Fantasy Football week 1: Seahawks players to watch

Year by year you can count on the Seahawks to have some consistent fantasy contributors on the offensive side of the ball.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and no I am not talking about the holidays, I am talking about fantasy football. Many of us were unsure if we were even going to have Seahawks and  NFL football this season but so far everything’s a go—at least for now…

Seattle will open their season on the road for the seventh time under head coach Pete Carroll, having previously lost five of their last six. This time they travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons, who they last played in week eight last season and beat 27-20.

Football fans go all out for fantasy football and now it’s finally here. The Seahawks may have some better fantasy pieces this year compared to last year, especially on defense with new addition Jamal Adams.

So far, the official injury report for week one hasn’t been released but we can start to get an idea for who will and who won’t be available for the season opener. Let’s discuss Seattle’s biggest playmakers to start in fantasy.

Offense

Russell Wilson

This one is obvious. While Wilson may not gain the most fantasy points amongst quarterbacks every week, he’s easily one of the most consistent. The Seahawks aren’t a pass-heavy team anyways but when the ball is in Russell Wilson’s hands you can expect exciting things to happen. According to FantasyData, Wilson averages 312.2 fantasy points a year and 19.2 fantasy points per game. In 2019, he threw 31 touchdown passes (3rd in the league). He’s consistently been in the top five in this category since 2017.

Tyler Lockett

In 2018, Wilson earned a perfect passer rating (158.3) when targeting Lockett, the highest in NFL history among receivers targeted a minimum of 15 times. For the first three seasons in his NFL career, Lockett could primarily be seen as a returner rather than a true offensive weapon. Then before the 2018 season, Seattle signed him to a three-year, $31.8 million contract extension, to many’s surprise. But that first game of the 2018 season, he proved every doubter wrong and ended up with 10 touchdowns and an 81.4% catch percentage. In 2020, he followed it up with an eight touchdown and 74.5% catch percentage on the season.

Lockett is a great addition to have on your fantasy team even if he isn’t your go-to starter. He could best easily be placed in the flex spot because of his versatility.

Chris Carson

Carson ended the final game of 2019 with a season-ending injury. It’s difficult to know how well he will bounce back from a fractured hip but I would absolutely take a chance on starting him in week one. The first two weeks of fantasy are great testing grounds.

In an article from Seahawks.com, Scott Engel, Seahawks fantasy contributor, highlighted that Carson has ranked in the top 13 of fantasy running backs in the past two seasons. Carson also had a 57% success rate in 2019, which was third behind Mark Ingram and Latavious Murray.

The NFL is a very deep running back league but Carson is a great asset to have on your fantasy team. I would expect to see him fulfill most RB2 roles and flex spots.

D.K. Metcalf

D.K. Metcalf is positively a player to watch in week one. He had a better rookie year than expected even if he had only a 58% catch percentage. But he also finished with 900 receiving yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 15.5 yards per reception.

Metcalf single-handedly defied the expectations that he couldn’t run advanced routes. From before his rookie year even officially started, he had begun to build-up chemistry with quarterback Russell Wilson. I expect that chemistry to continue and improve in 2020.

The rise of D.K. Metcalf will continue through this season and I expect him to climb the fantasy charts. NFL.com’s fantasy experts have him ranked as the 19th overall wide receiver this year.