Week 1 Fantasy Football Rankings Early Look: Saquon Barkley Upgrades To RB4

We've (nearly) made it. Week 1 of the NFL season is here, and we've got an early look at the Week 1 fantasy football rankings.

While many of these players are in similar positions as their pre-season rankings, let's highlight a couple of players who rank higher or lower than we've grown accustomed to this offseason in Matthew Freedman's Week 1 half-PPR rankings.

Risers In Early Week 1 Fantasy Football Rankings

Saquon Barkley Jumps To RB4 In Week 1 Rankings

• Rank: 6 (RB4)
• Opponent: WAS

Forget that he's now 29 years old; Saquon Barkley has averaged over 1,600 scrimmage yards and 11 TDs per season across the last four years despite a disappointing 2025 showing. The change to Sean Mannion in Philly should have this new-look offense heavily centered around Barkley and under-center play, which should allow for more explosive plays from the running back who had 17 20-plus-yard runs in 2024 before only seven last season when Philly operated in the shotgun more. Over the last two seasons in non-shotgun runs, Barkley has averaged over 5.0 yards per carry, 2.04 yards before contact per attempt and posted a 22.2% avoided tackle rate.

The Commanders' defense, last year, surrendered over 141 rushing yards per game (third-most in the NFL), and with Lane Johnson healthy for Week 1, the Eagles' offensive line could look nearly unstoppable. This is a picture-perfect matchup and situation for Barkley to hit the ground running (literally) and kick off what should be a bounceback season.

Joe Burrow Ranked As QB1 For Week 1 Fantasy Football

• Rank: (QB1)
• Opponent: TB

Talk about starting the season hot. It's not Josh Allen (QB2) nor Lamar Jackson (QB3) atop Freedman's Week 1 QB rankings, but Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals.

If there's a perfect time to bet on Burrow, it's when he's at full health, and Week 1 is the epitome of said time. It hasn't been poor or inconsistent play that's hampered Burrow throughout his career; it's been injuries. We saw how dominant he is when healthy last season from Weeks 13 through 18—he ranked as the overall QB3, averaging 23.3 points per game with a 68% completion rate, 7.9-yard aDOT and 7.3 yards per attempt.

Burrow gets to face the Buccaneers at home in Week 1, a defense that surrendered the 12th-most points per game in 2025, alongside a defense that, while marginally improved, should still be hemorrhaging points to the Bucs offense. This game carries an implied total of 51.5 points, with the Bengals sitting as 3.5-point home favorites (DraftKings) with a 27.5-point team total. With a plethora of healthy weapons around him in Chase Brown, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Burrow is in as good a spot as any QB to open the 2026 season.

Bucky Irving Is A Top-25 Player In Week 1 Fantasy Rankings

• Rank: 23 (RB15)
• Opponent: CIN

Speaking of the 51.5-point shootout we're expecting in Cincinnati, Bucky Irving is a surprising name inside of Freedman's top 25 players for Week 1. After a promising rookie season (1,122 yards, 8 TDs, 47-392-0 receiving), he failed to live up to expectations in his sophomore season after dealing with a shoulder injury for the majority of the season. While most managers (including myself) have a hard time shaking the disappointment, it's important to remember that Irving ranked as the RB10 overall through the first four weeks of the season pre-injury, averaging 71% of the rushing attempts, 15% of the targets (21% TPRR) and 15.6 half-PPR points per game on a Utilization Score of 92.

The addition of Kenneth Gainwell clouds the outlook for Irving in pass-down situations, and Sean Tucker's goal-line role is a scary factor, but I'd like to believe some of the speculation that much of Irving's lack of presence in high-leverage situations was to protect his injury. Against a sieve of a defense like the Bengals, there is 100-yard, multi-touchdown upside for Irving out of the gate.

Fallers In Early Week 1 Fantasy Football Rankings

Justin Jefferson Falls To No. 22 Overall In Week 1 Fantasy Ranks

• Rank: 22 (WR8)
• Opponent: GB

It's hard to see Justin Jefferson on the fallers list to start the 2025 season after imagining it hard for him to fall any lower than his 2025 season, but consider this an improvement on just how far he fell last season. Drafted as a consensus top-11 player on Underdog throughout the offseason, we should see improved passing play with Kyler Murray under center in 2026 for the Vikings. That said, Murray hasn't ever shown truly elite passing upside, failing to ever reach 4,000 passing yards in a season, though he did support an elite WR1 in 2021 (DeAndre Hopkins).

Plus, we've seen Jefferson carve up this Packers' defense before, whose pass rush will be a shell of itself as long as Micah Parsons is sidelined. Rookie CB Brandon Cisse has impressed during camp, but he hasn't lined up against a player with the talent or usage that Jefferson carries.

I understand being timid out of the gate with Jefferson given the floor we saw last season, but he's still locked-and-loaded as a WR1 in your Week 1 lineups and ranks as the WR7 in Week 1 fantasy football projections (12.6 half-PPR points) with an Xfinity best projection of 19.5 points.

Drake Maye Ranked As QB12 In Week 1 Fantasy Football Rankings

• Rank: QB12
• Opponent: SEA

A far cry from his QB3 pre-season price tag and his QBX finish from 2025, Drake Maye barely squeaks into the rankings as a QB1 out of the gate for Freedman (and Dwain; QB11). And, frankly, that might not be low enough, as our projections have Maye as the QB15 for the week with a 17.2-point projection (227.9 passing yards, 1.4 TDs, 24.2 rushing yards).

While the A.J. Brown addition should certainly help Maye and his deep-throw tendencies, it's hard to envision that ceiling being unlocked against the Seahawks on Wednesday in the first game of the season. The Seahawks defense allowed just over 202 passing yards per game last season and has one of the most daunting defensive units in football. Still, you drafted Maye as a QB1, and you're starting him as such in Week 1, especially after a near-300-yard performance in the Super Bowl in February.

Malik Nabers Drops To No. 49 Overall Player For Week 1

• Rank: 49 (WR22)
• Opponent: DAL

This has virtually nothing to do with the matchup against a leaky Cowboys secondary and everything to do with the ambiguity surrounding Nabers' health and availability for Week 1.

If he suits up, it's likely he's on some level of pitch count, as it's his first action since last fall after rehabbing a complex season-ending knee injury. There's also the potential that he fails to suit up entirely, as he was rather non-committal on his Week 1 status.

He's currently projected for 4.6 catches on 7.1 targets for 55.1 yards and 10.6 half-PPR points for Week 1, which might be the lowest projection we see for him for the entire season. Be sure to monitor his status and any updates on usage/playing time leading up to the weekend, as he's a risky play until we have more clarity.