X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Weekly Rankings
Compare Any Players
Stats & Leaders
Starts and Sit
Daily Fantasy
Who To Pickup
24x7 News and Alerts

Thursday NFL Matchup Analysis: Chiefs @ Patriots

Football season is finally back, bringing a whole new breath of excitement into Sundays, Mondays, and of course Thursdays! On the fantasy football side of things, it can also mean stressing about whether to put certain players in your lineup for the Thursday Night Football matchup over later games on the weekend.

My goal with this series is to help provide some clarity on the Thursday night NFL games during the regular season and use that information to inform owners of fantasy gold-mines and pitfalls when it comes to lineup decisions. There will be three categories that a player could be placed into: must start, must avoid, and sleeper. If a player is not listed, that just means I don't have a strong enough opinion of them to put into one of the clear-cut categories.

This week, I will be taking a look at the season opener when the Kansas City Chiefs head to Foxborough, Massachusetts to take on the defending Super Bowl champion-New England Patriots.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2024:

 

Kansas City Chiefs vs. New England Patriots

Date and Start Time: Thursday, September 7 at 8:30 p.m. EST

Notable Injuries and Status:

Offensive and Defensive Rankings (2016):

Chiefs Patriots
Passing Yards 19th 4th
Rushing Yards 15th 7th
Pass Defense 18th 12th
Run Defense 26th 3rd

 


Must Starts

Travis Kelce (TE, KC)

Despite being limited in practice by a calf injury on Tuesday, all signs point to Kelce starting on Thursday night. With the passing offense flowing through him and Tyreek Hill, it’s all but guaranteed that Kelce will get a consistent workload and be targeted as a reliable chain-mover.

Tom Brady (QB, NE)

Even if I told you that Brady was in store for the toughest matchup of all time, there would be no way you would be sitting him for Week 1. Last year’s Super Bowl MVP is 4-2 all-time against the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular season, tilting to an even more favorable 3-0 in matchups at Foxborough. Although Eric Berry and Marcus Peters will find a way to disrupt passing plays, Brady will have plenty of matchups to exploit with the plethora of different skill position players at his disposal and should produce a stat-line in the ballpark of 300 yards and two touchdowns.

Rob Gronkowski (TE, NE)

Gronkowski is easily the best tight end in professional football when healthy and will get plenty of looks Week 1. As a mismatch nightmare at any spot on the field, ‘Gronk’ will easily be able to out-run the likes of Derrick Johnson and Ramik Wilson who aren’t particularly adept in coverage despite being prudent tacklers. Start him with confidence.

 

Must Avoids

Chris Conley (WR, KC)

New England’s cornerback tandem in Malcolm Butler and Stephon Gilmore is one of the best in the NFL, meaning it becomes even harder to trust Conley as the third man up in the receiving pecking order. He and Albert Wilson will likely split the No. 3 wide receiver targets, but expect very little from either as far as generating fantasy relevant yardage or touchdowns.

Mike Gillislee / Rex Burkhead (RBs, NE)

Assuming you have other starting options at the running back position, Week 1 should pose as the litmus test for how the Patriots’ backfield shapes up rather than a must start scenario for Gillislee or Burkhead. Gillislee experienced a large setback when he suffered a hamstring injury in August and Burkhead just returned back to practice after dealing with an undisclosed injury. With it being unclear how both will carve out a role in the offense, it’s best to stay away from this backfield entirely in a game against a tough Kansas City run defense that has returned to full health after an injury-riddled 2016.

Other Notable Must Avoids: Charcandrick West (RB, KC), Malcolm Mitchell (WR, NE)

 

Sleeper Picks

Kareem Hunt (RB, KC)

I have a tough time giving a must start designation to an unproven rookie going up against a New England defense that ranked third in the NFL against the run in 2016 and hasn’t experienced any huge losses to their front-seven. At the same time, now that an injury to Spencer Ware has given Hunt the keys to the starting job and virtually locked him in as the team’s feature back. Despite the occasional spell from Tyreek Hill or Charcandrick West, Hunt is a solid, dual-threat RB2 that is virtually guaranteed a monopoly on the running back carries.

Chris Hogan (WR, NE)

With Brandin Cooks likely drawing attention from the Chiefs’ top corner in Marcus Peters, Hogan is to be shadowed by the team’s No. 2 cornerback Phillip Gaines. Gaines ranks as the 108th best corner by Pro Football Focus heading into 2017 and should be no match for Hogan’s size-speed combination. The only question mark will be his usage given how Brady likes to spread the ball around, but it seems pretty clear that he will get some form of action given how blatant this particular positional matchup favors Hogan.

Other Notable Sleeper Picks: James White (RB, NE)

 

More Week 1 Lineup Prep




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Weekly Rankings
Compare Any Players
Stats & Leaders
Starts and Sit
Daily Fantasy
Who To Pickup
24x7 News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Jerry Jeudy2 hours ago

Leads Browns In Receiving In Week 12 Win
Nick Chubb3 hours ago

Scores Two TDs In TNF Win Over Pittsburgh
NFL7 hours ago

Kevin Stefanski, Andrew Berry Likely Returning To Browns In 2025
Deshaun Watson7 hours ago

Likely To Remain With Browns, Could Face Competition
Cedric Tillman7 hours ago

Enters Concussion Protocol
Cedric Tillman9 hours ago

Suffers Head Injury On Thursday Night
Wendell Carter Jr.10 hours ago

Out Against Lakers
Anthony Davis11 hours ago

Available Versus Magic On Thursday
Rui Hachimura11 hours ago

Unavailable Thursday
Carlos Ulberg11 hours ago

Looking To Cement Himself As A Title Contender At UFC Macau
Volkan Oezdemir11 hours ago

Eyes Another Knockout At UFC Macau
Gabriella Fernandes11 hours ago

A Big Underdog At UFC Macau
MMA11 hours ago

Cong Wang Puts Undefeated Record On The Line At UFC Macau
Deiveson Figueiredo11 hours ago

Looks To Extend Win Streak At UFC Macau
Petr Yan11 hours ago

A Favorite At UFC Macau
Yves Missi12 hours ago

Listed As Questionable For Friday
CJ McCollum12 hours ago

Not Likely To Play Friday
Alexander Mattison12 hours ago

Zamir White Miss Practice Again
Brandon Ingram12 hours ago

Questionable For Friday
Shohei Ohtani12 hours ago

Named National League MVP In 2024
Aaron Judge13 hours ago

Wins American League MVP Award
Ja'Kobe Walter13 hours ago

Ready To Go Thursday
Donte DiVincenzo13 hours ago

Available Thursday
Mike Conley13 hours ago

Will Not Play Thursday
Jordan Clarkson13 hours ago

Sits Out Thursday's Game
Ausar Thompson13 hours ago

Won't Play On Thursday
Zach Collins13 hours ago

Cleared To Play Thursday
Domantas Sabonis13 hours ago

Gets Through Full Practice
Chris Paul13 hours ago

Good To Go Thursday
Brock Purdy13 hours ago

Limited Again On Thursday
Malik Monk13 hours ago

Making Progress
George Kittle13 hours ago

Limited Again On Thursday
Tre Mann14 hours ago

Good To Go On Thursday
Miles Bridges14 hours ago

Won't Play On Thursday
Vince Williams Jr.14 hours ago

Out At Least A Month
Scottie Barnes14 hours ago

Returning On Thursday
Alex Ovechkin14 hours ago

To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Fractured Fibula
Paul George14 hours ago

Out At Least Two Games
Aaron Gordon14 hours ago

Availability In Question For Friday
Zach Hyman14 hours ago

Expected To Miss 4-7 Days
Kent Johnson14 hours ago

Back For Blue Jackets Thursday
Yaroslav Askarov14 hours ago

Makes Sharks Debut Thursday
Jalen Hurts14 hours ago

Practices In Full On Thursday
Mikael Granlund15 hours ago

Good To Go Thursday
Alexandar Georgiev15 hours ago

Returns To Action Versus Capitals
TB15 hours ago

Nicholas Paul Will Miss Thursday's Game
Frederik Andersen15 hours ago

To Miss 8-12 Weeks
Jake Ferguson15 hours ago

Still Not Practicing
Sam LaPorta15 hours ago

Looking Good For A Week 12 Return
Sam Darnold15 hours ago

Upgrades To Full Participation, On Track To Play
Isiah Pacheco15 hours ago

Remains Limited On Thursday
D'Andre Swift15 hours ago

Upgrades To Limited Participant On Thursday
CeeDee Lamb16 hours ago

Sidelined During Thursday's Practice
Ladd McConkey16 hours ago

Does Not Practice On Thursday
Mike Evans16 hours ago

Logs Full Practice On Thursday
DeVonta Smith17 hours ago

Misses Another Practice
Cody Bellinger18 hours ago

Cubs Looking To Trade Cody Bellinger?
Brandin Cooks18 hours ago

Preparing To Play In Week 12
CeeDee Lamb18 hours ago

Not Seen At Thursday's Practice
18 hours ago

Blake Snell Has Met With Red Sox, Dodgers
Chandler Stephenson21 hours ago

Registers Three Assists Versus Predators
Jason Robertson21 hours ago

Totals Three Points In Wednesday's Win
Nils Lundkvist21 hours ago

Exits Early With A Lower-Body Injury
Matthew Knies22 hours ago

Sustains An Upper-Body Injury
Mikael Granlund22 hours ago

Exits Late With Injury Wednesday
Patrik Laine22 hours ago

Returns To Practice
Chris Sale1 day ago

Wins National League Cy Young Award
Tarik Skubal1 day ago

Wins 2024 American League Cy Young Award
Austin Eckroat1 day ago

Heads To The RSM Classic After Win
Harris English1 day ago

Finding Form Heading To The RSM Classic
Ben Griffin1 day ago

Continues Playing Well Heading To The RSM Classic
Denny McCarthy1 day ago

Returns to The RSM Classic
Seth Jones2 days ago

Expected To Miss Four Weeks
Max Domi2 days ago

Placed On Injured Reserve
Connor Ingram2 days ago

Out Day-To-Day With An Upper-Body Injury
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen2 days ago

Returns To Action Versus Kings
Alex Tuch2 days ago

Available Wednesday
Tage Thompson2 days ago

Remains Out On Wednesday
Jordan Eberle2 days ago

To Remain Out On Wednesday
Ludvig Aberg2 days ago

Looks To Defend RSM Classic Title
Si Woo Kim2 days ago

An Intriguing Option At RSM Classic
Maverick McNealy2 days ago

In Solid Form Ahead Of RSM Classic
Eric Cole2 days ago

Chasing First Tour Victory At RSM Classic
2 days ago

Guardians' Stephen Vogt Named AL Manager Of The Year
Milwaukee Brewers2 days ago

Pat Murphy Named NL Manager Of The Year
3 days ago

Nick Pivetta Declines Boston's Qualifying Offer
Jose Siri3 days ago

Mets Acquire Jose Siri From The Rays
3 days ago

Phillies To Meet With Juan Soto
3 days ago

Luis Severino Rejects Qualifying Offer From Mets
3 days ago

Willy Adames Declines Brewers Qualifying Offer
3 days ago

Teoscar Hernandez Declines Qualifying Offer From Dodgers
3 days ago

Juan Soto Declines Yankees' Qualifying Offer
Luis Gil3 days ago

Wins AL Rookie Of The Year Award
Paul Skenes3 days ago

Named 2024 NL Rookie Of The Year
Brady Singer4 days ago

Reds, Royals Discussing Jonathan India, Brady Singer
4 days ago

Sean Manaea To Reject Mets' Qualifying Offer
4 days ago

Braves Have Interest In Walker Buehler
4 days ago

Astros Interested In Willy Adames
Charles Oliveira4 days ago

Gets Back In The Win Column
Michael Chandler4 days ago

Gets Dominated At UFC 309
Karine Silva4 days ago

Suffers Her First UFC Loss
Viviane Araujo4 days ago

Gets Back In The Win Column
Mauricio Ruffy4 days ago

Extends His Win Streak To Six
James Llontop5 days ago

Loses Clear-Cut Decision In Thrilling Fight At UFC 309
Paul Craig5 days ago

Loses Decision At UFC 309
Bo Nickal5 days ago

Remains Undefeated With Lackluster Performance At UFC 309
Stipe Miocic5 days ago

Retires After UFC 309 Loss
Jon Jones5 days ago

Gets TKO Win At UFC 309 To Defend Heavyweight Title

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP