DraftKings Week 1 Bargain Bin Plays

It’s that time of year again folks! Football is back and I will be bringing you DraftKings weekly bargain plays all season long. New to DraftKings? Sign up here. You deposit just $20, and DraftKings gives you another $20.

If you’re new to DraftKings, the scoring is PPR with three-point bonuses for 100+ receiving, 100+ rushing yards, and three points for 300+ passing yards. You have a $50,000 salary to build a complete lineup. Of course, we all want to play the studs, but we can’t. This is where the bargain bin comes into play. You can pay up for some studs while filling in with some of my bargain bin plays. 

Here I will be looking at quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends who will return 3X-4X+ on a weekly basis in Sunday’s Main Slate (1PM and 4PM ET games). Along with this, I will explain to you why I think they’re going to be of value. Now I’m not going to get cute and tell you a reason to play Green Bay tight end Josiah Deguara because he’s cheap at just $2,900 and has Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback. That’s an easy way to get zero points. Here we will be looking at underpriced players who I believe have an immediate path to production at a price that I believe is worth taking advantage of.

Will I make mistakes? Absolutely. I’ll also own up to them. But let’s remember, these are known as bargain plays. Some are going to hit while others are going to miss. DFS is a game full of ups and downs, I’ll be here to help you win some money this year. Let’s get right into it with Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season.

Quarterbacks

Trey Lance ($6,000)

At just $6,000, it’s just too hard to pass up on Trey Lance here as he gets the Chicago Bears in Week 1. The Bears’ defense is one to play any offensive players against here as they have no true standout. They are looking like one of the worst defenses and we should see the Lance that we were excited to see break out. Not only should Lance be able to throw all over this defense, but also show us what he can do as a runner. Enjoy the discount this week, because if Lance finishes as one of the top, if not the top quarterbacks in Week 1, his salary will jump quite a bit. 

Jameis Winston ($5,300)

We have no idea how this Saints offense is going to look, but when you have Jameis Winston at the helm, good things could and should happen for fantasy purposes. Winston signed a 2-year, $28M contract this off-season. I hope we get to see the Winston of old from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who was slinging the ball all over the field.

Last season, Winston was more of a game manager. In Week 1 was able to go 14/20 for 148 yards and five touchdowns along with six rushes for another 37 yards. He did this with only Alvin Kamara as his top player. Now with Michael Thomas coming back, the free agent signing of Jarvis Landry, and the drafting of rookie Chris Olave this offense has a whole new look. Just like lance going against a bad defense, so does Winston as he gets the Atlanta Falcons and their 31st-ranked defense. 

Tua Tagovailoa ($5,700)

It’s put up or shut up this season for Tua Tagovailoa. With the new head coach Mike McDaniel taking over, he has built quite the team around Tagovailoa. From the free agent signings to the trade for Tyreek Hill, there should be no more excuses. He’s got one of potentially the best wide receiver duos in the NFL to work with.

Over the last couple of seasons, we’ve seen Tagovailoa be more of a game manager and not one of the top quarterbacks that we saw from Alabama before his hip injury. Going up against the New England Patriots should be the start we need to see if we can trust Tagovailoa going forward. He has had a great preseason and looks a lot better already than he did last season overall. It’s always hard to go against what Bill Belichick will do. The defense is young, but the front seven looks to be really good. Tagovailoa will have his hands full, but with his new weapons, there’s no reason he shouldn’t put up 20+ DK points this week.

Running Backs

Travis Etienne Jr. ($5,600)

The offseason hype has been real and to get a talent like Travis Etienne Jr. finally on the field should work wonders for Trevor Lawrence and company. The Jaguars could be trailing the Washington Commanders and Etienne should be heavily featured in the passing game. Nothing better than being teamed up with your college quarterback. During the preseason the Jaguars threw Etienne right in the fire using him as a three-down back and also throwing him the ball. Even with James Robinson coming back, I’m not too worried about Etienne losing touches. Start him with confidence. 

Elijah Mitchell ($5,400)

For a running back who saw north of 17 carries outside of two games as a rookie, last season just seems like a must-play or as you may hear “chalk” for lineups. Being valued at RB29 for Week 1 is going to be huge for Elijah Mitchell who should easily finish as a top-10 running back this week even with  Lance under center. Everything you read in the quarterbacks’ part of this piece about Lance carries over for Mitchell as he gets a swiss-cheese defense to run through. Fire up the Mitchell train!

Chase Edmonds ($5,200)

We didn’t get to see much of Chase Edmonds in his new home this preseason, but what we did see was his versatility. We should be high on this Dolphin’s offense in Week 1 as Edmonds should serve asTagovailoa’s safety blanket. Even with Raheem Mostert who is exposed to split carries with Edmonds this season, I wouldn’t detour away from him this week.

Last season in Arizona, Edmonds was targeted 16% of the time compared to James Conner who just saw 2% of the targets. Mike McDaniel is no fool and will utilize Edmonds in a way that will pay dividends, and this will probably be the cheapest Edmonds will be this season.

Wide Receivers

Michael Pittman Jr. ($5,500)

If you play any sort of fantasy football outside of DFS, you will hear people putting Michael Pittman Jr. as a WR1. How and why is DraftKings giving us this gift for a WR3 value? Last season Pittman put up 88 receptions for 1,082 yards and six touchdowns with Carson Wentz at quarterback. Now with Matt Ryan at quarterback, Pittman should be on the up and up.

Pittman’s two games last season against the Texans were a tale of two different stories. I’m hoping to see the trend from Week 13 (six receptions for 77 yards) and not Week 6 (two receptions for 35 yards). This is great value for Pittman after everything we saw out of him last year.

Rashod Bateman ($5,300)

With no more Marquise Brown, this offense is going to look different. Yes, Mark Andrews will get his share but there’s a new WR1 in Baltimore. Sure, the New York Jets have improved as a team all around, but can they take out Bateman? Last season Bateman showed flashes of the 2021 1st Round pick, but the one touchdown keeps him low to start the season. Lamar Jackson is looking to get that next big contract and a beneficiary on the receiving end will be Bateman. 

JuJu Smith-Schuster ($5,100)

So, the Kansas City Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill and now there is no de facto WR1 on the team. It was only a short couple of years ago that JuJu Smith-Schuster was a WR1 on the Pittsburgh Steelers and was putting up great numbers week in and week out. Over the last couple of years, he’s been more of just a name than anything.

With a massive upgrade at the quarterback position from Ben Roethlisberger to Patrick Mahomes, Smith-Schuster should start hot against the Las Vegas Raiders. This game has the highest over/under on the week. You should find ways to get Smith-Schuster along with other Chiefs in your lineups. 

Tight Ends

Cole Kmet ($3,700)

With what I’ve been saying about the San Francisco offense going off, the Bears should be trying to play catch up, right? Darnell Mooney is the WR1 on this team but who is the WR2? That’s right it’s the tight end, Cole Kmet. Last season Kmet put up 60 receptions for 612 yards and ZERO touchdowns. With no more Allen Robinson or Jimmy Graham, Kmet should break out Week 1 in a comeback effort. This is a great price for someone on an offense who could very easily become the number two option. 

Evan Engram ($3,500)

Want to go with a cheaper option? Let’s roll with Evan Engram this week. The once highly touted tight end signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason. The Jaguars are an improving team but have a lot of work to do. This team should be behind in this game so Trevor Lawrence should be looking for a safety valve in this Engram. New head coach Doug Pederson loves his tight ends to be targeted as they were the recipient of more than 30% of the team’s targets. Here’s to a refreshing start for Engram. 

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