE who may still be available on waivers:

    • Sam LaPorta, DET

    • Irv Smith, CIN

    • Tyler Conklin, NYJ

• Cooper Kupp ruled out Week 1

  • No need to sweat it out, the announcement was made Wednesday that Kupp is officially out for week 1.

🤑 Week One Rankings Highlights

Every week here I’ll highlight a few players I may be ranking higher than other experts, or some players I’m just excited to see play this upcoming week.

Feel free to check out my full weekly rankings at the link below!

🐆 Jaguars WRs (Ridley - WR18, Kirk - WR28)
I’m just excited to see this offense in action this season. I already feel low on these WRs for the week and they may inch up as Sunday comes closer, but I just can’t wait to see them play. I’m hoping for big things here!

✈️ Jets RBs (Hall - RB28, Cook - RB35)
How the heck is this backfield going to look? Well, we’re about to find out! Right now I have Breece Hall as the lead back on the Jets, but wouldn’t be surprised if Cook is the head honcho to start the season. Looking forwarding to seeing how this goes!

Other things to check out:
- Trade Value Charts from PeakedinHighSkool
- Play Fantasy Bingo on Rival Fantasy and use code FIRSTSEED at signup

💸 Rival Fantasy Spotlight

Looking for a new way to play fantasy football this season? Then I think it’s time you check out Rival Fantasy!

With fantasy football games like Challenges and Fantasy Bingo, there’s plenty more ways to win this upcoming season. It also helps that they’re fun to do as well.

Plus, if you sign up using this link, you'll get a first deposit match up to $200 and a FREE $25 Voucher.

Check it out! If you add me as a friend (my username is ‘Kyle’), I’ll even send you a few 1v1 fantasy challenges.

☝️ Week One Strategy

How do I approach week 1 differently than future weeks? Not too differently, I guess the primary difference is holding a few more question marks in an effort to get positive answers, but here are a few of those strategies broken up:

🗒️ Scoop Up Some Fliers from Waivers
Guys like IND RB Evan Hull and DEN WR Marvin Mims should be added to your rosters ahead of their games. They shouldn’t be started (unless you’re desperate) but adding players who could be more involved than initially thought is my favorite pre-season start activity.

This gives you a potential step ahead of next week’s waivers if these players are involved and fantasy relevant.

🗒️ Prepare Next Week’s DST or QB Streamer (if this is your strategy)
Look ahead at DST or QB schedules and get ahead of the game with next week’s pickups. Some options to keep in mind:

• QB Jordan Love

  • GB has one of the easiest QB strength of schedule to start the season, with week 2 against ATL being the easiest

• QB Daniel Jones

  • Jones faces ARI in week 2 but faces a tougher DAL defense this upcoming week

• DST Indianapolis Colts

  • I wouldn’t touch the Colts this week against JAX, but next week they face HOU and will be a top streamer

• DST Los Angeles Chargers

  • Facing MIA this week, the Chargers get a much easier TEN offense in week 2

❓ Advice Requests ❓

Need some start/sit help? Looking to fill a bench spot with with someone from waivers? Need a DST streamer?

Feel free to reply to this email with any questions and I’ll answer whatever you have for me. Let’s get some wins.

💥 Week One Booms and Busts 👎

Start your studs. There’s no need to get cute this first week of the season, you drafted them for a reason.

That being said, let’s highlight some players I’m expecting some big weeks from and a few I’m pretty low on. This isn’t necessarily a start/sit column, but more so some players I expect a bigger week from and some players I’m not excited about.

💥 TE Sam LaPorta, Lions (vs. Chiefs)
A perfectly fine TE to stream this week against a defense that is ranked ninth easiest in TE DST for this upcoming season. I expect LaPorta to be second in targets on this roster this week in a game that should be one of the highest scoring of the week.

👎 RB Kenneth Walker, Seahawks (vs. Panthers)
While I still think Walker to have control of this backfield, I still expect to see Zach Charbonnet involved quite a bit this season and it all starts week 1. Charbonnet is a threat to the high value touches that would keep Walker in my top-40 flex ranks.

💥 WR Jayden Reed, Packers (vs. Bears)
Both WRs Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs appeared on the injury report on Wednesday and did not practice. It is still just a Wednesday practice BUT this opens up a wide open opportunity for rookie WR Jayden Reed (who has already gained some hype) to step in with some receiving volume.