Players You NEED to be on the Lookout for in Week 1 | ESPN Fantasy

comcast reaches more than 65 million homes and businesses with the nation's most intelligent network powered by ai and designed to optimize every connection in real time and that really matters when millions are tuning in for the biggest live events with ultra low latency and the capacity to handle massive demand comcast helps deliver every moment in stunning 4k so viewers stay close to the action without missing a minute learn more at comcastcorporation.com slash network because he has so much rust that he needs to shake off i mean he had an off-season knee surgery and then he rehabbed the issue in jail hey i'm liz loza this is facts versus feelings and today's fact is there is a first time for everything hello daniel dot back in your tiny box it is week one football is officially here how you feeling great my friend super excited listen we're not talking about wednesday even though it was so unbelievable to have football back in our lives we're not talking about thursday we are getting people ready for the sunday slate of games here liz loza and i want to dive right in because there's a lot of football we got to talk about plus we want to have some fun a little later on in the show so i'm going to start here at the quarterback spot my friend with a guy like jackson dart he was a banger when he was healthy last season wasn't really able to stay healthy last season but you know what there's a first time for everything liz loza how you feeling about him against the dallas cowboys here in week one way to weave it all together yeah nothing says football is back like an nfc east a rivalry game to kick off the season and what better time to your point than to use a player who has proclivity towards finding the blue medical tent in week one when he's actually healthy jackson dart started four games against the division last season i went over in each of them i expect him to do the same this sunday versus a dallas defense that gave up wait for it 30 fantasy points to russell wilson when he was the giant starter now obviously we can agree that dart is more dynamic than wilson particularly from a rushing perspective last season dart was the qb1 in rushing yards and that sets up very nicely against a dallas defense that allowed the third most rushing yards to opposing quarterbacks in 2025 i have dart ranked inside my top seven players at the position for the opener i'm with you on jackson dart liz also have him as a top seven guy really quickly on that cowboys defense they did add a number of pieces to it so we do think it will be quite a bit better this year but it usually takes defenses and all teams a little bit of time right to actually come to fruition with all that so week one not a bad time for jackson dart to draw them as they're still learning each other there i also have them as a top seven guy so i am with you on that one oh oh oh o'reilly check engine abs or maintenance light on take the guesswork out of your warning lights with o'reilly veriscan the service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ase certified master technicians and if you need help we could recommend a shop for you ask for o'reilly veriscan today auto parts i like things my way my coffee my schedule and my treatment so i talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the vivgard hytrulo pre-filled syringe which contains f-gartigamide alpha and hyaluronidase qvfc it's injected under your skin subcutaneously it means i can inject in my space on my time it's my treatment my way visit vivgardmyway.com that's v-y-v-g-a-r-t myway.com and talk to your doctor about vivgard hytrulo brought to you by argenix if you've shopped online chances are you've bought from a business powered by shopify you know that purple shop pay button you see at checkout the one that makes buying so incredibly easy that's shopify and there's a reason so many businesses sell with it because shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business shopify is the commerce platform behind 10 percent of all e-commerce in the u.s. from household names like mattel and gymshark to brands just getting started shopify gives you a leg up with hundreds of beautiful ready-to-go templates to express your brand style and forget about the code tackle all those important tasks in one place from inventory to payments to analytics and more spread your brand's word with built-in marketing and email tools to find and keep new customers and did i mention that iconic purple shop pay button that's used by millions of businesses in the u.s. shopify is a great way to start your businesses around the world it's why shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet your customers already love it if you want to see less carts being abandoned it's time for you to head over to shopify sign up for your one dollar per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash network go to shopify.com slash network shopify.com slash network let's pivot to a wide receiver though that you are less excited about unfortunately and that's rashi rice rashi rice was drafted as a top 10 wide receiver but here in week one he's closer to the wide receiver 15 mark tell me why because he has so much rust that he needs to shake off i mean he had an off-season knee surgery and then he rehabbed the issue in jail plus he opens the season in a really tough matchup against denver now historically rice has struggled against the broncos registering career lows in both targets drawn and and yards accrued per routes run you fold in patrick mahomes coming off of his own knee issue and then you also note the fact that kenneth walker has been added to the offense and might absorb some of the looks that would have normally gone rice's way and there's no way to doubt that rice's ceiling is a little bit capped i have him as my wide receiver 14 for week one yes for week one i am with you on that interested to see the way they use kw3 like you said and i'm going to but against this dreaded broncos secondary lowering expectations a little bit okay let's pay the bills and talk about a chicago bear so we can get them playing back in illinois where they belong liz he's got that dreaded red hue next to his name and that makes fantasy managers really uncomfortable obviously taking on the panthers in carolina how are you feeling about deandre swift in week one i feel okay now obviously swift gave potential investors a little bit of a scare when he was slow to get up at practice last thursday but he was back to it on monday he practiced fully i think he's going to be good to go now it is worth noting that kyle menungai who was week to week for three weeks also returned to practice given how much that hyper extended knee bothered him i don't see menungai getting a full complement of snaps which means swift should handle the load now interestingly before menungai emerged swift averaged around 17 touches per game i like that since he averaged nearly 18 fantasy points per game when he touched the ball 15 or more times so that's a nice floor for swift in week one the matchups should certainly help him get there carolina gave up nearly 20 fantasy points per game to opposing backfields last season i think swift is going to start strong he's my rb 16 heading into sunday's action i am with you on this one as well i was all in and still am in on kyle menungai in draft season but here in week one thinking they're going to ease him back into action just like you said that is a big workload on tap for deandre swift all right before we move on make sure please if you guys could like and subscribe it means so much to us and helps others be able to find this video and we want you to keep leaving voicemails we can never have enough please call us at 323-391-4855 and make sure that you leave your instagram handle that you do so we can tell you when we give you a shout out now we're going to talk about a guy who yeah spent six seasons on the same squad before averaging more than eight and a half fantasy points but you know what daddy i love him juwan johnson is giving lucky lotto ticket to start the season he quietly closed out 2025 as the saints number two option behind chris olave drawing a career high 103 looks now we expected that number to go down after the saints drafted jordan tyson eighth overall but with the news that tyson is expected to miss about two months with hamstring issues johnson is back in play he was fantasy's tight end eight overall last season averaging nearly 11 fantasy points per game look for him to flirt with that same baseline in the opener new orleans should be chasing points as seven point underdogs at detroit i think kellen moore is going to keep the pace way up especially in a matchup that is boasting the second highest projected point total at 49 and a half johnson is giving low end tight end one to start the season life insurance is one of those things that's easy to put off because it doesn't feel urgent today but it's not just another financial box to check it's about having a plan in place so if life throws something unexpected at your family they're not left dealing with the financial side without support ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy it's 100 online so you can get a quote in seconds apply in minutes and get same-day coverage. There's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple health questions online. You can get up to $3 million in coverage and some policies start as low as $30 a month. Ethos has also earned strong customer feedback with a 4.8 out of 5 star rating on Trustpilot based on more than 4,000 reviews. Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash sports. That's E-T-H-O-S dot com slash sports. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Trustpilot rating as of June 1st, 2025. Harry Douglas here. Game day brings the excitement. Your stay should feel just as memorable. With Marriott Bonvoy, official hotel partner of the NCAA in U.S. soccer, you're connected to a portfolio of brands designed for how you travel. Some offer complimentary breakfast. Others give you room to spread out, space to stay productive, or extended stay comforts. So whether you're a traveling fan or part of the team, Marriott Bonvoy celebrates the moments that live on before and after the game. Marriott Bonvoy, where game day checks in. In a contracting business, you're either growing or you're grinding. Success is no longer about hard work alone. It's about using AI to accelerate impact. ServiceTitan is the only integrated intelligence that seamlessly automates your entire workflow, from first call to final invoice. Born in the trades, built for visionaries, ready to stop operating and start automating. ServiceTitan. AI for the trades. This is a safe place. It's a place where we can feel free sharing our feelings. Once again, our incredible viewers slash listeners have flooded the voicemail line. We love hearing from you. So let's just dive right in. Dopp has the submissions. Who's up first? Liz, you and I are going to need to clean up our act a little bit because this first question is from a child. Hi, this is Will Davis, and I was just wondering. I had the ninth place in my draft, and I got Isaiah Likely and George Kittle. I was just wondering who I want to start. Thank you. Well done, Angel. That is excellent drafting. George Kittle is making the trip to Australia. Reports seem to indicate that he is going to have a, quote, limited role in week one, obviously, as he's being eased back in after suffering that Achilles injury. Isaiah Likely, though. Excellent band-aid for the situation, especially when we don't know how healthy Malik Neighbors is going to be to start the season. Very proud of you here. Daniel, you and Mike and Field talked about this issue on Focus earlier in the week. Do you have anything to add? I would say that with the release of Darius Slayton, that only gives me a little bit more love for Isaiah Likely at the beginning of the season because of that. It also means I'm going to clean things up and be a little less dirty when we do this show, Liz, because we have children listening. But I can't do that yet because the next one up is my friend Dan from Iowa. Hey, what up? Only Dan from Iowa back at it again with the white band. I need some help being convinced that the Browns players that I drafted are going to be decent or that the Browns will produce fantasy points. I got a lot of KC Concepcion and some Quinshawn Judkins. Help me out, guys. Bye. Well, Dan, respectfully, your feelings about the Browns don't really matter because the fact is week one is here. And, you know, it might take a minute because Cleveland opens the season with back to back road games against stiff competition, the Jaguars and then the Buccaneers in week two. Oh, and they also have like a temporary QB under center now silver lining. Kenneth Charles Concepcion does have the quicks and versatility to surprise. Quinshawn Judkins should see enough volume to keep him on the flex radar. But those white vans are not going to get too dirty right away. You're going to need to exercise some patience here with those picks. Daniel? Yeah, unfortunately, I'm with you on that one, Liz. I am a little bit worried, even though Judkins is clearly going to be the number one running back in that squad. He could get game scripted out of some of these games late as they are trailing and just need to catch up. But if that happens, good news for your Casey Concepcion shares because now you got a guy that potentially has a little bit of a higher share because of that. So all right, Liz, loads of this very next one is from Anthony in Reading, Pennsylvania, which is where I'm pretty sure Reading Rainbow came out of. Do you remember that as a kid? Take a look. Yes, I love it. That's the one. We wait a second. LeVar Burton was also on Star Trek, but he wore the sunglasses only on Star Trek because if he's wearing sunglasses, it's harder to read, presumably on the Rainbow Show. I would think. And those sunglasses were really thick on Star Trek. So I don't know. But what if they were prescription reading sunglasses? Oh, hey, everybody. Love the show. You guys do a great work. Please keep it up. My name is Anthony Guzman. I'm from Reading, Pennsylvania. Oh, underscore, underscore. Reading. My question would be I took Aminra St. Brown as the fourth overall pick over JSN and Puka. Now, I had JSN in another league, so I figured, well, let me switch things up a bit. I really wanted Puka. Obviously, we know the issues at hand. So I kind of faded. Do you guys think I'll regret that down the road? No. We love a diversified portfolio. Honey, I did the same thing in two last-minute drafts on Tuesday earlier in the week. I think that is absolutely okay. I think it's actually quite smart. But you know what? I feel like I should let the resident Lions fan who definitely knows how to read Reading, Pennsylvania. Yikes. Whoa. Whoa. Okay. All right, Liz. Wow. Put me on the clock here. 30 seconds. I promise I'll be quick. No, you're not going to regret drafts. I'm on Ross St. Brown. This is the safest guy in fantasy football over the last three years at the wide receiver position. Only guy with 1,500 or more receiving yards for three straight years. Only guy with 115 or more receptions in three straight years. Only guy with three straight seasons of 10 or more touchdowns. This dude is as safe and consistent as it gets. That is not going to be what loses you fantasy football this year, sure. Maybe the ceiling takes a little bit of a hit because Puka does have some of those massive games. But no, you will not regret having the sun god on your squad. Let's move on and do a new one. We got a poem from one of our friends because that's just how cool these people are. Oh, this is Chris calling from the hallowed grounds of Lambeau Field. I have no Instagram handle. I'm happily off social. Good for you. I come to you today with a week one haiku. Jacobs betrays us. Lloyd lead us to salvation. Oh my gosh, excellent. God, please let this work. Yes. Bravo. A haiku for week one from one of our apparently many gifted, creative, awesome, out-of-the-box thinking listeners slash viewers. Chris, I don't care if you're a Packers fan. That was excellent. And you know what? Jack Kerouac, who was a giant haiku fan and very famous novelist, once wrote a real haiku's gotta be as simple as porridge and yet make you see the real thing. Chris from Wisconsin, you did exactly that way to nail it. Yes, Chris. Whenever people compare what you do to soup, that means you crushed it. Good for you, man. The porridge is not soup, my friend. Call in with your life and lineup questions if you've got more because we want more of it. 3-2-3-3-9-1-4-8-5-5. Don't forget to leave your Instagram handle so we can tell you about it. We love you guys. Make sure you keep calling us. Last call. Today we learned that only the Cowboys can make current era Russell Wilson fantasy relevant. That Daniel Dopp did more watching Reading Rainbow than actually reading books. And that there is a first time for everything. Remember, this maiden voyage may not be the most successful, but that doesn't mean it won't be memorable. Be sure to check out my week one edition of Facts vs. Feelings The Column, which is currently live on the dot com. And remember, you can leave us a voicemail the number to do that is 3-2-3 3-9-1-4-8-5-5. Until next time, may your facts be solid, your feelings be right, and your bus be someone else's problem. Today we learned that only the Cowboys could make current era 3-2-1. 3-2-1. Today we learned that the, uh, 3-2-1. Who's laughing? I can, like, hear you. This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast. Have you guys heard about ChatGPT work? It's the new way to use ChatGPT for bigger, multi-step projects. And when you need more than just answers, give ChatGPT work access to your apps and files, and it can create real work documents like spreadsheets, slides, and structured reports. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting work mode available on Plus and Pro plans. Thanks for watching!