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DFS guide: Week 1 in FanDuel cash games

After watching the Patriots get annihilated on Thursday night’s opener, I think it’s safe to say none of us are really sure exactly what’s going to happen in Week 1 — or in 2017.

But we did get some things right. Brandin Cooks will be just fine in New England. Mike Gillislee is their goal-line back. Kareem Hunt is a fantasy RB1. Tyreek Hill’s 2016 wasn’t a fluke. Alex Smith is an amazing deep-ball thrower.

Okay, maybe that last one was an anomaly, but the rest are true — and we knew they were, so even though the Chiefs shocked us with a big win, we still sort of know what we’re doing.

We can take comfort in that fact as we gear up for FanDuel Week 1 cash games for Sunday’s main slate. Below, I’ll lay out my strategy for this week on a position-by-position basis. It won’t be an optimal lineup piece (although I will still highlight players I like) — more of a lineup construction and strategy piece.

(For the FanDuel tournament guide, click here)

Week 1 outlook: FanDuel pricing and projections

Tier Definitions

1 2 3 4 5
QB $8000+ $7500-$7900 $7000-$7400 $6500-$6900 $6100-$6400
RB $8000+ $7000-$7900 $6000-$6900 $5000-$5900 $4600-$4900
WR $8000+ $7000-$7900 $6000-$6900 $5000-$5900 $4600-$4900
TE $7000+ $6000-$6900 $5500-$5900 $5000-$5400 $4600-$4900

A brief explanation of The Box: The first row within each tier represents the average salary of every player in that tier. The second row represents the average projected fantasy points for every player in that tier. The third row is the average value of each player in that tier (points/salary*1000).

As the season progresses, we’ll be able to incorporate the actual performance of each player within each tier to add a new layer of confidence to The Box. For Week 1, we just have projections.

The Box is also color coordinated within each position throughout the tiers. Green means more projected value, red means less. This gives you a quick and easy way to identify where the value might be hiding each week.

Quarterbacks: Skipping the top tier and going bargain hunting for Week 1

For cash games, there’s no reason to pay up for a quarterback this weekend. I rarely pay up for quarterbacks in cash games as is, but it’s definitely not necessary this weekend.

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