Fantasy Football Streamers Week 1: Options Include Matthew Stafford, Romeo Doubs, and Zach Ertz

The fantasy football season is set to kick off later this week, which can’t come soon enough for NFL fans. Yet, fantasy managers who invested in players like Nick Chubb, Jonathon Brooks, and T.J. Hockenson may have to hit the waiver wire to stream those respective positions to start the season.

Here is a closer look at some of my fantasy football streaming options for Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season.

Fantasy Football Week 1 Streaming Options

Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams

The Los Angeles Rams passing game features two WRs regularly being drafted within the first four rounds of fantasy drafts, but it doesn’t see the quarterback selected within the first 15 at the position. This is because Matthew Stafford is an older pocket passer.

Stafford will start the season against his former team (Detroit Lions) against whom he dropped 367 passing yards and two scores in the Rams’ 24-23 loss in last year’s postseason matchup.

Quite frankly, not much has changed with this roster outside of Tyler Higbee starting the year on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp are still one of the best receiver tandems in the league and should see plenty of success against this secondary that gave up an average of 32.4 fantasy points per game to opposing receivers — the fourth-highest mark in the league in 2023.

The Lions’ additions of Terrion Arnold and Carlton Davis III could help this secondary a bit, yet I see the Lions’ offense turning this one into a high-scoring affair at Ford Field, which makes Stafford a quality streaming option for Week 1.

Zach Charbonnet, RB, Seattle Seahawks

The split we saw last year from Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet feels like a narrative that changed drastically via coach speak this offseason compared to the usage and efficiency we saw from these two backs last year.

Walker had the more encouraging fantasy moments, a higher volume of touches, and dominated the goal-line work — this logically makes him the leading candidate to pace this backfield again in 2024. Yet, when you take a closer look at the numbers, these two players don’t have a very big gap between their levels of play on a per-touch basis.

Charbonnet was slightly better than Walker per touch last year, with 4.8 yards to Walker’s 4.7. Charbonnet also had a slightly higher yards-after-contact-per-attempt mark (1.9) than Walker (1.5) last year.

Another factor that I don’t want to ignore is Charbonnet’s expanded role around the season’s midpoint. From Week 8 through the rest of the season, he saw north of 40% of the offensive snaps in every game. He failed to hit that 40% threshold in four of his first five games of the year, which hints that he could potentially get more work in his sophomore campaign.

Fortunately for both players, they are set to face off against a Denver Broncos defense that surrendered an average of 24.7 fantasy points per game to opposing running backs last season — the second-highest mark in the league.

Both players will be involved against the Broncos, which makes Charbonnet a reasonable option this week if you need a streaming option at running back in Week 1.

Romeo Doubs, WR, Green Bay Packers

The time has come to choose your fighter regarding the unsettled Green Bay Packers WR room.

I understand the path to fantasy greatness for the other options in this offense. Christian Watson is an elite deep threat when healthy, Jayden Reed is a dynamic weapon in the manufactured touch game with encouraging signs from the slot, and Dontavyion Wicks gave us flashes of excellent route-running versatility when his role expanded over the back half of his rookie year.

Yet, it was Romeo Doubs who led this team in snaps and targets in 2023 and is set to face off against a Philadelphia Eagles pass defense that finished dead last against opposing WRs last year by giving an average of 36.6 fantasy points per game. Doubs simply being on the field early and often in this matchup could yield great fantasy returns in Week 1.

Philadelphia’s secondary entering the year a little banged up makes this matchup even more enticing. James Bradberry was just sent to injured reserve, Sydney Brown will start the season on the PUP list while continuing to rehab from a knee injury suffered late last season, and rookie Cooper DeJean missed some time early in training camp while working his way back from a hamstring injury.

If Jordan Love manages to continue the high level of play we saw from him over the back half of the 2023 season, then he and Doubs could torch a secondary that couldn’t stop a nosebleed last year.

Zach Ertz, TE, Washington Commanders

Streaming options at the tight end position aren’t always going to be very sexy options, but if you simply need to survive for a couple of weeks while waiting for T.J. Hockenson to enter your starting lineup, you can afford to take this on a week to week basis for a bit.

I’ll start by asking a simple question: Who is the No. 2 receiver in Washington?

Luke McCaffrey? Dyami Brown? Noah Brown? If you feel strongly about the fantasy outlook of any of these players, then I commend you for having a finger on the pulse of this unsettled receiver room behind Terry McLaurin. However, this is the part where I make the boring recommendation for Zach Ertz in Week 1.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ secondary struggled mightily against opposing tight ends last year — giving up the second-highest amount of fantasy points per game to the position at 12.4.

For those unfamiliar with Todd Bowles’ defensive scheme, he loves to heat up opposing quarterbacks by bringing extra defenders with the third-highest blitz rate (40.1%) in the league last year.

This aggressive style led to teams gobbling up yards after the catch (YAC) against this unit with 2,373 YAC last year — dead last in the NFL.

Ertz should have the snap count advantage over rookie TE Ben Sinnott early in the year, which means he’ll have the best opportunity to produce a solid stat line as a safety blanket for Jayden Daniels against a favorable secondary matchup. Meanwhile, the WR pecking order will get ironed out through the first month of the season with a rookie quarterback under center.