Who needs superstar players to win a fantasy matchup? These three players aren’t the flashiest but they’re all you’ll need in Week 1.
QB Jared Goff | Detroit Lions
By now, Goff’s home and road splits are well known. Last year, he completed 64.8% of his passes away from Ford Field throwing for 11 touchdowns and a 89.4 quarterback rating. He completed 70.1% of throws with 19 touchdowns and a rating of 107.9 at home.
Fortunately, the Lions will open the 2024 regular season at home against the Rams, a high-scoring team with a suspect defense. Goff finished second in yardage (4,575) and attempts (605) in 2023 and he’ll need to throw the ball to keep up with the Rams’ high-powered offense.
Even without former All-Pro wide receiver Cooper Kupp for five games, L.A. managed to gain the seventh-most yards (359.3) and eighth-most points (23.8) points per game in 2023. Of course, having a rookie wide receiver like Puca Nakua put up the fourth-most yards (1,486) in the NFL didn’t hurt, neither did the 1,144 yards the team got from Kyren Williams, third-most among running backs last season.
Defensively, the Rams gave up the sixth-most fantasy points per game (19.47) to quarterbacks in Yahoo leagues last year and now find themselves without eight-time All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald who retired in the offseason.
Goff finished with the 12th-most fantasy points in 2023 but expectations have never been higher for the Lions. In a home game that looks to be a shootout, he could easily finish in the top-five this week.
RB James Cook | Buffalo Bills
No team gave up more rushing yards per game than the Cardinals last season and only three running backs had more yards than Cook (1,122). Unfortunately, he ran for only two touchdowns in 17 games which could explain why Yahoo has him listed as the week’s 18th-best running back option.
Perhaps they forgot about Cook’s 44 catches for 454 yards and four scores (all career highs) in 2023. The third-year back could get even more work in the passing game this season after the team traded leading receiver Stefon Diggs to the Texans.