NFL 2018: Week 1 - Studs and Duds
After months of waiting, the 2018 NFL season is finally here! We have spent countless hours deliberating about which players are going to do well, and which ones are going to fail. Tonight sees the reigning Superbowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons in a juicy matchup to start the season.
In this week's round of games, there will be players that surpass expectations, as well as those that fail to deliver the fantasy points that their owners expect of them. Here I take a look at the latter. Some call it ‘Start or Sit’, I call it Studs or Duds.
Jimmy Garoppolo
The much-hyped Jimmy G has a tough start to the season, as he takes his San Fran 49ers to Minnesota to face the Vikings. The Vikings had a very strong defensive unit last season, which has been strengthened even further through the draft and free agency.
The Vikings D/ST is projected to be the number 2 scoring fantasy D this season. Jimmy G had a TD to INT ratio of 7:5 in his 6 games last season. Those kind of numbers are not going to be enough to get it done for the fantasy owners that drafted him as a top 10 QB.
Amari Cooper
Amari Cooper is a strange one. There was so much hype surrounding him after he was drafted with the 4th overall pick in 2015, yet he hasn’t quite lived up to most people’s expectations. That is despite recording back to back 1000 yard receiving seasons in 2015 and 16.
Last year Cooper struggled with injury and was the recipient of some poor QB play from Derek Carr, culminating in Cooper recording just 680 receiving yards. So he could do with a nice easy start to the season, right? Well unfortunately for Cooper, he gets to play the LA Rams, who boast possibly the best CB unit in the league.
They recruited both Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters who can shut down any top-class receiver on their day. This could be a rough start for Cooper and the whole Oakland team.