The dawn of a new NFL season is upon us, and every fantasy football manager — sans anyone roster two of Brock Bowers, A.J. Brown and Sam Darnold — has their eyes set on winning a fantasy title this year. That journey begins now, in Week 1, and you've got to make sure you get your lineup just right to start off 1-0.
Here's a top start and top sit for Week 1 to help make sure you're making the right decisions with your fantasy football lineup this week.
Start: QB Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
By the end of fantasy draft season, Jared Goff was going off the board as the QB16. I think people might be forgetting some things about the Detroit Lions quarterback, who has four consecutive seasons of at least 4,440 passing yards and who has at least 29 touchdown passes in each of those seasons. No, he isn't adding value with his legs, but he's a high-level passer surrounded by one of the league's best collections of weapons.
Goff begins his 2026 campaign with a big opportunity against the New Orleans Saints. While the Saints defense did relatively well last year, some of that feels schedule dependent. It's three best games as far as passing yards allowed were against other NFC South teams, and they faced some of the league's worst passing teams throughout the season.
This puts Goff firmly in fantasy starting territory this week. The Lions are at home, and their own defense has enough holes that this one could turn into a high-scoring affair, increasing Goff's fantasy ceiling.
Sit: QB Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
There's a lot of uncertainty right now with this Green Bay Packers offense. Starting running back Josh Jacobs is on the exempt list, and with Romeo Doubs gone, the wide receiver pecking order has to change up a bit. Add in a Week 1 meeting with the Minnesota Vikings, and you can see why Jordan Love is a questionable start at best for fantasy managers.
Things obviously change from season to season in the NFL, but the Vikings defense was dominant last year as far as fantasy goes, allowing opposing quarterbacks to average just 12.1 fantasy per game to the position, the fewest in the league.
Love is startable in a 12-team league if you don't have a top-24 backup behind him, but that's about all I'd be comfortable playing him in. Anything 10 teams or fewer, you've got to have a better option that you can grab off the waiver wire.
Start: RB Bucky Irving, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Cincinnati Bengals put in a lot of effort to fix their defense this offseason, but until I physically see that improvement, I'm not ready to believe it. Cincy was awful on that end in 2025, allowing the second-most yards and the third-most points in the NFL.
The team was especially bad against the run, allowing more fantasy points per game to opposing running backs than any other team. The Bengals just got consistently gashed on the ground. Will it be better in 2026? Sure, because it almost has to be. That doesn't mean it has to be leaps and bounds better.
So, playing a running back against the Bengals seems obvious, but is playing Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving obvious? Yeah, mostly. Kenneth Gainwell will have a role on passing downs, but Irving should get enough of the early-down work to be a clear fantasy winner in Week 1.
Sit: RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Washington Commanders
There was a ton of Jacory Croskey-Merritt hype last offseason, to the point where he became an overhyped sleeper. His overall performance as a rookie was solid, but he never quite hit the level that people expected he would hit.
That hype has massively died down for 2026, to the point where I think if we look at things from a macro view, JCM is really undervalued for this season. With that said, Week 1 is definitely a "keep him on the bench and see how things look" situation in most formats.
The Commanders face a good Eagles defense this week and we don't really know how this backfield will play out. Rachaad White joined the team this offseason and could have a fairly big role, and rookie Kaytron Allen might play a part as well. I'm optimistic about Croskey-Merritt going forward, but there's just enough doubt for me to keep him sidelined this week.
Start: WR Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts offense is a bit of a mystery this season, because so much depends on how Daniel Jones looks after returning from a torn Achilles. Pre-injury in 2025, Jones looked like a top 15 or so quarterback, but we don't really know what he'll look like this season.
You might think that means we should be cautious with Josh Downs this week, but I disagree. While Alec Pierce is expected to play this week, he's coming off a heel injury and has still been limited in practice. I wouldn't expect a full workload for him. The addition of Keenan Allen on the outside should open up more space inside for Downs, who was sixth in the NFL in slot snaps last season.
The Colts also have a Week 1 opponent whose defense isn't very scary: the Baltimore Ravens. (I know, it's weird to think of the Ravens defense as "bad," but this isn't the Ravens of old. Last season, Baltimore allowed the third-most passing yards in the NFL. While we're at it, the Colts allowed the second-most; could this low-key be the potential shootout game of Week 1?)
Sit: WR Carnell Tate, Tennessee Titans
While I'm still high on the long-term outlook for the Cam Ward and Carnell Tate pairing, I am decidedly not going to stake my Week 1 fantasy outcome on playing Tate in his first NFL game against a potentially interesting Jets defense.
Ward showed a lot of good things in 2025, but there was also an erraticness to his game that made it frustrating to roster him in fantasy. The addition of Tate and Wan'Dale Robinson should increase the eventual upside of the Titans offense, but it's a thing that's going to take time.
Robinson's presence is also why I'm down on Tate in the early going. The former Giant has shown he can be a bit of a target hog on a bad offense. His ability to get open in the short and medium passing game is a big plus, though it also limits him to shorter plays. He was just 78th in aDOT last season among all NFL wide receivers. As Ward and Tate figure out how to play together, Robinson's usage will wane, but he's going to see the bulk of the targets in the early going.
Start: TE Harold Fannin Jr., Cleveland Browns
No, I'm not just saying this wishfully because I have 100 percent exposure to Harold Fannin Jr. in my dynasty leagues this season. I'm also saying it because Fannin is going to be a huge part of this Browns offense in 2026.
Two rookie starting wide receivers. A low-end quarterback. A tight end who excels as a safe option in the short and medium passing game. It all makes sense, right? He had over 100 targets as a rookie tight end out of a MAC school. He's very clearly going to be one of, if not the, first reads for Deshaun Watson.
The Week 1 matchup with the Jaguars helps too. Jacksonville allowed the ninth-most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends in 2025, and there are still a number of questions about this secondary heading into 2026.
Sit: TE Michael Mayer, Las Vegas Raiders
Michael Mayer is going to be a popular start this week with Brock Bowers out. While I understand the reasoning there, there's a really good chance that Mayer is fool's gold in Week 1.
There's the obvious fact that he simply is not Bowers, so we can't expect him to replicate what Bowers would have done this week, even with a plus matchup against the Miami Dolphins, who allowed the third-most fantasy points per game to the tight end position last year.
Because the thing is, Mayer might not actually be very good. His career high in yards for a season is 328, and 89 of that came in one game last season, which was the only game where he went over 50 receiving yards. He's a boom-or-bust option and unless you had Bowers on your roster and are turning to him as a direct replacement, there's no reason to start him over whoever your planned starter at tight end was.
Add us as a preferred source on Google