Rome Odunze, Courtland Sutton, Josh Downs, and 5 Other Must-Start Wide Receivers in Week 1 Fantasy Football
Who can you rely upon to bring your team to a 1-0 record? Who has the upside to achieve fantasy football glory? Who will hand us that victory Monday? I have run the numbers and found 8 wide receivers that have attractive upside. They shall be added to your lineup this week.
Rome Odunze
This week's projection on Odunze has him with 6 targets and 4 receptions. He might go for 55-60 total yards and have a 40% chance to find the end zoneof finding. That goes for when the Bears take on the Panthers at Soldier Field with the raucous crowd ready for the Da' Bears.
At the start of 2025, Odunze had 5 touchdowns in his first 4 games. In total, I have the Bears allowing 25 points on offense in this game. As the Bears' WR1 is set to play the most snaps, Odunze commands the ceiling worthy of a start.
Jameson Williams
Despite being in a strugglesome 2025 play-calling situation in Detroit, Williams finished T-11 in receiving touchdowns with 7. He ranked 3rd in yards per catch (17.2) and 5th in YAC/Reception. The 'boom' outweighs the 'bust' for Williams as the Lions head to New Orleans, implied to score over 29 points, per Vegas's betting lines of Detroit (-6.5), O/U (49.5).
DK Mectalf
Aaron Rodgers vocalized that they must get Metcalf more involved. He needs to get into an open space and lie down vertically. The team failed at that in 2025, but it does not mean they shall fail again, especially with a new coaching staff.
We know the physical specimen that Metcalf is. That means we know what he can put out in a favorable matchup or, really, in any matchup. The Steelers face nothing scary this week when they play indoors in Atlanta.
Marvin Harrison Jr.
Everyone panics way too much on Harrison Jr. I believe he is great at football, and Mike LaFleur will bring that out of him. Drew Petzing's offense favored the X receiver, who was often Michael Wilson.
I have Harrison Jr. as this week's WR26. Facing the Chargers as 10-point underdogs, the Cardinals are due for a second-half passing script. I believe in addition by subtraction when it comes to wide receivers getting action in garbage time.
Jayden Reed
I imagine Brian Flores will try to blitz Jordan Love quite a lot. However, it may not work that well. The Vikings are ranked as the 13th-ranked cornerback group and 30th-ranked safety group, hence the desperate signing of long-time Vikings star Harrison Smith. He is past his prime.
The hope is that this game becomes a bit of a shootout, or that Jordan Love's total exposes the weaker Vikings pass defense. In which case, Reed has room to explode for a big afternoon.
Luther Burden III
Ben Johnson loves his slot receivers. We saw that with Burden's second-half breakout and with Amon-Ra St. Brown in the three years prior.
On September 3, Burden practiced in full. Back on August 29, Johnson claimed that Burden looked 100%. I am ready to see the Bears' offense reach the historic levels that Johnson has verbally said he is working to achieve. He will start at home and face a mediocre Panthers defense.
Courtland Sutton
Can Sutton give Mansoor Delane his "Welcome to the NFL" moment? I sure hope so, and I definitely do think so. Sutton ranked 3rd in the NFL in wide receiver snaps played in 2025, so the volume will be there. Against man coverage, he averaged 17.1 yards per reception. He is generally considered a man-coverage technician.
With the addition of Jaylen Waddle, Sutton is going to play more snaps in that prime outside role. I firmly believe that this will actually help Sutton despite falling to WR2 on the roster. Sutton is my WR27 for NFL Week 1.
Josh Downs
It sounds like Alec Pierce is going to play. However, he is not 100%. Practice has been very limited for Pierce all August. I would definitely call Downs the WR1 in terms of snaps expected to be played in the short-term.
Downs is just my WR34 this week, but I think the upside is there. While Pierce projects a target share north of 20% in his debut, the number is volatile. Pierce could run out there and have no more than 3 targets, and that would not surprise me in the slightest.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.