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Who Should I Start for Week 1? Fantasy Football outlooks for De'Zhaun Stribling, Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, KC Concepcion, Omar Cooper Jr., Kenyon Sadiq, Emmett Johnson.
Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some of the most common Week 1 fantasy football lineup decisions involve players like De'Zhaun Stribling, Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, KC Concepcion, Omar Cooper Jr., Kenyon Sadiq, Emmett Johnson. However, don't worry, we are here to help you make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 1. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
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2026 Fantasy Football Outlooks
Below are some fantasy football outlooks written by our NFL team here at RotoBaller, bringing you their fantasy football analysis and advice on which players to consider starting in Week 1:
Jeremiyah Love, Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur said on Monday that rookie first-round running back Jeremiyah Love (ankle) is "progressing really well" toward playing in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers after taking another step on Sunday, according to Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. LaFleur said Love was set to take another step forward on Monday. The third overall pick out of Notre Dame suffered a high-ankle sprain in the preseason earlier in August, putting his availability for the 2026 regular-season opener in question.
Although Love is heading in the right direction, fantasy managers may want to prepare for a limited workload in his NFL debut in the regular season against the Bolts if he is not quite 100%. Trey Benson (knee) is out for the year, and veteran James Conner (foot) is starting on Injured Reserve, but Tyler Allgeier figures to be the Cardinals' lead ball-carrier in Week 1, potentially even if Love is active.
Love has clear three-down abilities and a future as a bell-cow back in the NFL, but the Cardinals are expected to ease him into his rookie season. RotoBaller currently has the 21-year-old ranked as the RB18, right behind the Chicago Bears' D'Andre Swift.
Kenyon Sadiq, New York Jets
New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn said on Monday that rookie first-round tight end Kenyon Sadiq (hernia) is on track to be ready for the Week 1 contest against the Tennessee Titans, according to Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic. Sadiq still has lots of long-term fantasy upside in dynasty/keeper leagues, but managers in single-year formats should be tempering expectations for the Oregon product after he missed most of training camp this summer following surgery for a hernia.
The Jets have already acknowledged that they will scale back Sadiq's role on offense early in 2026 to ease him in after he missed so much valuable developmental time in camp. It is good news for Mason Taylor, who caught 44 of his 65 targets for 369 yards and a touchdown in his first 13 games in the league a year ago. Once Sadiq is fully healthy and learns the offense, he will be deployed down the field as a high-upside pass-catching tight end with elite athleticism. For now, though, RotoBaller has Sadiq ranked as the No. 28 fantasy TE entering his rookie campaign.
Jadarian Price, Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks rookie first-round running back Jadarian Price is ready to lead the team's backfield while it waits for Zach Charbonnet (knee) to return from the torn ACL he suffered last postseason, ESPN's Brady Henderson writes. Outside of a week that he missed with a minor injury, Price had a strong summer during training camp, showing the vision, decisiveness, and athleticism that made him the 32nd overall pick back in April.
Price "has looked as good as advertised -- and in some ways better." "He's done a great job. He really has -- all three downs," head coach Mike Macdonald said. "He's a rookie in terms of, there's going to be things that we're going to attack in his game that will show itself in games. We haven't been afforded the luxury of having the bodies right now at running back to give him the reps in a [preseason] game that we would normally give to a rookie runner."
Henderson adds that "the best guess is that the Seahawks are planning, for now, to roll with Price as their lead back while mixing in a heavy dose of George Holani." Holani seems better suited for third-down work because of his pass-blocking skills. Emanuel Wilson (undisclosed) is the power complement, but he has been sidelined the final two weeks of camp with an undisclosed injury. Price's sizable role entering his rookie campaign will make him a low-end RB2 target in fantasy drafts, but just know that Seattle's entire backfield picture could change drastically once Charbonnet returns.
Emmett Johnson, Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs rookie running back Emmett Johnson ran hard in three preseason contests, averaging 4.7 yards per carry while bringing in six of his seven targets, showing enough for the team to comfortably move on from veteran Emari Demercado, who was just signed to a one-year deal in free agency. The Chiefs kept only three running backs on their initial 53-man roster, hinting at a potential three-down role for Kenneth Walker III and one of the league's most valuable insurance roles for Johnson.
Brashard Smith adds versatility and special teams prowess, but Johnson figures to serve as the team's primary change-of-pace back and is capable of handling a bell cow role if needed after seeing more than 300 opportunities in his final year at Nebraska, turning in one of the most productive seasons of any back in the nation. While Walker's projected usage is likely to limit the rookie's standalone value, Johnson has quickly become one of the most important handcuffs in fantasy and is worthy of a late-round selection in deeper leagues.
Who Should I Start Tool
You can also see the Who Should I Start tool here.
Week 1 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - De'Zhaun Stribling, Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, KC Concepcion, Omar Cooper Jr., Kenyon Sadiq, Emmett Johnson. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 1.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, players news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do, is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circle), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 1 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 1 (2026)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 1 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 1 for De'Zhaun Stribling, Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price, Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, KC Concepcion, Omar Cooper Jr., Kenyon Sadiq, Emmett Johnson:
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