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Coming off of back-to-back 1000 yard rushing seasons, Lamar Jackson’s playmaking with his legs balances out his lack of passing opportunity, productivity, and efficiency. With injuries to J.K. Dobbins (ACL), Rashod Bateman (groin), and Gus Edwards (ACL), once again Jackson will be forced to offset the losses with his legs.

The only receiving option to start for the Raiders is Darren Waller. Ravens allowed 120 targets and 82 receptions to the tight end position in 2020. Both finished in the 12th-highest amounts among defenses according to Pro-Football-Reference. Waller is the only certainty in the Raiders’ offense and finished with more top-5 performances (9) than games outside the top-5 (7).

Join me this season for a weekly in-depth look at how we at the Enterprise are faring in this, the largest fantasy football tournament in the history of existence. And by in-depth, I mean as in-depth as I feel/am able to. Given my responsibilities as EDITOR IN CHIEF of both PlayerProfiler and The Breakout Finder, you get what you get.

Since I’m fairly certain Ty Johnson is the most-rostered player among this Underworld and Friends grouping (at least that’s what I’d put my money on), it will make the victory lap that much sweeter once everyone discovers that he is, in fact, the truth.

Tre’Quan Smith is set up for a big year due to Michael Thomas’ injury situation. Though Marquez Callaway is the clear No. 1 and the beneficiary of Thomas’ absence, Smith was poised to handle the field opposite him. Now, moved to IR with a bad hammy, he’ll have to wait at least three weeks before returning to the field. Meanwhile, the wide receivers behind him are Deonte Harris and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. No one should be excited about these players.

Out of the three new Ravens RBs, Latavius Murray would seem to have the most “gas left in the tank” and fits Gus Edwards’ role perfectly. Expect Murray and Ty’Son Williams to share the workload for at least Week 1, but let’s be real about this, folks. This all likely means that Lamar Jackson will just run it himself more than he ever has, and perhaps, lean more on that passing game like they intended. Either way, it’s hard not to see these running back injuries as a potential bump for the former MVP.

Jalen Hurts OVER 283.5 total yards is my highest confidence play of the slate because it has all of the ingredients for it to hit. Hurts averaged 361 total yards per game in the three full games he played last year. He will move the the ball with ease against one of the worst defenses in the league. Add in a points total of 49.0 and this game has the perfect recipe an offensive showdown.

Russell Wilson will cook and Tyler Lockett will eat. Lockett had 492 (54.4-percent rate) Slot Snaps in 2020, therefore it should be easy for him to find room to operate against the zone heavy defense employed by the Colts. Additionally, Xavier Rhodes will miss this matchup, making the case for Lockett even stronger. Plus, this game has a high points total at 49.0, so I love the opportunity Lockett has to smash the Over.

The start of a new NFL season means the return of the weekly WR-CB Matchups article! This season my goal is to bring attention to receivers available in most leagues that can provide FLEX starts to fantasy teams. Also, I want to identify receivers that shouldn’t start despite starting in a vast majority of leagues. My START recommendations are ideal for FLEX spots in 1QB-2RB-2WR-1TE-1FLEX leagues. My SIT recommendations are ideal if there is an alternate candidate to play over the receiver.

Since 2019, Russell Gage has exceeded 70-percent Snap Share in 12 games. In those games, he has scored 12.8 PPG or more nine times. Last season, the Rams went 3-0 in home games where they were at least 5-point favorites. Robert Woods averaged less than 10.0 fantasy points per game in each game. Meanwhile, Parris Campbell’s Hog Rate has exceeded 13-percent in both of his NFL seasons, and his Target Rate hasn’t dipped below 26-percent in a season.

At the beginning of a new season with uncertain target distributions, take bold stabs at prolific QBs and upside WRs for your stacks to gain leverage on the field through uniquely correlated roster construction in DFS tournaments. Jalen Hurts and new WR1 Devonta Smith provide just one tantalizing example.

The Jalen Hurts-Devonta Smith stack checks every box listed above and costs under $11k on DraftKings this week. In the dome in Atlanta, this game features a 48.5 over under total. Smith looks like the number one wideout in Philadelphia, but enters Week 1 as the fourth-cheapest team WR1 by PlayerProfiler projection and second-cheapest team WR1 by DK salary. Take advantage of the value while DK and other fantasy gamers worry about the rookie translating to the NFL and a nebulous Target Share.

Looking back to 2020, there was only one time a stack with a quarterback-pass catcher won the Millionaire Maker and the combined point total was 50 points or less: Week 8 when the Chiefs destroyed the Jets 35-9. There’s plenty of ways to find these players and matchups, whether it be the perfect positional advantages, bad defenses meeting incredible offenses, or two great quarterbacks going head to head. Finding these matchups is key to building the start to a great roster.

The Air Yards leader of 2020 appears posed to repeat as the Air Yards king in 2021. Calvin Ridley enters his first NFL season without Julio Jones as his teammate, and last seasons time without Julio on the field foretells a huge fantasy season incoming. Ridley averaged 160 Air Yards in the contests the Julio did not play in 2020 and averaged over 20 fantasy points per game. Ridley should feast on Arizona’s injury riddle secondary and is THE wide receiver to spend big on at Draftkings.

Marvin Jones is the only wide receiver on this list to have changed teams. Moving from the top receiver on the depth chart after Kenny Golladay’s injury in Detroit, to competing for targets with D.J. Chark, and Laviska Shenualt, Jones will look to establish himself in the target pecking order in Week 1. It should shock no one if Jones is the preferred downfield target of Trevor Lawrence as opposed to the more expensive D.J. Chark (DK: $5,800).

While I’m high on Ryan Tannehill, Kyler Murray’s upside shouldn’t go overlooked in this potential shootout. Murray’s 67-percent Red Zone Completion Percentage and 24.4 Fantasy Points Per Game are good for third-best among qualified quarterbacks. The Titans low-key allowed the second-most touchdown passes (only the Lions allowed more) to opposing quarterbacks last season (36).  

The Falcons and Eagles allowed the most and ninth most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers last season. Devonta Smith’s 34.6-percent Target Share at Alabama last year gives us a clear run-back option on the Eagles side of the ball. The Matt Ryan/Calvin Ridley/Kyle Pitts/Devonta Smith stack is very intriguing.

Let’s say you want to target the Steelers-Bills game. By stacking this game, you’re betting on it to be the highest scoring contest on the slate. With many strong plays to complete your stack, you want to target players who correlate with the game’s ceiling outcome. You’re banking on a octane performance from the Steelers to keep the Bills passing to Stefon Diggs. Your best bet for this is with Chase Claypool.

It’s possible we get an under-rostered Austin Ekeler if he is declared healthy by game-time after missing practice with a hamstring injury. On the other side, On the other side, Curtis Samuel has landed on IR after aggravating his groin, narrowing the target tree in Washington. Any combination of skinny stacks between Ekeler (if healthy), Keenan Allen, Terry McLaurin, Antonio Gibson, and Logan Thomas will be a fixture in my tournament core this weekend.