MNY League Kick-off: Thursday Night Ones to Watch

With Thursday night’s kick-off in Los Angeles, the NFL and MNY seasons will officially begin with a matchup important to most GMs across the league. Seven of the eight member franchises are starting at least one player participating in the Rams/Bills matchup, which opens the door for early leads in all four opening weekend competitions.

Let’s take a peek at some of the biggest storylines surrounding those suiting up for LA and Buffalo in MNY Week 1:

I got your back

Josh Allen has established himself not only as Buffalo’s top threat, but also as the premier fantasy scoring option amassing what would be 482.05 points by ’22 scoring during the 2021 season. The backfield behind Allen, however, is a bit less of a sure thing. Last year saw a committee of Devin Singletary, Zack Moss and even Matt Breida take meaningful snaps for the eventual AFC East champs.

While offseason halfback signings Duke Johnson and Raheem Blackshear were preseason casualties, the waters don’t appear to be any less muddied. Freshly drafted James Cook, brother of Dalvin, looks to play a part in the Buffalo offense this season with experts suggesting strong involvement in the passing game.

Both Singletary and Cook are currently rostered by the K. Rillerz, which may evolve into a two-headed beast for Kelvin, or potentially fade into more of a handcuff situation depending on Singletary’s performance. Worth keeping an eye on is Moss, who is rostered in just 0.9% of ESPN fantasy leagues despite appearing in 13 games for the high-powered Buffalo offense last year.

Super Bowl slump?

The New England Patriots have successfully retained their label as the last franchise to repeat as Super Bowl champions, but the Rams have emerged as early betting favorites alongside their Thursday night foe in the Bills.

It looks as though MNY GMs are significantly less confident in the Super Bowl LVI champs as only three LAR skill position players were drafted this August – the three players being Cooper Kupp, Cam Akers and Allen Robinson II. Thanks in large part to the league’s reversion to a one-QB system, Matthew Stafford was notably left undrafted last month and remains one of the top available free agent options at any position.

Darrell Henderson Jr., who recorded double-figures in each of the first nine weeks of the 2021 season, also remains available. Stafford projects to be a near-term waiver-wire add for any team in need of quarterback depth, but the verdict is still out on Henderson. MNY GMs will be watching the Rams backfield closely to see just how much trust the Rams offense has in the young Akers to carry the load on the road to repetition.

Getting defensive

The Bills and Rams each boast a defense that projects to be near the top of the D/ST rankings come season’s end. Thursday’s matchup of league favorites presents an interesting dilemma, however, in that both are facing perfectly capable offenses on the other side of the ball.

Despite featuring in the starting lineup of ConcordFire3, the Rams D/ST is projected to outscore just five other units in Week 1 – those being the Bears (vs. 49ers), Cowboys (vs. Buccaneers), Cardinals (vs. Chiefs), Lions (vs. Eagles) and Raiders (vs. Chargers). Meanwhile, Buffalo, the top rostered defensive unit in ESPN leagues at 99.1% ownership, comes in as D/ST #19 for the opening weekend slate.

Certainly the firepower of Josh Allen poses a challenging matchup for the Rams, but a depleted Buffalo secondary also faces a disadvantage covering the lethal Cooper Kupp. Even keeping a Kupp or an Allen in check does not necessarily translate to fantasy success for these D/STs.