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Who Should I Start for Week 1? Fantasy Football outlooks for De'Zhaun Stribling, Carnell Tate, KC Concepcion, Makai Lemon, Jeremiyah Love, Denzel Boston, Mike Washington Jr., Caleb Douglas, Jonah Coleman.
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, Carnell Tate, KC Concepcion, Makai Lemon, Jeremiyah Love, Denzel Boston, Mike Washington Jr., Caleb Douglas, and Jonah Coleman. 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:
KC Concepcion, Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns wide receiver KC Concepcion said he's looking forward to carrying his strong play in training camp over into the regular season, Chris Easterling reports. Concepcion only made one preseason appearance, but he looked good during that contest versus the Chicago Bears. He hauled in three receptions for 27 yards and scored a 14-yard rushing touchdown.
It sounds like Concepcion has earned enough trust from his coaches to be an immediate impact player in Cleveland. He currently has an ADP of 120.2, but has the potential to be a top-35 player at his position.
Jeremiyah Love, Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are expected to "ease" rookie first-round running back Jeremiyah Love (ankle) back into the offense, according to Donnie Druin of Sports Illustrated. Love suffered a high-ankle sprain during the Cardinals' preseason opener, putting his status for Week 1 up in the air. Druin expects that Love will be active, but that the Cardinals will lean on Tyler Allgeier more than the rookie during the regular-season opener on Sept. 13.
This makes sense from both an injury and developmental standpoint. There's no need to rush Love back to a full workload before he's ready, especially since Allgeier has proven that he can be a lead back in the NFL. The Cardinals are taking it week by week with Love, but we wouldn't even be surprised if Allgeier gets a few starts before Love gets back up to full speed.
Love is a high-end RB2 in fantasy leagues this season, but we'd be hesitant to start him for at least the first week or two. Meanwhile, Allgeier is more of a handcuff long-term, but he should get onto the RB2 radar for the first game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Carnell Tate, Tennessee Titans
The fourth overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, Tennessee Titans rookie wide receiver Carnell Tate is expected to play a significant role in his team's passing game right away. The 21-year-old proved his big-play ability in his final collegiate season at Ohio State, recording 51 catches for 875 yards and nine touchdowns across 11 games.
While the Titans have a pair of capable veteran pass-catchers in wide receivers Wan'Dale Robinson and Calvin Ridley, Tate profiles as the team's highest-upside target earner. The Titans offense as a whole should also improve in quarterback Cam Ward's second NFL season and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll's first year in Tennessee. Daboll has also shown he is willing to heavily feature a rookie wide receiver, as New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers saw 170 targets as a rookie under Daboll's watch. All in all, Tate profiles as a fantasy WR3 with significant upside entering his rookie season.
De'Zhaun Stribling, San Francisco 49ers
The Athletic's Matt Barrows thinks the plan is for rookie second-round wide receiver De'Zhaun Stribling to be the team's primary F slot receiver and Mike Evans' understudy at the X spot. The Niners brought in veteran Christian Kirk as a free agent, and he has plenty of experience as a slot receiver, but he will start the 2026 campaign on Injured Reserve with a calf injury, opening up a regular role for Stribling out of the slot to begin his first year in the NFL.
The 23-year-old from Ole Miss has been one of the biggest risers on draft boards at the receiver position this summer due to a strong training camp and preseason, and the fact that wideout Ricky Pearsall (knee) has already been ruled out for the season. Stribling is a big body at WR at 6-foot-2 and 207 pounds, and he combined for 1,693 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns on 107 receptions in his final two seasons at Ole Miss.
He was held out of the preseason finale due to a minor shoulder injury, but he should be ready for Week 1 in Australia next Thursday against the division-rival Los Angeles Rams, where he could quickly start producing alongside Evans. Stribling will be a popular flex option in fantasy football drafts this weekend.
Caleb Douglas, Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins wide receiver Caleb Douglas has generated plenty of buzz after a strong showing throughout training camp and the preseason. Douglas, a third-round rookie out of Texas Tech, sat out the Dolphins' final preseason game, which is a good sign that he'll earn the start in Week 1 against Las Vegas.
Miami arguably has the worst wide receiver room in the league, so there's a real opportunity here for Douglas to cement himself as Malik Willis' favorite target. There's a relatively simple path to him leading the team in catches and receiving yards, especially given his main competition right now is Malik Washington and fellow third-rounder Chris Bell.
The biggest obstacle for Douglas might be the state of the Dolphins' offense. We expect Miami to run a lot, we're worried about Willis' accuracy as a passer over a full season, and touchdowns may be few and far between. Simply being the Dolphins' potential No. 1 receiver gets him onto the fantasy radar, though, and he's a worthwhile late-round pick for managers in deeper leagues. After all, he has WR3/flex upside once he gets a few games under his belt.
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, Carnell Tate, KC Concepcion, Makai Lemon, Jeremiyah Love, Denzel Boston, Mike Washington Jr., Caleb Douglas, Jonah Coleman. 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, Carnell Tate, KC Concepcion, Makai Lemon, Jeremiyah Love, Denzel Boston, Mike Washington Jr., Caleb Douglas, Jonah Coleman:
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