FanDuel fantasy football picks: Week 1, 2015

High Value Running Backs

Jonathan Stewart-Carolina Panthers (7,100): Stewart has major durability concerns since he has dealt with ankle injuries throughout his career.  That being said, he’s clearly the number one running back in Carolina after DeAngelo Williams left to join the Steelers, and the team will need to run the ball since they don’t have a ton of options at WR after Kelvin Benjamin’s injury.  Stewart is healthy coming into the season, and in a favorable matchup in Jacksonville should be able to get off to a strong start this Sunday.

Doug Martin-Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6,900): Playing alongside rookie Jameis Winston, Doug Martin could be poised for a bounce back season after struggling along with the rest of the Bucs’ offense last year. Martin is coming off a strong preseason and is taking on the Titans who gave up some great games opposing RBs last season. Since the Bucs will try to take some heat off of Winston, I expect a heavy workload for Martin making him a great value at under 7K.

Tevin Coleman-Atlanta Falcons (6,700): If you spend big elsewhere and are looking for a cheap RB, check out Falcons’ rookie Tevin Coleman who is expected to get the first shot carrying the majority of the work in the Atlanta backfield after Davonta Freeman has been slowed by a hamstring injury.  Coleman should get a solid amount of work against a Phily run defense that has allowed some high-scoring games. He’s a bit of a flier for Monday Night in his NFL Debut, but he’s also available at a nice price and could be involved in a high-scoring game as a primary running back.

Joique Bell-Detroit Lions (6,500): Bell is under priced since he missed all of preseason recovering from his knee and Achilles’ injuries and was passed by the Ameer Abdullah hype-train. Bell is reportedly healthy, he’s practicing in full, and he is absent from the Lions injury report.  All of those signs point to Bell getting the majority of the work in the Detroit backfield when they open the season at San Diego.  Getting a starting RB with some nice experience at his 6,500 price is a bargain if he can reestablish his hold on the job in what should be a productive Lions’ offense.

Alfred Blue (5,800): If you go cheap at running back, the least expensive player expected to get the start on Sunday is Alfred Blue who will play in place of the oft-injured Arian Foster.  Blue hasn’t had an eye-popping preseason and is in a tough matchup against KC. On the other hand, he’s the cheapest starter your salary can buy, so take a flier on him if you’ve overspent elsewhere.

Next: High Priced Wide Receivers