Week 1 Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Vikings vs Bengals

Week 1 brings fans a matchup between two high-powered offenses, as the Minnesota Vikings hit the road to take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Minnesota enters this one as a 3-point road favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

If you need some help with your fantasy lineups, here's some start 'em, sit 'em advice for this Week 1 clash.

Kirk Cousins Fantasy

Start Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota Vikings: Kirk Cousins has understandably taken a lot of heat this offseason, but he should have little trouble getting off to a quick start. Last year, Cincinnati had the sixth-worst pass defense by DVOA, surrendering the fourth-highest TD rate to opposing passers (5.9%). Cousins shouldn't have much trouble carving this secondary up as long as this game stays close, which the 3-point spread suggests it will.

Tyler Boyd Fantasy

Start Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati Bengals: Over the first 10 weeks of the 2020 season (before Joe Burrow went down), Tyler Boyd was fantasy's WR13 in PPR formats. This offseason, he held an average draft position (ADP) of WR36 – suggesting there's some serious value here. Minnesota's secondary surrendered the eighth-most passing yards and the sixth-most fantasy points to opposing WRs last year. As long as Burrow's knee injury doesn't slow him down too much, Boyd looks like a sneaky great start in Week 1.

Adam Thielen Fantasy

Sit Adam Thielen, WR, Minnesota Vikings: If you have any Vikings, you're starting them. The Bengals are not exactly an imposing opponent. But if we had to pick one Viking to fade, we're rolling with Adam Thielen. The 31-year-old was only a solid fantasy producer last year because of his career-high 14 touchdowns. But when he didn't score, he brought virtually nothing to the table. There were five games last year in which Thielen didn't find the end zone. In those five, he averaged 38.4 receiving yards per game, finishing with fewer than 60 in all five. If Thielen doesn't score, he might not do much else to make up for it, making him a risky start even in a plus-matchup.

Joe Burrow Fantasy

Sit Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals: There is virtually no statistic from last year that suggests the Vikings are a pass defense to fear. Minnesota finished bottom 10 in: touchdowns allowed (30), yards allowed (4,141) and passer rating (97.0). But narratively, it's just really hard to trust Burrow until we've seen him return. That knee injury was no joke. It's a great matchup, but it's probably safest to take a wait-and-see approach with Burrow if you've got a good enough backup.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.