NFL Thursday Ownership Report: Week 1
Each week we can get an idea of who will be highly owned based on ownership percentages in the Thursday night games. The goal of this article is to give you the top players at each position based on percentage and some of the top names with lower ownership.
Quarterback
We start at QB where there are no real surprises in the higher owned options. Each of these guys are expected to have pretty big opening weeks outside of Taylor, who is in this group strictly due to a low salary. It is interesting to see just how low some pretty marquee names are in Manning, Luck, and Brees, making them very solid GPP targets for Week 1.
Highly Owned: Sam Bradford, Matt Ryan, Tyrod Taylor, Ryan Tannehill, and Aaron Rodgers
Notable Low Owned: Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, and Drew Brees
Running Back
Leading the way at running back is Eddie Lacy, who was the highest owned player by a pretty large margin. From Miller to Ivory there is not a lot of separation so we can expect to see a solid mix. Take note that we have some guys who are traditionally highly owned players sitting with very low ownership, presenting plenty of opportunity for us to get high upside players at low ownership.
Highly Owned: Eddie Lacy, Lamar Miller, Doug Martin, DeMarco Murray, and Chris Ivory
Notable Low Owned: LeSean McCoy, Matt Forte, and Jamaal Charles
Wide Receiver
Possibly the least surprising name is is Davante Adams, who will be the highest owned player across all positions in Week 1 with the low price and huge opportunity in Nelson’s absence. The more surprising ownership for me lies with his teammate Randall Cobb, who has a really low ownership level in Thursday night games. The rest of the group is rounded out by the usual suspects of Julio, Dez, and Odell.
Highly Owned: Davante Adams, Jordan Matthews, Julio Jones, Dez Bryant, and Odell Beckham Jr.
Notable Low Owned: Randall Cobb, Emmanuel Sanders, and Demaryius Thomas
Tight End
It is largely going to be Olsen and then everyone else at tight end this week. It’s pretty straight forward and one notable player who appears to be under-owned is Martellus Bennett if you are looking to get a decent projection at a lower ownership.
Highly Owned: Greg Olsen
Notable Low Owned: Martellus Bennett
Defense
If you have read a fair amount of articles coming into the week then this should not be too much of a surprise as seemingly everyone is on the Jets and Dolphins. One team to take a look at is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a matchup against a rookie QB at home.
Highly Owned: Jets and Dolphins
Notable Low Owned: Buccaneers