College Fantasy Football DFS Rankings: Week 1

by Brad Leibfried

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Brad's CFB DFS rankings for Week 1 on 9/4/21. His daily fantasy college football rankings for QBs, RBs and WRs and the DFS slates on DraftKings and FanDuel.

Another season of college football is upon us, and we're back at it with weekly college football DFS and college football betting articles. Below are the Week One rankings for the main CFB DFS slate on DraftKings. There are a few things that should be noted in college football DFS that set it apart from other DFS sports. First, there are no real reliable injury reports, so a player who looks like a stud could be ruled out five minutes before the game with no warning. That could easily vault an unknown $3k minimum priced player into the top value slot in a quick hurry.

The other thing to keep in mind is that early in the year there could be wild swings in the depth charts for these teams. A player who came into the year with a lot of hype could all of a sudden be fourth on the depth chart. Because of that, my personal rankings tend to favor quarterbacks and running backs as they are far more known quantities. Furthermore, in the first few weeks of the year there is the likelihood of some blowouts, which tends to hinder wide receiver production more than the other positions.

The final thing to note, the rankings below are per-dollar. A player like Austin Kendall stands out not because he is going to outscore all of the players in front of him, but because at his price he provides value not found with the other players. So without further ado, let's get to it!

Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:

CFB DFS Quarterback Rankings

QB	GPP Rankings Per $	QB	Cash Rankings Per $
1	Desmond Ridder	1	Spencer Rattler
2	Jake Haener	2	Desmond Ridder
3	Spencer Rattler	3	Bryce Young
4	Taulia Tagovailoa	4	Jake Haener
5	Michael Pratt	5	Michael Pratt
6	Bryce Young	6	Anthony Brown
7	Hudson Card	7	Austin Kendall
8	Austin Kendall	8	Levi Lewis
9	Anthony Brown	9	Hudson Card
10	Levi Lewis	10	Brock Purdy
11	Miss St QB	11	Xavier Arline
12	D'Eriq King	12	Jarrett Doege
13	Xavier Arline	13	Taulia Tagovailoa
14	Brock Purdy	14	Miss St QB
15	Jarrett Doege	15	D'Eriq King

There are a few things to keep an eye on here. We know new coach Steve Sarkisian has no issue running a great offense, and now we know he will turn to Hudson Card to lead that offense. There are a lot of unknowns with Card, but considering his pedigree and offensive system, there is a lot of upside with Card.

Austin Kendall is another big name to watch here as the former Oklahoma Sooner may get a shot to start at a very low price. If he does get the start expect him to be very popular. Mississippi State should put up a ton of points, but their depth chart lists Will Rogers OR Chance Lovertich as the starter. It is very risky, but Rogers seems like the likely choice here, if either is named starter they are likely to carry very low ownership for their upside in this match-up. Lastly, make sure Xavier Arline is listed as starter for Navy, but their run heavy offense gives him a decent floor that not many other quarterbacks have.

CFB DFS Running Back Rankings

RB	GPP Rankings Per $	RB	Cash Rankings Per $
1	Bijan Robinson	1	Breece Hall
2	Leddie Brown	2	Bijan Robinson
3	Brian Robinson Jr	3	Austin Jones
4	Breece Hall	4	Brian Robinson Jr.
5	Hassan Haskins	5	Chez Mellusi
6	Deuce Vaughn	6	CJ Verdell
7	Jerome Ford	7	Jerome Ford
8	Eric Gray	8	Hassan Haskins
9	Chez Mellusi	9	Tyler Goodson
10	Ronnie Rivers	10	Ronnie Rivers
11	Jo'Quavious Marks	11	Marcus Williams Jr
12	CJ Verdell	12	Eric Gray
13	Chris Smith	13	Deuce Vaughn
14	Austin Jones	14	Leddie Brown
15	Marcus Williams Jr	15	Jo'Quavious Marks

As mentioned above, it is likely a good idea to spend up on running back, especially early in the DFS season. Players such as Breece Hall and Bijan Robinson appear locked into their roles and should be playing on teams that have the lead.

Transfers such as Keyon Henry-Brooks (Vanderbilt) and Eric Gray (Tennessee) appear to be the starters on their new teams, but it is also a bit of a risk taking a transfer in their first game with a new team.

CFB DFS Wide Receiver Rankings

WR	GPP Rankings Per $	WR	Cash Rankings Per $
1	Jordan Whittington	1	Mike Harley
2	Marvin Mims	2	Jalen Cropper
3	Dontay Demus Jr.	3	Jordan Whittington
4	Josh Kelly	4	Jahan Dotson
5	John Metchie III	5	John Metchie III
6	Mike Harley	6	Jack Sorenson
7	Smoke Harris	7	Ronnie Bell
8	Jadon Haselwood	8	Jaden Walley
9	Xavier Hutchinson	9	Charlie Kolar
10	Jahan Dotson	10	Dontay Demus Jr.
11	Jack Sorenson	11	Marvin Mims
12	Joshua Moore	12	Josh Kelly
13	Skyy Moore	13	Skyy Moore
14	Jameson Williams	14	Johnny Johnson III
15	Jalen Cropper	15	Joshua Moore

Once again, see the note in the intro, but wide receiver is always a bit of a crap shoot in CFB DFS. That especially rings true week 1 on a slate where there are no sure-fire locks. As mentioned before, Texas should have an explosive offense and all indications are that Jordan Whittington and Joshua Moore should fill the role that produced so many stud Alabama wideouts over the past few years. If you want a cheaper option, Xavier Worthy has been named as a starter at WR for Texas as well.

One thing to keep in mind with some of these lower priced options are that they may be in games where their team is trailing for most of the game, that could give them more of an opportunity to hit one big play and pay off value easily. On the other side of that, if a team like Oklahoma wins in a blowout, there may not be enough value to go around for multiple receivers.

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