NFL season is here, and that means so is fantasy football season! Not much brings more excitement than deciding on your starting lineup for Thursday Night Football in Week 1. You haven't had to deal with the annoying reality of any busts, injuries or other disappointments. It's all optimism.
Of course, that doesn't mean it's easy to lock in the best Thursday Night Football fantasy picks yet — even in a game with as much offensive firepower as the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens. You know you're starting guys like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, but what about some of those mid or late-round picks you made on each team?
Let's take a look at some of the best fantasy picks you should target tonight.
Chiefs vs. Ravens Fantasy Picks: Starts
Start Xavier Worthy, WR, Kansas City Chiefs: Am I worried about a rookie making his debut about a Super Bowl contender? A bit, sure. But this is all about upside — you're not really considering playing scared already in Week 1, are you? With Hollywood Brown out, Worthy is a top-three receiving option in one of the NFL's best offenses. And with his elite speed and role as a field-stretcher on the outside, all it takes is one or two plays for Worthy to turn in a strong fantasy performance. If he has three or four he could be a matchup-winner. And if we're looking for extra reasons to get excited about Worthy? Among Ravens DBs who played 50-plus coverage snaps last year (per PFF), Marlon Humphrey had the lowest coverage grade and faced the second-highest average depth of target. Deep balls could be the key to a Chiefs win.
Start Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore Ravens: You don't need me to tell you about Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry or Mark Andrews. But you might be a little nervous about Zay Flowers. Don't be. The Chiefs' defense is for real, but Flowers also went off for 5 receptions, 115 yards and a touchdown his last time out against KC. If we remove Week 17, when he played limited snaps, Flowers averaged 4.9 receptions, 50.1 yards and 0.33 touchdowns (12.0 PPR fantasy points) per game. He was better than those numbers indicate though, because that average includes a couple of total duds that came in blowout wins when the Ravens didn't need to throw the ball much (3 receptions in a 28-3 win over the Browns, 1 reception in a 37-3 win over the Seahawks, 1 reception in a 23-7 win over the Jaguars). This game isn't going to be a blowout, so Flowers should be heavily involved.
Chiefs vs. Ravens Fantasy Picks: Sits
Sit Samaje Perine & Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, Kansas City Chiefs: Another way to read this is "start basically every Chief you drafted." Perine and CEH will have gone undrafted in many leagues, and even if you did make a late-round dart throw you probably aren't considering plugging Perine into your lineup (while CEH is on the non-football injury list and can't be started anyway). So I guess what I'm really telling you here is that this is the cutoff line for statable Chiefs. Mahomes? Rice? Kelce? Pacheco? You already knew you were starting them. I guess if you drafted Carson Steele you could add him to this "sit" list too, but that's about it.
Sit Rashod Bateman, WR, Baltimore Ravens: I said I'm not worried about the Chiefs defense for Flowers, but I'm not so unbothered that I'd go as far as starting Rashod Bateman. If you drafted him, you need to be taking a wait-and-see approach. Being No. 3 in the pecking order for targets (behind Flowers and Mark Andrews) has not typically led to any fantasy success in this Ravens offense. Maybe Bateman makes a jump this year or maybe Baltimore gets a little more pass-happy, but until we see it you shouldn't consider starting Bateman.
Looking for full Week 1 start 'em, sit 'em picks? We have you covered at every position: Quarterback | Running Back | Wide Receiver | Tight End | Kicker & Defense
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Thursday Night Football Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Chiefs vs. Ravens Week 1.
