Fantasy Football Week 1 Start ‘Em & Sit ‘Em: Drake Maye starts breakout season, plus every-position sleepers

Mayfield is set for a massive Week 1

Sep 3, 2025

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11:26 pm ET

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2 min read

USATSI

We’re here. Some of you have spent weeks — maybe months — preparing for your Fantasy season, and now the fun begins. Let’s get started. It’s Week 1.

The draft was the first step, and your team is ready to go. They are ready to deliver on the expectations you’ve set for them, which is a championship or bust. Sure, you want to have fun along the way, but the ultimate goal is the title at the end of the season.

That’s the way it should be, right? You want to feel positive about the roster you built. You want to expect the best and hope no one gets injured, everyone reaches their ceiling and all of those sleepers you drafted in the late rounds become stars.

Now, we know that’s not realistic. It’s how you manage your team during the season that will determine your fate. As much as the draft sets the table for the start of the year, the waiver wire is the most important part of the process. You need to be prepared.

You also need to make the right start and sit decisions, and that’s why you’re here. Our job is to make it easy for you. We’ve done the research and allowed the matchups, mostly, to determine if a player should have a positive or negative outcome each week.

We’re not always going to be right. Far from it. But if you keep coming back here all season, your Fantasy team will benefit. You’ll give yourself the best chance to win — and hold that trophy at the end of the season.

So let’s begin. Welcome to Week 1. The first step on your Fantasy journey starts now. Let’s have some fun.   

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The quarterback I have rostered the most this season is Drake Maye. The player I have rostered the most this season is Drake Maye. So it only makes sense for me to tell you to trust the player I have the most faith in with my own teams as the Start of the Week for Week 1. I’m hopeful Maye will have all his weapons at his disposal with a healthy Stefon Diggs (knee), and I love Diggs, TreVeyon Henderson and Josh McDaniels coming to New England this year. The latter will likely want some revenge on his former team, so look for McDaniels to be aggressive against the Raiders in this game. We know Maye is going to make plays with his legs, and I like the over on his rushing yards prop on FanDuel, which is 29.5. I have Maye as a top-10 Fantasy quarterback right out of the gate, and I’m expecting him to deliver in a big way in Week 1 and all year.

START ‘EM & SIT ‘EM

Quarterbacks

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START ‘EM & SIT ‘EM

Wide Receivers

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START ‘EM & SIT ‘EM

Wide Receivers

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Bust Alert

Sleepers (Start/Sit)

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START ‘EM & SIT ‘EM

Tight End

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Cardinals (at NO)

If you like streaming DSTs for Week 1 then the Cardinals DST is for you. Facing the Saints should be the matchup to target early in the season — and potentially all year. New Orleans’ offense is limited with a suspect offensive line and Spencer Rattler under center for now. Rattler had five interceptions and three fumbles in seven appearances last year.

Dolphins (at IND) Commanders (vs. NYG) Jets (vs. PIT) Bills (vs. BAL)

You don’t want to roster two DST options in Week 1, but starting the Bills DST against the Ravens — and vice versa with the Ravens DST against the Bills — isn’t ideal. Lamar Jackson accounted for only nine turnovers last season, and this game should be a high-scoring affair. This should be a bad week for the Bills DST.

START ‘EM & SIT ‘EM

KICKERS

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