After four miserable weeks of pre-season games we are all ready to start the season. Just about everyone leaves their draft with the winning team, but 50% of season-long players are in for a rude awakening come Tuesday morning when week one is in the books. But in the DFS world, it is just one independent week. If you are planning to play DFS Football for the first time, set your budget for the season and stick to it. Do not go nuts in week one. Money management is a core to DFS success. The other key is to determine if you want to focus on cash games (50/50, etc) or GPP tournaments. Roster construction is different for the two types of games. Cash game lineups tend to focus on players with the highest floors while GPP tournament roster constructions tends to focus on players with higher ceilings. Each week during the season I will highlight the players that I consider the best plays at each position for GPP lineups. I tend to enter DraftKings single entry contests. I can’t compete bankroll-wise with the mega-multi entry players so I try to stay away, but I believe that I can compete against anyone on a single-entry basis.
YOU WILL NOT WIN EVERY WEEK PLAYING IN SINGLE-ENTRY GPP TOURNAMENTS. That is just a fact. But you have to trust your process and budget your money for all 17 weeks. Once a week is over, try to learn and improve each week. Check of the lineups from the top teams in the tournaments that you enter. Trust your process and learn with improve it.
Here are my top players at each position for week one with my lineup at the bottom:
| QB | Tom Brady | NE | 7200 | Highest total on the board with shaky run game |
| QB | Drew Brees | NO | 6800 | Will show that 2017 was a fluke for TD passes |
| QB | Deshaun Watson | HOU | 6700 | See Brady |
| QB | Philip Rivers | LAC | 6400 | KC defense is completely different from 2017 |
| QB | Andy Dalton | CIN | 5800 | Against very shaky Colts secondary |
| QB | Tyrod Taylor | CLE | 5400 | Needs to produce to fend off Baker |
| QB | Joe Flacco | BAL | 4900 | New cast of receivers looks much improved |
| RB | Alvin Kamara | NO | 8500 | 2017 was not a fluke |
| RB | Ezekiel Elliott | DAL | 7700 | Only offense the Cowboys have |
| RB | Leonard Fournette | JAX | 7100 | Guaranteed 20+ carries vs. marginal defense |
| RB | Melvin Gordon | LAC | 6800 | Even more receptions in 2018? |
| RB | Christian McCaffrey | CAR | 6400 | Can he handle 20+ touches per game |
| RB | Alex Collins | BAL | 5600 | Bal could grind with a big lead early |
| RB | Derrick Henry | TEN | 5400 | Lewis is a risk, but Henry gets big runs |
| RB | Carlos Hyde | CLE | 4500 | Chubb not an early threat |
| RB | Royce Freeman | DEN | 4500 | Fastest mover up the fantasy board |
| RB | Peyton Barber | TB | 4100 | Threat of blowout is a risk |
| RB | James White | NE | 4000 | Is he guaranteed 10 targets? |
| WR | DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 8300 | Watson’s favorite comes at a big price |
| WR | Michael Thomas | NO | 7800 | Target monster expecting positive TD regression |
| WR | Tyreek Hill | KC | 6500 | Continues to flash big plays |
| WR | Stefon Diggs | MIN | 6300 | Primed for a huge season with new QB |
| WR | Chris Hogan | NE | 6100 | Top dog with Edelman out |
| WR | Jarvis Landry | CLE | 5500 | Trying to take lead of new team |
| WR | Michael Crabtree | BAL | 5400 | Should be Flacco’s primary target |
| WR | Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 5000 | Clicked with Keenum in pre-season |
| WR | Keelan Cole | JAX | 3800 | Lead in Jax with Lee done |
| WR | Antonio Callaway | CLE | 3100 | Let’s see if he is for real |
| TE | Rob Gronkowski | NE | 6900 | Most dominant TE in the sport |
| TE | Travis Kelce | KC | 6400 | How will he connect with new QB and OC? |
| TE | Kyle Rudolph | MIN | 4500 | Cousins loves his tight end |
| TE | Tyler Eifert | CIN | 3400 | Get him while he is still healthy |
| TE | David Njoku | CLE | 3400 | A monster with more time on the field |
| TE | Ricky Seals-Jones | ARI | 3000 | Almost as cheap as you can get |
| DST | Ravens | 3800 | Will be the chalk and rightly so | |
| DST | Saints | 3600 | Great alternative to Ravens | |
| DST | Broncos | 3300 | Sneaky good defense | |
| DST | Titans | 2900 | The Dolphins are offensively challenged | |
| DST | Chargers | 2800 | Expect the new Chiefs QB to be erratic | |
| QB | Drew Brees | 6800 | NO | |
| RB | Alvin Kamara | 8500 | NO | |
| RB | Christian McCaffrey | 6400 | DAL | |
| WR | Michael Thomas | 7800 | CAR | |
| WR | Chris Hogan | 6100 | NE | |
| WR | Antonio Callaway | 3100 | CLE | |
| RB | James White | 4000 | NE | |
| TE | Tyler Eifert | 3400 | CIN | |
| DST | Ravens | 3800 | TEN | |
| 49900 |
