Preferred Plays - Week 1 Saturday

I was originally going to call these “Rankings,” but I’m reluctant to do so after actually putting them together. They are in a rough order of who I like best, but there is so much uncertainty in the preseason it’s difficult to say that one play is clearly better than another. This is a reasonably-sized pool of players I think could have a significant impact, but the extent of the impact is something that’s impossible to offer precision on. The order and/or composition of the list can and will change leading up to game time as we get new information.

QB RB WR TE
Geno Smith - LAC Detrez Newsome - LAC Courtland Sutton - DEN Austin Traylor - DEN
Josh Rosen - ARI Russell Hansbrough - LAC DaeSean Hamilton - DEN Braedon Bowman - LAC
Cardale Jones - LAC Chase Edmonds - ARI Greg Little - ARI Tyler Conklin - MIN
Paxton Lynch - DEN DJ Foster - ARI Artavis Scott - LAC Ricky Seals-Jones - ARI
Kirk Cousins - MIN De'Angelo Henderson - DEN Christian Kirk - ARI Sean Culkin - LAC
David Williams - DEN Kendall Wright - MIN Jake Butt - DEN
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About the Author

DerekCarty
Derek Carty (DerekCarty)

Derek Carty is the creator of THE BAT X (for MLB) and THE BLITZ (for NFL) projection systems, widely considered the gold standard for projections and the driving force behind multiple Milly Maker winners. You may also know him from ESPN.com, from his time on Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter, or from his early career managing the fantasy sections for Baseball Prospectus and The Hardball Times. While perhaps best known for DFS, he also has an elite track record in both sports betting (career ~13% ROI on thousands of publicly-tracked bets as of the end of the 2023-24 NFL season) and season-long fantasy expert leagues (11 titles while placing in the top 3 in roughly half of all leagues). On the sports betting side, you may recognize his work from EV Analytics, ScoresAndOdds, Covers, and Unabated. For season-long fantasy, THE BAT X is prominently featured at FanGraphs. While known mostly for his analytical skills, he’s also proud to be the only active fantasy or betting analyst to have graduated from MLB’s exclusive Scout School. Follow Carty on Twitter – @DerekCarty