Welcome to the first edition of our 2020 Roto Street Journal DFS battle. In this weekly article, you will hear from KB and Tailback Tino before every Sunday slate of NFL games. Our aim every week is to help you pick the optimal lineup to win BREAD.
Not only will we be trying to win you money, but we are going to be competing against each other for 17 weeks. With that being said, we’re aiming to win you money in large tournaments, keeping in mind that in these tournaments you want to differentiate yourself from your competition. AKA we need to differentiate between good chalk and bad chalk. NOT ALL CHALK IS BAD CHALK!
For example, Alvin Kamara is projected to be one of the most rostered players in Week 1’s slate of games. But Kamara is also projected to score a lot of points. You don’t want to miss out on a 35 point Kamara game because you thought he was “too chalky.” So while yes we want to try and avoid chalk, sometimes it’s better not to get too cute and take the chalk.
Before we get into who we’re targeting this week, let’s start with what, in my opinion, is the most important tip to keep in mind when selecting your DFS rosters.
Consider the O/U from Vegas
Obviously, the key to winning is to score as many points as possible. Players involved in higher scoring games will have more opportunities to score more points so this is why we want to target players in high scoring games. Those line makers in Vegas — yeah pretty good at their jobs. Trust the O/U and use them strategically when selecting your roster.
More NFL points = More scoring opportunities for your fantasy roster
Without further ado, here are our Week 1 lineups:
| Kendall’s Lineup | Tino’s Lineup | |
| QB | Drew Brees, $6,800 | Josh Allen, $6,500 |
| RB | Alvin Kamara, $7,200 | Josh Jacobs, $6,800 |
| RB | Austin Ekeler, $7,000 | Kenyan Drake, $6,400 |
| WR | D.J. Chark Jr., $6,300 | Adam Thielen, $6,700 |
| WR | Tyler Lockett, $6,500 | Keenan Allen, $6,400 |
| WR | Marquise Brown, $5,100 | Marquise Brown, $5,100 |
| TE | Hayden Hurst, $4,300 | Chris Herndon, $3,300 |
| Flex | Antonio Gibson, $4,000 | Terry McLaurin, $5,600 |
| DST | Chargers, $2,800 | Colts, $3,000 |
Stacks of the Week
KB: My favorite stack this week is Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara. Maybe the most anticipated game of the season we have the Saints taking on the now Tom Brady lead, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In this game we have two of the greatest QB’s of all time battling in a game with a projected O/U set at 48.5 points (DraftKings Sportsbook). Last season, the Bucs gave up the 7th most touchdown passes in the NFL. While Michael Thomas is undoubtedly Brees’ favorite target, Kamara failed to eclipse 5 targets only 3 times last season and he is once again the team’s clear lead back in 2020. I’m projecting a high scoring shootout for Brees vs. Brady Part one and if we get that, there’s no way Kamara and Brees don’t combine for 50+ points.
Tino: My stack of the week is straight out of Bills Mafia. Josh Allen and John “Smokey” Brown. The chalk pick here would be to stack Allen and his assumed new WR1 Stefon Diggs. While I understand the rationale for this stack, I would grab Brown over Diggs in this spot. Brown is $800 less than Diggs on Draftkings, and already has an established rapport with Allen. The Bills will likely pick apart the Jets Jamal Adams-less secondary, and my bet is on the more known and cheaper commodity in Smokey Brown.
Triple Stack of the Week
KB: This might come as a shock to some of you but my triple stack of the week is Gardner Minshew, Chris Thompson, and D.J. Chark. This goes against my general rule of aiming for players in higher scoring projected matchups but there is a method to my madness. For starters, Vegas has the Colts as 8 point favorites. This means that the Jags should be playing the majority of this game from behind which means more targets for D.J Chark and Chris Thompson. Last season, the Colts and Jags combined for 46 and 58 points the two times they squared off against one another. In those matchups, Chark combined for 20 targets and managed to score 2 touchdowns. Additionally, the Colts allowed the most receptions to the running back position at 6.8 receptions per game. This plays directly into Chris Thompson’s strengths as a pass-catching RB specialist.
Tino: No true triple stacks that I fully endorse in my lineups this week. I do agree with Kendall’s though. I see that stack looking like a disappointment through the first half of the game, and ending the game as a sneaky value stack.
Values of the Week
KB: Two words. Free. Square. Antonio Gibson is easily the value of the week. At $4,000 DK dollars Gibson costs you only $300 more than the week’s highest priced defense and allows you to get two studs PPR RBs in your roster. Since Washington cut Adrian Peterson, The Gibson hype has been through the roof and I for one am here for it. Washington’s new offensive coordinator, Scott Turner, was in Carolina last year where Christian McCaffrey DOMINATED in fantasy football. I’m not here to say that Antonio Gibson is the next Christian McCaffrey… but he might be. He should be given plenty of opportunities to rack up a big PPR game against the Eagles in Week 1.
Tino: Chris Herndon at $3,300 opens up so many options for you to spend up on other positions. Adam Gase has been gushing over Herndon over these past couple weeks, and the Jets passing attack funnels through the middle. In a situation where they will likely trail against Buffalo, I want to own the Jets passing option with the most upside. At $3,300, grabbing Herndon and getting production out of him will let you spend up the rest of your roster.
