Kansas City Chiefs - Fantasy News

Patriots vs. Chiefs Start 'Em / Sit 'Em

by Adam Markowitz

9/3/17

NFL

Kansas City Chiefs

Chris Conley

As has become tradition in the NFL, the defending Super Bowl champions open up the next year at home against a team that has a real chance to dethrone them. The New England Patriots are doing the honors this Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs in the official kickoff of the 2017 campaign.

It'll be the first chance of the new season to cash in at Dober Games, and there are several players who we are targeting to play and targeting to fade in the first game of the year.

Kansas City Chiefs Week 1 Projected Fantasy Points
Alex Smith: 13.5
Kareem Hunt: 11.5
Travis Kelce: 11.0
Tyreek Hill: 10.5
Cairo Santos: 7.5
Chris Conley: 7.0
Charcandrick West: 5.5

New England Patriots Week 1 Projected Fantasy Points
Tom Brady: 23.0
Brandin Cooks: 13.0
Rob Gronkowski: 13.0
Mike Gillislee: 9.0
Chris Hogan: 9.0
Stephen Gostkowski: 9.0
Malcolm Mitchell: 8.0
James White: 7.5
Danny Amendola: 7.5
Dwayne Allen: 7.5
Dion Lewis: 6.0
Rex Burkhead: 5.0

Start 'Em: Chris Conley (7.0 PFP)

Someone has to pick up the slack for the Chiefs offense this year, and Conley strikes us as the man who can do just that. He didn't have a lot of superb games last season; in fact, he didn't have a single game with more than 10 Dober Fantasy Points. Yet it's worth remembering that the Patriots work as hard as they can to take away a team's first option on offense. In this case, that's Travis Kelce. Who, beyond Kelce, is really expected to make a fantasy impact this year on the KC offense? Tyreek Hill? Conley is the far better option at a buy-low price of just 7.0 PFPs.

Sit 'Em: Travis Kelce (11.0 PFP)

Reiterating: The Patriots spend the entire week trying to figure out how to make sure the top option on the other team isn't what beats them. Go back and look at New England's last several games, and you'll find one thing in common: The best player on the other team rarely finds the end zone. Julio Jones didn't do it. Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown didn't do it. Lamar Miller and DeAndre Hopkins didn't do it. Jay Ajayi didn't do it. In fact, the last clear No. 1 fantasy option on a team to score a touchdown against the Pats was Brandon Marshall last November. Kelce doesn't necessarily have to find the end zone to beat this PFP, but it would sure help. We see the likelihood of him doing so small at best.

Start 'Em: Tom Brady (24.5 PFP)

It's so hard to start Brady with a PFP of 24.5. Even if he threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns, that still leaves him a touchdown short of going over the total. But with LeGarrette Blount no longer in town, there are touchdown passes to be thrown, and who better than one of the best in the history of this game to do so? Rob Gronkowski is healthy and remains one of the biggest red zone threats in the NFL, and we suspect the Patriots are going to have a few new wrinkles to throw the way of the Chiefs after having a full offseason to prepare. The Kansas City pass defense allowed 16 touchdowns on the road last season, including five to Ben Roethlisberger in a bad 43-14 loss on Sunday Night Football in October. Brady could easily throw for four scores in this one.

Sit 'Em: Mike Gillislee (9.0 PFP)

There's a lot of hype right now around Gillislee. He's coming over from Buffalo having averaged 5.6 yards per carry. He had a couple big games at the end of the season for the Bills, running for 91 yards against Miami and 40 yards and a touchdown against the Jets. That said, Gillislee really isn't a great pass-catching back, and we suspect he's going to be asked to be more of a plodder than anything else. It feels like James White and Dion Lewis are the far better backs for this offense, and even Rex Burkhead is going to have his say as well. In truth, no one really knows what in the heck Bill Belichick is really thinking on a weekly basis with his running backs. For that reason alone, it's worthwhile to always fade the highest-rated running back on New England's board, particularly when he almost certainly has to score a touchdown in order to beat his PFP.