WE MADE IT! The NFL season is finally here.
Welcome to the first edition of the G-RANK newsletter where I’ll be sending you weekly fantasy football updates to help you set your lineups with confidence and make the right roster moves all season long. Most of you have probably wrapped up your drafts by now. If not, I’ve posted my final pre-season rankings on grankfantasyfootball.com to help you draft with confidence (click the link and toggle over to “Pre” tab). The rest of this newsletter will be focused on the 1st week of the NFL season.
Week 1 presents some fascinating matchups — Tampa Bay / Cincinnati has the highest O/U (50.5) with a potential for multiple fantasy football studs. New York / Tennessee on the other side of the coin is projected to be the lowest scoring affair, but I’m curious to see this new Tennessee offense with Cam Ward stepping into his sophomore season and whether the Jets look marginally better with Geno Smith under center supporting Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall. New England / Seattle and Los Angeles / San Francisco are 2 superb games to kick off the season with plenty of fantasy intrigue as well.
One housekeeping note: I’ll plan to send this newsletter out earlier each week to set a baseline. Obviously, rankings can change with player news, injuries, QB changes, etc. Use grankfantasyfootball.com as the source-of-truth if you’re making start / sit decisions later in the week. That’s where I’ll have my full rankings (weekly and rest-of-season) and tools for personalized comparisons: start / sit, trade calculator, “my team”, and more.
Week 1 Rankings
QB: Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen lead the way for week 1 QBs. I’d argue Burrow has the best matchup against TB. Start all of them confidence. Baker Mayfield on the other side of the field from Joe Burrow is a great spot start for Week 1 if you drafted multiple QBs and need to pick one. Vegas thinks that game’s going to be a shootout - just pay attention to Emeka Egbuka’s injury status as the week progresses, as his absence might lead me to lean in a different direction. I’m avoiding Patrick Mahomes this week (QB20) if possible, given the Broncos matchup (9th best defense against fantasy QBs in 2025) and the uncertainty around his mobility coming off the ACL tear.
I also think Trevor Lawrence (QB7) and Dak Prescott (QB6) are great starts this week. I think the Browns’ defense goes from great to average with the loss of Myles Garrett this offseason, and Dak has a real chance to put up numbers against a less-than-stellar Giants team on Sunday Night Football. With health across the board and 0 players on bye, it’s a good week to start the guys you drafted and collect some data before getting too wrapped up in the weekly waiver wire game for streaming QBs.
RB: Omarion Hampton has probably the best matchup of any running back in Week 1 with the Arizona Cardinals and is on my board as the RB2 this week. Start him with a ton of confidence. I’m notably lower on James Cook (RB10) with a stout Texans defense as the matchup, but you’re still starting him if you drafted him — unless you’re in the shallowest of leagues, you won’t be afforded the luxury of sitting a guy like Cook. Pay attention to Ashton Jeanty’s status ahead of Sunday. If he plays, he’s my RB4 against a bad Dolphins defense; Achane is a great start on the other side of the field too.
The Jets / Titans game features 2 start-able options as well in Breece Hall and Tony Pollard. Despite the low O/U in that contest, I think both guys will have ample opportunities on the ground against subpar defenses. Jadarian Price at home against the Patriots is a fun start as well, and it’s hard to bench a guy playing on the opening night of the season! I’m much more interested in playing him than I would be Rhamondre Stevenson or TreVeyon Henderson on the other side of the ball, as I worry about a team going on the road to Seattle and facing that rush defense.
For borderline RB2s / flex plays, I like Bucky Irving (RB26) and Kenny Gainwell (RB31) against the Bengals. It will be very interesting to see how the work distribution plays out in Week 1 for the Bucs, but Bucky should be a solid start this week, and Gainwell with his pass-catching upside is fine in a deeper league as well.
WR: At the wide receiver position, start your studs if you drafted them — Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, and Amon-Ra St. Brown all have exciting matchups to kick off the 2026 season. I really like Chris Olave in a 49.5 O/U game against the Lions. Without Jordyn Tyson for the next month or two, you’re going to get a heavy dose of Olave on a fast-paced Saints offense that probably spends a decent amount of time trailing in this one.
If you’re looking for some strong flex plays, I like seeing what Parker Washington Jr. (WR24) can do against the Browns, and I think Quentin Johnston (WR30) has a chance to put up a very good week against the Arizona Cardinals. I’m not the biggest fan of Carnell Tate (WR33) this week dealing with stiffness and playing in a low O/U game that could feature a lot of work on the ground on both sides of the ball. I’m also avoiding Mike Evans (WR40) against the Rams if possible — I’m not sure what to expect after he’s reportedly been dealing with multiple injuries during training camp, and L.A. isn’t the best matchup overall. Pay attention to Emeka Egbuka’s status. If he doesn’t play, Chris Godwin Jr. (WR36) becomes an immediately viable WR2 or flex option.
TE: The top 5 or 6 here are as expected, so start them with confidence if you spent early draft capital on a guy like Bowers, McBride or Warren. I really like Juwan Johnson (TE7) to start 2026 if he’s sitting on your waiver wire or you’re streaming the position to start the year. The Saints should be throwing the ball a lot in their first 2 weeks (Lions, Ravens), and no Jordyn Tyson means Johnson could step into the de facto WR2 role on this team. I’ve also been high on Isaiah Likely (TE8) this offseason and am excited to see what he can do in Week 1 in a juicy matchup against Dallas.
I’m more likely to want to avoid Dalton Kincaid (TE18) against the Texans until I see how that receiving room shakes out with D.J. Moore in town. Presumably Kincaid should have an opportunity to get a lot of work, but I’m not buying him as a TE1 until I see it on the field. George Kittle (TE14) is probably someone to leave on your bench in Week 1 coming off the achilles injury, as it’s possible he plays less than a full snap count allotment. If you’re in a deeper league and are stashing guys like A.J. Barner (TE21) or Gunnar Helm (TE24) on your bench, keep them there until we see how things play out in Week 1.
G-RANK Game of the Week for Fantasy
It’d be a bit too obvious to pick the Bengals / Buccaneers, so I’ll go with a quietly intriguing matchup in the Baltimore Ravens at the Indianapolis Colts. This projects to be a high-scoring affair in Indy, and it’s our first glimpse at the Jesse Minter led Ravens: Do they go more pass-heavy? Does Zay Flowers get utilized in the redzone more often? Has Derrick Henry lost a step (I highly doubt it)? And on the other side of the ball, I’m very curious to see what version of Indianapolis shows up to start 2026. The Colts got off to a torrid start before Daniel Jones went down to injury. Was that the product of a soft schedule, or is he a legit QB capable of supporting multiple fantasy relevant WRs? This game might be one of my favorites for the early Sunday afternoon slate.
G-RANK Weekly Sleeper Pick
We’ll close it out with this week’s Sleeper pick, which is tough to make without any real data to evaluate, but here we go. I’m a big Jalen Coker fan, and the last time we saw him on the field, he went for 134 yards and 1 TD in a playoff loss to the Rams. He faces a Bears’ defense that allowed the 2nd most fantasy points to the WR position in 2025. You probably have better options in Week 1 with 0 byes and few injuries to consider, but keep your eye on Coker this week, and consider a spot start if you’re in a super deep league.
Thanks for reading this week! G-RANK has you covered for full top 200 rankings (half-PPR, full-PPR, standard) for this week and the rest-of-season. Be sure to also leverage the start / sit tool, trade calculator, and more for decisions specific to your league!
