Week 1 of the football season is upon us, and our partner, DraftKings is offering a sweet three-entry max GPP with $55,000 in prizes available. Even better, the top prize is a FantasyPros Lifetime Subscription valued at $5,000!The contest is capped at 10,000 entries, and over 3,500 users can win prizes, even if you don’t come in first. Additionally, each of the other top-five spots in the GPP has a four-figure payout. There’s big cash up for grabs, and the entry fee is $5. The contest is a main slate game and starts at 1:00 PM ET. Terms and conditions apply. See website for details.
As an added benefit, all users that enter the contest will also receive 3 FREE contest tickets to play weekly fantasy football for the entire month of September,
In order to cash, though, you’ll need to nail your picks. Below, I’ve highlighted a three-man stack and a pair of opposing receivers as part of a game stack.
Win a Lifetime FantasyPros Subscription at DraftKings 
Lamar Jackson (QB – BAL): $6,000 at Miami
Mark Andrews (TE – BAL): $3,000 at Miami
Ravens (D/ST – BAL): $3,800 at Miami
As of September 3rd, Baltimore is 6.5-point road favorites, per DraftKings. The game’s over/under total of only 37.5 doesn’t scream to stack it, but Baltimore’s implied team over/under total of 22 points isn’t awful. It feels a little light to use a quarterback, Lamar Jackson, who’s priced within the top-10 quarterbacks at the position (ninth-highest salary at the position, to be exact), but Jackson’s a unique quarterback.
Jackson’s legs drive his value, and the point-spread points to a positive game script for Baltimore deploying their run-heavy approach. From Week 11 when Jackson took over as the starting quarterback for Baltimore through the final week of the regular season, his 556 rushing yards ranked seventh highest, per Pro-Football-Reference. He should have a great matchup for piling up rushing yards, too.
While it’s not advisable to lean heavily on the prior year’s team stats due to the overhaul of personnel changes from team to team, it’s enticing for using Jackson seeing that Miami surrendered the third-most rushing yards (383) to quarterbacks last year, according to Pro-Football-Reference. Miami’s new head coach, Brian Flores, served as New England’s Linebackers coach last year. New England coughed up the eighth-most rushing yards (303) to quarterbacks, too. In other words, it’s possible his defensive principals will cede ample rushing yards to quarterbacks as Miami’s head coach as well.
When Jackson does air it out, Mark Andrews should get his share of looks after demonstrating excellent chemistry with Jackson in both players’ rookie seasons. From Week 11 through the end of the regular season, Andrews’ 308 receiving yards were the sixth-highest at the tight end position. He didn’t receive a ton of volume with only 18 targets, but he was efficient hauling in 13 receptions at a whopping 23.69 yards per reception. Last year, Miami coughed up 70 receptions for 804 receiving yards and nine touchdown receptions on only 94 targets to tight ends. They were a middle of the pack defense against the tight end position, but the tidy efficiency (74.5% reception rate) lines up favorably with Andrews’ efficient play. Andrews is a nice bargain option at tight end with upside, and he’s the top stack option with Jackson.
The Baltimore defense has to be licking their chops facing off against a Miami offensive line that no longer has left tackle LaremyTunsil. As more than a touchdown favorite, the game script should favor Baltimore’s defense getting to pin their ears back and pressure Miami in obvious passing situations. Furthermore, Miami’s implied team over/under total of only 15.5 points is tantalizing for picking on.
Mike Evans (WR – TB): $7,900 vs. San Francisco
Dante Pettis (WR – SF): $5,400 at Tampa Bay
There’s shootout potential in Tampa Bay this weekend. The game’s over/under total of 50 points with just a one-point spread favoring the host Tampa Bay suggests it could be a back-and-forth track meet. Evans is a top-flight No. 1 receiver who’s worth the pricey salary in Week 1. San Francisco ceded the eighth-most DraftKings fantasy points per game to wideouts in 2018, and Football Outsiders (FO) ranked them just 19th defending No. 1 receivers.
Circling back to Evans’ excellence, among receivers last year, he ranked 10th in targets (138), tied for 11th in receptions (86), third in receiving yards (1,524), and tied for 11th in touchdown receptions (eight). He also ranked fourth in FO’s Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement (DYAR) and third in Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA). In short, he’s a stud.
Pettis has a chance to be a bit overlooked, in large part, because of head coach Kyle Shanahan’s tough love for his second-year receiver. He’s coming off of a promising rookie campaign that was cut a bit short by injury. He didn’t finish among FO’s 84 qualified receivers who were targeted a minimum of 50 times, but his 16.8% DVOA on 45 targets would have slotted 17th if he hit the 50-target threshold. He hit his stride after San Francisco’s Week 11 bye and before his season ended with an MCL sprain suffered in Week 16. Among receivers from Week 11 through Week 16 in 2018, Pettis ranked 31st in targets (31), tied for 26th in receptions (20), 12th in receiving yards (359), tied for second in receiving touchdowns (four), and 10th in yards per target (11.58).
He’ll have an opportunity to pick up where he left off or build on his promising finish in a soft matchup in Week 1 against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay coughed up the sixth-most DraftKings points per game to receivers. Furthermore, FO ranked them 29th defending No. 1 receivers, 29th defending No. 2 receivers, and 18th defending “Other” receivers. Even assuming Tampa Bay make some improvement this year, they have a long way to go to be even average defending receivers after last year’s struggles against the position.
Win a Lifetime FantasyPros Subscription at DraftKings
Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is JoshShep50) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
