Our own Pat Fitzmaurice has been among the most accurate fantasy football experts in the industry over the last several years. Fitz was THE most accurate in-season ranker in 2020. What better way to prepare for your fantasy football start/sit lineup decisions than by reviewing his fantasy football rankings? You can do just that below.
You can also find our expert consensus fantasy football rankings for the week here. And you can sync your fantasy football league for free using our My Playbook tool for custom advice, rankings, and analysis.
Fantasy Football Rankings
Fitz’s Fantasy Football Takes
Tua Tagovailoa and Trevor Lawrence were typically drafted as high-end QB2s all summer, but they could both provide QB1 production in Week 1. Lawrence faces a Miami defense that ranked 22nd in DVOA against the pass last season and lost key players such as DT Christian Wilkins and OLB Andrew Van Ginkel. The Dolphins also saw defensive coordinator Vic Fangio leave for the Eagles, so this is a defense in transition, and Lawrence might be able to exploit it. As for Tua, he lit up the Chargers for 466 passing yards and three touchdowns last year in Week 1. The Dolphins and Chargers combined for 70 points in that game (Miami won 36-34), while the average number of points scored in all other Week 1 games was 39.1. Don’t be nervous about starting either T-Law or Tua.
I’m above consensus with my RB21 ranking for Denver’s Javonte Williams. He was disappointing last season, averaging 3.6 yards per carry, but he was less than a year removed from surgery to repair a torn ACL. Williams dropped a few pounds in the offseason and looks quicker, and I’m enthusiastic about his pass-catching upside. The Broncos had a league-high 153 RB targets last season, Sean Payton’s offenses always use the running backs heavily in the passing game, and rookie QB Bo Nix was a check-down machine during his college career. And while Payton has a history of committee RB usage, Williams quietly averaged 18.9 touches over a 10-game stretch from Week 7 to Week 16 last season.
The Washington Commanders may well have the worst set of cornerbacks in the league. This is a defense we’ll be targeting with our quarterbacks and pass catchers all season. Mike Evans is obviously a must-start regardless of opponent, but Chris Godwin should be thrust into fantasy lineups this week, too. The Buccaneers are going to ramp up Godwin’s usage in the slot this year, and that’s where he belongs. Godwin is going to see a lot of Commanders rookie slot corner Mike Sainristil — a juicy matchup.
Taysom Hill can be streaky. He finished TE10 in half-point PPR scoring last year, but it was a roller-coaster ride. There were four games in which Hill scored more than 14 fantasy points and seven games in which he scored fewer than four fantasy points. I’m optimistic that Hill can pop in Week 1. He’s going to do most of his damage as a runner, and he’ll be facing a Carolina run defense that was dead last in DVOA last year. The Saints have all but screamed to us that Hill is going to have a prominent role in the offense this year. Believe them.
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