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Fantasy Football: 7 takeaways from 2021 NFL Week 1 DraftKings DFS salaries

DraftKings Week 1 DFS pricing is here. I love it, you love it. Great day to be great. The following seven points are my first reactions to the pricing; let’s boogie.

Editor's Note: PFF's 2021 Fantasy Football Draft Guide and 2021 Fantasy Football Cheat Sheets are LIVE!

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1. The Saints look like the best bet to save some salary

There are a number of reasonable cheaper stacks to make with guys like Baker Mayfield ($5,900), Joe Burrow ($5,700) and maybe even (gulp) Tyrod Taylor ($5,300) in potential high-scoring matchups against the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Still, the winner of the New Orleans Saints quarterback competition between Taysom Hill ($5,200) and Jameis Winston ($5,200) will likely emerge as the chalkiest low-priced signal-caller in a home matchup against the Green Bay Packers. The former finished as the fantasy QB3, QB11, QB7 and QB9 in four starts last season, while the latter racked up five separate top-five performances during his overall QB3 season in 2019.

There’s also plenty of salary-saving potential elsewhere in an offense not expected to have Michael Thomas (ankle) for quite some time. Alvin Kamara ($8,600) is only the fourth-highest priced back despite racking up an astronomical 30.9 PPR points per game in eight games without Thomas in 2020. Concerns over Kamara’s season-long outlook without Drew Brees were more valid before the loss of the offense’s No. 1 wide receiver; either way, it’s a rather moot point in the main slate’s third-highest-priced matchup against the league’s reigning fifth-worst defense in PPR points per game allowed to running backs.

The likes of WR Tre’Quan Smith ($4,900), Marquez Callaway ($3,400) and Deonte Harris ($3,200) are also set up to emerge as values as the depth chart clears up. Throw in the reality that Adam Trautman ($2,900) is egregiously priced as the 29th-highest player at the position, and it’s easy to see exposure all over the place in this spot.

2. Picking the right mid-$5,000 running back could be tricky

There are three main running backs who pop off the page in the middle of their pricing scale:

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