Seahawks Fantasy Corner: Week 1 Offers Potential Bargains
It is officially game week around the NFL, which means it is officially time to start stressing over your fantasy football lineups. But if you're a Seahawks fan, or happen to have a Seahawk or two in your fantasy league, you'll be happy to know that most of the decisions facing you this week are already made.
Week 1 roster decisions are always a crapshoot. Any ranks you may trust are based largely on the player's talent and what their opponent did last season. So when you look at Russell Wilson's rank for Week 1, you need to remember that while starting Wilson is never a bad thing, part of that rank is based on the Falcons 23rd ranked defense in 2019. The problem with that is, of course, that we have no idea how good the 2020 Falcons defense is. It's all just a guess until we get a reasonable sample size.
But with that standard disclaimer out of the way, let's go ahead and look at who you should start this week and who you should avoid in your Week 1 fantasy matchup.
Start 'Em
Let's be honest here: if you drafted Wilson, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, or Chris Carson this year, you're starting them. It's almost impossible to imagine better options will be available on your bench. It is worth noting that Wilson didn't torch the Falcons in 2019, throwing for just 182 yards and two touchdowns, but remember, the Seahawks jumped out to a 24-0 lead early and coasted to an easy victory.
But as for some less obvious names, you may want to consider starting Greg Olsen and, if you're desperate, Carlos Hyde. Let's start with Hyde. Carson is coming off a major hip injury and while he is healthy, the Seahawks have a tendency to ease guys back into action.
In addition, Carson missed large portions of training camp tending to family issues, so there may be a conditioning problem as well. Last year, both Carson and Rashaad Penny had good outings against Atlanta and a team that runs the ball as much as Seattle loves to can support two viable running backs for fantasy.
If you play DFS, Olsen is one of the best bargains in this week's game. He'll cost just $4,000 on DraftKings, the same as it would cost to put Myles Gaskin in your lineup. Atlanta deploys a nearly identical defensive scheme to Seattle, which is susceptible to tight ends. Plus, Wilson loves throwing to his tight ends in the red zone. Last year, Will Dissly and Jacob Hollister combined for 11 red zone catches. For comparison's sake, George Kittle caught the second-most red-zone passes amongst tight ends, reeling in 11 catches on his own.
With Atlanta's defense an ideal one for tight ends to excel against, Olsen is a great Week 1 streaming option in a deep league and a potential budget baller in DFS.
Sit 'Em
I like the Seahawks defense in 2020, just not in Week 1. Breaking in a new secondary against Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, and Hayden Hurst won't be fun. We don't know where the sacks are going to come from and while the talent is good enough to stifle the potential high flying Atlanta offense, it's not worth risking your matchup in Week 1 to find out.
Be careful to not out-think the room. There is a lot of hype on DeeJay Dallas and while he may get some third-down looks, the volume won't be enough to return value, even in a full-point PPR. Any receiver other than Lockett or Metcalf is a hard pass as well. Phillip Dorsett is still working his way back from a foot injury and while reports on John Ursua have been positive, he has just one NFL catch on his resume.
Will Dissly has some appeal for the same reasons as Olsen, but in his first game back from his second devastating leg injury, the "ease him in" strategy we discussed with Carson comes into play.
Speaking of Carson, while you probably don't have better options in a full-season format, this may be a good week to avoid him in DFS. He's not egregiously overpriced at $6,200, but there are better values with less risk available in Week 1.
