Every Saturday morning, I'll take a quick look at all the week's games, offering my own take on what I think will happen, as well as touching on significant injury news since our Weekly came out. I'll check in every so often over the course of the day to answer questions, too.
Here's the drill: our official rankings and projections are in Fantasy Index Weekly. That's the content you're paying for. My goal here is to answer questions on players who are close, and on occasion I will have opinions that clash with the rankings -- sometimes I like a player a little more than Ian. Or a little less. OK, on to the games.
49ers at Bills: Colin Kaepernick starts, and I admit I have no idea what to expect. The guy took San Francisco to a Super Bowl not too long ago, after all, so there's some talent there. But he was also an absolute disaster while starting the last couple of years, and there was no indication in the preseason he'd have success in Chip Kelly's offense. I considered making the Bills a Survivor Pool pick but stayed away because to me their offense just isn't reliable enough, and the unknown X factor of Kaep being out there made me stay away from both teams (although obviously I'd use McCoy). Not sure what this means for Hyde but he's not a player I love to use anyway.
Jaguars at Bears: Chicago's defense hasn't the absolute train wreck I expected it to be. But I'm hoping Jacksonville's offense used the bye to get somewhat organized so Allen Hurns specifically and Allen Robinson too start putting up better numbers. T.J. Yeldon and Jordan Howard look fine, and I'm using Cameron Meredith somewhere, too. Should be more offense than defense in this game.
Rams at Lions: No Theo Riddick, so the Lions will either have Dwayne Washington or Justin Forsett as their main tailback. If Washington is inactive I'd consider Forsett as a desperation play. But if he's active, they could split the work, and this isn't exactly a running team. No Eric Ebron, either. For the Rams, uh, Todd Gurley and Tavon Austin in PPR.
Steelers at Dolphins: This has the looks of a Steeler win, because they're good and Miami isn't, but upsets do happen. But start your Steelers and consider Eli Rogers, who will be the main slot guy. Sammie Coates has a hand injury but it sounds like he's good to go (but make sure he's active, and maybe consider a similar, healthier player if you have a comparable option). Miami running backs, just avoid them. Not worth wading into and they're not going to get you a lot regardless.
Bengals at Patriots: Made the Patriots my Survivor Pool pick. I'm one of the few who didn't use them last week so figured I'd take advantage (and their next month of games they don't look like as secure a pick). Not that the Bengals are a bad team but this is Tom Brady's home opener and Cincinnati's offense should struggle. Use your involved Patriots, they should be fine. Benching Jeremy Hill, here. No Tyler Eifert, again.
Panthers at Saints: Sounds like it's pretty much all hands on deck for this likely shootout. Carolina has Cam Newton, Jonathan Stewart and Kelvin Benjamin listed as questionable, but they're guys who would have been Probable with last year's injury designation. Probably. Make sure they're active, but they likely will be. No noteworthy Saints injuries, at least nothing that should keep them from scoring a ton.
Ravens at Giants: Hard to get excited about this one. Ravens will be without Steve Smith Sr., their defense is good enough to keep New York's offense in check. Nobody is benching Odell Beckham Jr. I read this week that New York is going to move OBJ around to get him the ball. Really, what a concept, scheme to get your best player more chances, crazy. Don't know which running back New York will use but Bobby Rainey is my favorite this week, since he'll be involved in the passing game and the running game probably won't work. Terrance West, sure.
Browns at Titans: My other consideration for a Survivor Pool pick, as the Titans should run and run and run some more. But Cleveland has been close in most of their games (New England excepted) and betting on the Titans ever just seems like a mistake. But in deep leagues where you're desperate I would consider Derrick Henry, because I expect the Titans to run a lot and win, so maybe the No. 2 gets a few extra carries after DeMarco Murray does his thing. Gary Barnidge, Isaiah Crowell and Terrelle Pryor are under consideration for Cleveland.
Eagles at Washington: Eagles are healthy, but I don't trust the running back committee. I'm holding Wendell Smallwood but afraid to use him. Washington doesn't have Jordan Reed, and although I wouldn't necessarily recommend Vernon Davis, I think he's viable in a deeper league sort of situation; he could catch 4-5 passes. Not keen on Matt Jones.
Kansas City at Raiders: I expect a Charles-Ware committee, but Kansas City's "we'll sprinkle in Jamaal" comment is worrying for his workload or lack thereof. Committee for Oakland, too, and I don't know how you can start either running back with confidence. Spencer Ware looks like the safest running back here. Like both passing games, so key wideouts and Kelce.
Cowboys at Packers: I hope nobody got the thought from my Factoid yesterday that I'm worried about Ezekiel Elliott or anything. Just posting the recent history of top-5 rushers against top-5 run defenses; that's it. I use Elliott, absolutely. I just think it's a tough matchup. No Dez. Sounds like Eddie Lacy is good to go, so use him, but let's see if the Packers promote their practice squad running back. Green Bay passing game should be fine.
Falcons at Seahawks: Another difficult matchup for Matt Ryan and Julio Jones. Can't comfortably bench either player, but at least with Ryan you can think about other options. I think. We've got Seattle's key players, all of them, ranked really high, so giddy up.
Colts at Texans: Not having J.J. Watt loses some star power. Hard to be confident in the Texans offense, but at least the matchup is good. I like both running backs in this game, and think Hilton and Hopkins have promise too. No reason to avoid players here. Somebody dropped Moncrief in my league this week and I dropped Dorsett to pick him up.
Jets at Cardinals: Tough matchup for the Jets offense. Love the situation for the Cardinals passing game. Both teams need to get a win here, especially the Jets. Like most who have Carson Palmer, I'm a little nervous about what I've seen. Hard to see the Cardinals having a really successful year if Palmer can't find a fountain of youth somewhere.
Enjoy the games.