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Who Should I Start for Week 1? Fantasy Football outlooks for Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray, Malik Willis, Tyler Shough, Jalen Hurts, Aaron Rodgers, Bryce Young.
Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some of the most common Week 1 fantasy football lineup decisions involve players like Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray, Malik Willis, Tyler Shough, Jalen Hurts, Aaron Rodgers, and Bryce Young. 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.
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to start...
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:
Malik Willis, Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis is ready to make his first start for his new team as the Dolphins kick off their first season under head coach Jeff Hafley with a road game in Las Vegas. Willis signed a three-year, $67.5 million contract this offseason and will replace Tua Tagovailoa as the team's starter this season.
Willis played with the Packers, where Hafley was Defensive Coordinator, for the last two seasons, and the offense is expected to rely heavily on his rushing ability in a ground-focused attack. Willis does have upside since he brings so much rushing potential, and he brings a very high ceiling in a favorable matchup against the Raiders' defense. In Week 1, Willis is the No. 19 QB in RotoBaller's rankings, making him a solid second QB in dual-quarterback leagues but a reach to start in most single-QB formats.
Kyler Murray, Minnesota Vikings
Playing in his Minnesota Vikings debut, quarterback Kyler Murray should be considered a high-end Superflex option in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers. Always a rushing threat, the veteran QB is perhaps the biggest fantasy wild card of the season.
Murray has been a top-10 fantasy quarterback four times before, but he missed 21 games across the past three seasons, and his ADP plummeted after he posted career lows in just five games with the Arizona Cardinals in 2025. Yet, at age 29, the former Oklahoma star figures to be in his prime and in the most favorable situation of his career at the same time.
Murray is playing alongside a strong supporting cast, including All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson and quarterback-friendly head coach Kevin O'Connell, and the Vikings are making a one-year bet that the former No. 1 overall pick can revitalize his career in the same ecosystem that revived Sam Darnold.
For now, Murray is a high-ceiling option in Superflex leagues, but his value could improve considerably if he jumpstarts the Minnesota offense. He's RotoBaller's No. 15 quarterback in Week 1.
Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Across 17 games in 2025, Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff completed 68.0% of his pass attempts for 4,564 yards, 34 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. Goff has consistently led potent Lions' passing attacks in recent years, recording three consecutive seasons with at least 4,500 passing yards and 30 touchdown passes. Entering 2026, Detroit has once again assembled a formidable group of offensive weapons around Goff.
In Week 1, the Lions will host the New Orleans Saints. New Orleans fielded a fairly formidable passing defense in 2025, allowing the fifth-fewest total passing yards (3,336) and 12th-fewest yards per pass attempt (6.8) in the NFL.
Still, Goff has all his top pass-catchers healthy to start the season and has traditionally provided fantasy managers with a very high production floor when playing at home. In Week 1 against New Orleans, Goff profiles as a low-end fantasy QB1.
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield opens up the season on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals. Fresh off an extension, Mayfield is ready to make some noise to start the season. The 31-year-old finished as the QB12 last season, but finished as a top-10 QB each of the last two seasons before that. The Bucs are without long-time wide receiver Mike Evans, who departed in free agency.
The Bucs believe that Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin Jr. can carry the load in the passing game. Mayfield will get a favorable matchup to start against the Bengals' defense, which ranked in the bottom-10 this past season. The 31-year-old might not be as great a fantasy option as years past, but he carries QB1 value into Week 1.
Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough is one of the more interesting streaming options for Week 1 against Detroit. He settled in after taking over last season, throwing for 2,256 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions across nine starts. The finish was especially encouraging. Over his final five games, Shough threw for 1,316 yards and five touchdowns while adding 135 yards and three scores on the ground.
Detroit gave up 4,027 passing yards and 31 passing touchdowns in 2025, and starting safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph will both miss the opener. That gives Shough a favorable spot with Chris Olave leading the passing game, even with rookie Jordyn Tyson on injured reserve. RotoBaller has Shough at QB16 for Week 1. He is not a locked-in QB1, but managers looking for a streamer can use him with real top-12 upside if this game turns into a shootout.
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 - Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray, Malik Willis, Tyler Shough, Jalen Hurts, Aaron Rodgers, Bryce Young. 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 Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Jared Goff, Kyler Murray, Malik Willis, Tyler Shough, Jalen Hurts, Aaron Rodgers, Bryce Young:
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