The Lions and Chiefs will kick off the 2023 NFL season -- and fantasy football season -- on Thursday night in the Week 1 opener. Just like the official "Thursday Night Football" games during the regular season, you want to make sure you make the right fantasy start 'em, sit 'em lineup decisions to get your week started right.
With a comfortable total set for more than 50 points, Detroit at Kansas City is a favorable atmosphere for most key players involved. The Chiefs' biggest concern is whether tight Travis Kelce (knee) can play after suffering a hyperextension on Tuesday. The Lions will be without suspended second-year wide receiver Jameson Williams, but they're healthy otherwise.
Here's a complete fantasy breakdown of the marquee matchup:
WEEK 1 FANTASY PICKS: Sleepers | Busts | Start 'em, sit 'em
Lions: Who to start, sit in fantasy football on Thursday night
Start: QB Jared Goff
Goff's terrific home and terrible road splits were a major fantasy storyline last season. Arrowhead Stadium can be intimidating, especially with season-opening energy at night, but the Chiefs' limited pass rush won't have Chris Jones (holdout). Ace slot corner L'Jarius Sneed (knee) is playing through an injury. That's great for Goff's chance of remaining clean in the pocket behind his elite offensive line and finding his go-to wide receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown. He's a good bet for a floor of 250 yards and two TDs, even with some rushing success in store.
MORE THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
DK lineup | FD lineup | Best props | Betting preview | Kelce update
Start: RB Jahmyr Gibbs
Gibbs looks like he's headed toward a versatile, receiving-heavy role to help compensate for the loss of Jamaal Williams. Look for the rookie to show some of the advertised pop and explosiveness with around 80 scrimmage yards that might include a half-dozen receptions and a good shot at a score.
WEEK 1 STANDARD RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Start: RB David Montgomery
Montgomery is expected to be the primary power runner with Gibbs getting a good chunk of touches in the passing game. He also benefits from elite run blocking that's improved from what he had in Chicago, and he'll be called upon to be a more interchangeable 1-2 punch that plays to Detroit's strength more so than D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams did last season.
WEEK 1 PPR RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Start: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
He was your early second-round pick in most fantasy drafts and won't disappoint out of the gate with his high volume minus Williams. St. Brown will be trusted a lot more than the complementary committee of Marvin Jones Jr., Josh Reynolds, and Kalif Raymond. ARSB is locked into Goff and no longer has an injury concern working vs. a gimpy Sneed.
WEEK 1 DFS LINEUPS: FanDuel | DraftKings
Sit: Marvin Jones Jr., Josh Reynolds, and Kalif Raymond
The Lions like these guys a lot in reality. Jones came back for a second stint, and they covet what R & R can do as No. 3 and No. 4 options (for now, with no Williams). All three are a reach here because of uncertain usage behind St. Brown and Gibbs.
WEEK 1 DFS: Best values | Best stacks
Sit: TE Sam LaPorta
He's tempting given the state of the receiving corps, but the Chiefs improved to middle-of-the-pack vs. the position last season and LaPorta might need to be eased into a significant role.
Sit: Lions D/ST
Aidan Hutchinson and Jack Campbell are two intriguing young first-rounders. They upgraded their secondary with a lot of investment, too. But let's not test them yet vs. Patrick Mahomes, right?
Sit: K Riley Patterson
The former Jaguar takes over as the field-goal artist in Detroit, but you can do better than this early.
Chiefs: Who to start, sit in fantasy football on Thursday night
Start: QB Patrick Mahomes
Mahomes likes to get off to hot starts and tends to light up bad defenses at home. He'll make it work for big passing numbers no matter who's out there for him.
Start: TE Travis Kelce
UPDATE: Kelce will be OUT for Thursday's game, making Skyy Moore and the Chiefs RBs more valuable tonight.
Kelce (knee) has been trending in the right direction, but he looks iffy to avoid missing his first game in a decade. He'll do his best to play through the injury to be out there for Mahomes on a night of celebration, and if he's in, he should be in for you, too. If he's out, you can do better than a pivot to Noah Gray.
Start: RBs Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon
The Chiefs are bound to lean on their backs' rushing and receiving more through the red zone and in the passing game should Kelce miss the game. They could end up making a lot of plays for Mahomes to keep the chains moving and finish drives.
Start: WR Skyy Moore
Moore is getting a lot of worthy buzz to do on delay what he was hyped to do as a rookie. The Chiefs can scheme him open well to give Mahomes a legit big-play element, with or without Kelce.
Sit: WRs Kadarius Toney, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Rashee Rice, Justin Watson, Richie James and Justyn Ross
This looks like a true WR-by-committee after Moore, and there are just too many options to know where Mahomes might go enough times for viable fantasy production.
Start: K Harrison Butker
The Buttkicker will be busy helping put the game away in the second half.
Sit: Chiefs D/ST
No Jones? No thank you.
Lions vs. Chiefs: DraftKings Showdown lineup
- Captain (1.5X): WR Skyy Moore $7,200
- FLEX: QB Patrick Mahomes $12,200
- FLEX: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown $10,200
- FLEX: RB Isiah Pacheco $6,00
- FLEX: WR Marvin Jones Jr. $6,200
- FLEX: RB David Montgomery $6,600
Here's using Moore to our advantage to make sure we can stack him with Mahomes and also afford good parts of each running game. St. Brown is gravy, and the leftover money could net us Jones.
Lions vs. Chiefs: FanDuel single-game lineup
- MVP (1.5X): QB Patrick Mahomes $18,000
- AnyFLEX: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown $13,500
- AnyFLEX: RB David Montgomery $13,000
- AnyFLEX: WR Skyy Moore $8,000
- AnyFLEX: WR Kalif Raymond $7,000
Look familiar? This is very similar to the DK build, getting equal parts of the teams' strengths and also taking a shot on Raymond over Jones.
