XFL Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Tampa Bay Vipers vs New York Guardians

If you're already craving more fantasy football just days after the Super Bowl, the XFL has you covered. This weekend marks the arrival of XFL fantasy football.

The eight teams all have championship aspirations as Week 1 of the XFL season kicks off this weekend. The Duel has already got you covered with Week 1 start 'em, sit 'em and XFL fantasy football rankings, and now let's get even deeper into fantasy picks for each game.

Here is some start 'em, sit 'em advice specifically for the Week 1 Tampa Bay Vipers vs. New York Guardians matchup.

XFL Fantasy Football

Start Aaron Murray, QB, Tampa Bay Vipers: Aaron Murray never got his chance to start in the NFL, but as a 13,000-yard, 121-TD passer at Georgia, we know he can ball. The Vipers' official depth chart has Quinton Flowers at QB3, suggesting he may be more of a threat to work in more as a running back or slot receiver than to cut into Murray's work as a passer, which is good news after there was some uncertainty about the QB spot through training camp. Murray is the QB4 in our Week 1 rankings, and he's a solid option in a Vipers' offense that FanDuel Sportsbook has as slight 2-point favorites.

Start Mekale McKay, WR, New York Guardians: One of the less interesting fantasy teams on the slate, the Guardians offense doesn't feature much star power, even by XFL standards. Mekale McKay did rack up 22 grabs for 375 yards in the AAF despite never doing much damage at the college level, and he's positioned as the Guardians' top wideout. NY QB Matt McGloin has some of the most NFL experience (seven starts) of any of the league's signal-callers, and that puts McKay in a favorable spot.

Sit De'Veon Smith, RB, Tampa Bay Vipers: The Vipers have listed Smith as the top RB on their depth chart, but the third-round pick isn't likely to be any kind of workhorse, and this could be a true committee backfield with Jacques Patrick offering some receiving upside. If the Vipers were bigger favorites this could still be a backfield to target, but for Week 1 you're better off steering clear of the uncertainty.

Sit Tim Cook, RB, New York Guardians: Another unclear backfield, the Guardians' RBs are even less appealing than Tampa's since they come into this one as underdogs. They didn't select Cook until the fourth round, and Darius Victor has reportedly been splitting reps with Cook at practice this week.

Be sure to also check out our XFL fantasy picks for the Seattle Dragons vs. DC Defenders, Los Angeles Wildcats vs Houston Roughnecks and St. Louis BattleHawks vs. Dallas Renegades.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. 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.