Week 1 Fantasy Football Projections: Wheels Up For Kyler Murray vs. Packers

It feels so good to be back. After a full offseason of grinding team previews and fantasy football projections, it’s time to shift focus to NFL Week 1. Fantasy seasons are not won and lost in the draft. Rather, they’re decided in the week-to-week grind. The owner who takes home the championship each year is usually the one who handles the in-season management better than their opponents.

Fortunately, we have a bunch of tools here at Fantasy Life to help. That includes our weekly projections. Each week, I’m going to dive into a handful of players who stand out to me inside our projections. These can be guys that are intriguing for one way or another; it could be rankings I find surprising, disagree with, or just want to highlight.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at five guys who stand out to me for NFL Week 1.

Standouts From Fantasy Life's Week 1 Fantasy Football Projections

Kyler Murray, QB, MIN

Projection: 18.6
Rank: QB5

I was bullish on Murray this offseason, so I am absolutely tickled pink to see him projected as a top-five QB option for Week 1. He was consistently drafted closer to QB15, so that represents a pretty significant jump.

The logic behind Murray is pretty simple. Before last year, he had historically been an outstanding fantasy producer when healthy. From 2019 through 2024, he had never finished outside the top 12 at the position in terms of fantasy points per game. Four of those years were as QB8 or better, including two in the top five.

Murray’s best production came when he had an alpha receiver to lean on in DeAndre Hopkins, and he’ll have that once again with Justin Jefferson. Add in a solid supporting cast and a strong offensive head coach, and it’s arguably the best situation of Murray’s career.

I love his chances of getting off to a good start in Week 1. Not only were the Packers hit by a Josh Jacobs suspension late in training camp, but they’re also going to have to survive without Micah Parsons. Things weren’t pretty for their defense without Parsons last year, going 0-4 while allowing more than 400 yards per game.

Ultimately, I think Murray will go down as one of the best values at the position this season. Let’s hope he gets off to a good start.

De’Von Achane, RB, MIA

Projection: 13.6
Rank: RB11

While I was pleasantly surprised by Murray’s ranking, I feel the opposite with Achane. Unlike with Murray, there were plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Achane this season. The Dolphins have the potential to be the worst team in football, with seven of their eight highest-paid players not suiting up for them.

However, Achane was still drafted as a top-10 option at the position. His ADP was RB9 across the industry, and this should theoretically be a good spot for him. The Dolphins are “just” 3.5-point underdogs vs. the Raiders. Las Vegas is one of the few teams in the league that won’t have a massive talent edge vs. Miami.

If Achane is only RB11 in this matchup, is there ever going to be a spot where he’ll be a slam-dunk, top-five option? Only time will tell.

The good news is that our rankers aren’t quite as bearish as our projections. They have Achane as the RB8 in our consensus Week 1 fantasy football rankings, with Alex Cupps ranking him as high as RB5. You’re obviously starting Achane if you have him in basically every matchup, but this should be a good litmus test for his rest-of-season outlook.

Chris Godwin & Emeka Egbuka, WR, TB

Projections: 9.8 (Godwin) & 9.3 (Egbuka)
Rank: WR25 & WR30

The game between the Bengals and Buccaneers stands out as one of the best of the week for fantasy purposes. It leads the slate with a 50.5-point total, while the Bengals are just 3.5-point home favorites. Overall, it should be a high-scoring affair with production on both sides.

With that in mind, I find it a bit surprising that the Bucs’ receivers aren’t popping particularly well in our projections. Specifically, Egbuka was drafted as a top-20 receiver in most leagues, and he’s down to just WR30 for this contest. Part of that could stem from a toe injury that has hampered him recently, but the recent report from the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud suggests that he’s good to go. Egbuka has been at practice, so he should be in the lineup.

I do think it’s interesting that our projections slightly prefer Godwin in this duo, while our rankers give the edge to Egbuka. Our rankers have Egbuka at WR24 and Godwin at WR30, so it’s basically the opposite of our projections.

It highlights the fact that Godwin could be getting significantly overlooked at the moment. He’s still just 30 years old, and don’t forget the start he got off to two years ago. He had 50 catches, 576 yards, and five touchdowns in just seven games before going down with an injury. If Godwin can come anywhere close to that level, he’s going to end up being a massive draft-day steal.

Juwan Johnson, TE, NO

Projection: 7.7
Rank: TE7

Johnson was a boring name to click in drafts this summer, but he checks in as TE7 in our Week 1 projections. It puts him ahead of guys like Harold Fannin, Kyle Pitts and George Kittle, who were routinely drafted well ahead of him.

Johnson clearly benefited from the injury to Jordyn Tyson, leaving him and Chris Olave as the Saints’ clear top two pass catchers. The Saints’ pass catchers look to be in a solid spot in Week 1, with the team listed as seven-point underdogs in a game with one of the higher totals of the week.

That said, I don’t think this is a one-week outlier for Johnson. If Tyler Shough can resemble the player who emerged for the Saints down the stretch, he could be a weekly top-10 option at the position. It’s possible he’s still out on the waiver wire in some shallow leagues, and I’d rectify that before Sunday.