The top DFS bargains for Week 1

The 2018 NFL season is here, and Week 1 of DFS is always the most fun for fantasy football aficionados because it is the most unpredictable. This slate features an incredible number of bargains at the running back and tight end positions with fewer at quarterback and wide receiver. In other words, it is likely a week to pay up at quarterback and receiver in your cash games.

Finding bargains and values in DFS is the key to any winning roster, both in cash games and tournaments. Our goal is to find you the best bargains for your cash games and tournaments. We will specify what games to use each bargain in and how to capitalize on them in each given week.

High ownership is to be expected from some of these bargains, and we will touch in that in the writeup, so they should be used in cash games. However, some of these players are also excellent buys for tournaments and won’t have high ownership percentages. Generally speaking, quarterback is the one position where ownership tends to be spread out the most — in other words, feel free to use these bargains both in tournaments and cash games.

Andy Dalton, QB, Cincinnati Bengals

Some of our favorite quarterback values on this slate — Cam Newton, Deshaun Watson — don’t exactly qualify as bargains. Dalton certainly does. Dalton is valued as a mid-range QB2 on both slates with the right recipe for breaking into the QB1 range with ease on this slate. For starters, the biggest issue for Dalton and the Bengals offense in 2017 was his efficiency while under pressure. This was amplified by the losses of his best two offensive linemen. This offseason, the Bengals made major upgrades at left tackle and center and it showed during the preseason. On the flip side, the Colts finished 2017 with our No. 28 pass coverage unit overall and spent the majority of their high-profile offseason resources on the offensive line to protect Andrew Luck. This game has the chance of being a surprise Week 1 shootout, which makes Dalton our favorite value because he is also a match for tournaments.