It’s finally here! The 2024 NFL season kicks off Thursday night as the back-to-back champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the Baltimore Ravens. We then get MOAR football Friday night, all day Sunday and again on Monday night. That’s a lot of football to consume, but we shall consume!
As usual, to start the season, we will see multiple quarterbacks in new places and some highly touted rookies hoping to start their careers with a bang. For a little housekeeping, let’s take a look at who are new starters for their team in 2024.
New starting quarterbacks for 2024
Atlanta Falcons – Kirk Cousins
Chicago Bears – Caleb Williams (rookie)
Washington Commanders – Jayden Daniels
Pittsburgh Steelers – Russell Wilson (Justin Fields could still see work)
Las Vegas Raiders – Gardner Minshew
New England Patriots – Jacoby Brissett (Derek Maye on the way)
Minnesota Vikings – Sam Darnold (J.J. McCarthy season-ending injury)
Denver Broncos – Bo Nix (rookie)
Aaron Rodgers, DeShaun Watson, Anthony Richardson, and Daniel Jones all return from season ending injuries to once again start for their teams this year. It will be interesting to see how all of these signal callers do for their new teams or if the injured guys can return to form, or in the case of Daniel Jones, a better form.
Week 1 is always one of the toughest fantasy weeks of the season, as there are just too many moving parts between the seasons. New coaches, players, schemes, you name it, teams are going to do something we didn’t expect. So, for Week 1, it’s a good idea to lean toward established offenses and established workloads when you can.
Week 1 quarterback injuries
As one would hope, Week 1 quarterbacks are mostly in good shape and all are practicing at this point in the week.
DeShaun Watson, Browns
Watson dealt with some general arm soreness and was given rest, but has returned to practice for Week 1. It’s not a great sign for a QB who hasn’t been able to return to his Texans’ form, but he should be ready to go.
Justin Herbert, Chargers
Herbert was dealing with a foot injury but has also returned to practice with plenty of time to get ready for Week 1. His prospects this yer don’t look great, but he should be more efficient with better blocking.
Matthew Stafford, Rams
Stafford suffered from some hamstring tightness, but it looks like the team was just being overly cautious with their veteran QB going into his sixteenth NFL season. He has returned to practice and should be good to go this week.
Sleeper fantasy QB’s for Week 1
Jared Goff, Lions vs. Rams
Goff isn’t going to put up a lot of extra fantasy points with his legs, but he he still finished as QB7 in fantasy last season with the help of a strong offensive line, OC Ben Johnson, WR Amon Ra St. Brown, TE Sam LaPorta, and RB Jahmyr Gibbs. With a fast-paced, throwing offense and the confines of the dome, Goff is almost always a fantasy start. Now, with Jameson Williams coming off a strong training camp and no suspensions or injuries, he could finally start contributing as well.
Oh, and Aaron Donald has retired.
Caleb Williams, Bears vs. Titans
Williams is very much a wait to see kind of fantasy play in Week 1. He’s a rookie, there are two new starting wide receivers, and a new offensive coordinator in Ryan Grubb. But, all those changes, in theory, are an upgrade for the offense. On paper, Williams gets three top-tier wide receivers to throw to in Keenan Allen, D.J. Moore, and Rome Odunze along with tight end Cole Kmet and receiving back D’Andre Swift. Their offensive line is also on the way up, as it came together toward the end of last season and has a lot of upward mobility.
The Titans secondary got better this offseason, especially after acquiring L’Jarius Sneed in free agency. But, they are weak at safety and were pretty bad last year, ranking 29th in PFF grades. They’ll be able to limit one or two of the Bears receivers with their corners, but there is just too much talent there to stop them all. Add in Williams’ ability to run with the ball and I like him as a sleeper in fantasy this week.
