Do you feel it? That electricity in the air? Those butterflies in your stomach? That smell wafting through the air?
Oh wait, that was me. Sorry about that. Taco Bell at 2:00 AM is almost never a good idea.
It’s Week 1 of the 2025 fantasy football season. Go-time. After a long offseason and a summer of drafts, it’s time to get it on.
Come at me, bro.
For the most part, this is a week to dance with you brought you. Start the players you drafted as starters. Overthinking is a great way to wind up at 0-1 and with indigestion worse than what follows that late-night chalupa.
However, there are still flex decisions to be made. Tough calls due to injuries or matchups between closely-ranked players. And that, my friends, is where Close Calls comes in.
Every week here at Footballguys, Close Calls will make a case for a pair of closely-ranked fantasy options—and then make the call on which player will be more productive.
For the sake of this exercise, we'll only consider quarterbacks and tight ends outside the top 10, running backs outside the top 20, and wide receivers outside the top 30 in the Footballguys Weekly Rankings.
Week 1 Close Calls
Close Call: Caleb Williams, Chicago (QB19) vs. Jared Goff, Detroit (QB20)
The Case for Williams: After an uneven rookie season, the Bears were laser-focused on improving the situation around Williams in the offseason. An offensive line that allowed a league-high 68 sacks in 2024 is better. The Bears added multiple passing game weapons. And there are rumors that new Bears head coach Ben Johnson knows a thing or two about offense.
Williams will open his second professional season at home on Monday night against the rival Vikings. The Vikings won 14 games last year, but Minnesota struggled against the pass, allowing 242 yards per game—fifth-most in the NFL.
The Case for Goff: Goff knows how Rodney Dangerfield felt—because the 30-year-old gets no respect. Last year, Goff led the NFC in passing yards with 4,629, threw the fourth-most touchdown passes in the league (37) and ranked sixth in fantasy points among quarterbacks.
Who would want that bum on a fantasy roster?
Yes, there’s a new offensive play-caller in Detroit. But there’s also arguably the NFL’s best offensive line and passing-game weapons galore in wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and rookie Isaac TeSlaa, tight end Sam LaPorta, and running back Jahmyr Gibbs.
The Verdict: Goff. Williams admittedly has the better matchup, but Goff is the better player with better weapons and a better offensive line. The last time that Goff squared off against the Packers, he threw for 283 yards and three touchdowns in a shootout win.
Close Call: Omarion Hampton, LA Chargers (RB26) vs. Jerome Ford, Cleveland (RB27)
The Case for Hampton: There was no shortage of hype surrounding Hampton in the summer after the Chargers used a first-round pick on the former North Carolina standout. On some level, that’s understandable—back-to-back seasons with 1,500 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns tend to get fantasy managers excited.
Frankly, the argument can be made that Hampton was overvalued in drafts this year, with Najee Harris circling SoFi Stadium like a buzzard. But Harris missed all of camp and the preseason with an eye injury—if he does play against the Kansas City Chiefs in Brazil, it will be in a limited fashion.
The Case for Ford: The Browns didn’t want Ford to be their lead back in 2025. But the last time Cleveland got what it wanted was 1964, so with second-round rookie Quinshon Judkins still unsigned and fellow rook Dylan Sampson failing to make a big impression over the summer, Ford is the guy—at least for now.
To his credit, Ford has been decent when called upon in the past—two years ago, Ford carried the ball over 200 times and topped 1,100 total yards. He also opens the season against a Cincinnati Bengals defense that allowed almost 125 yards per game on the ground in 2024 and looked abysmal in the preseason.
The Verdict: Hampton. This isn’t an indictment of Ford, who should have a good opener against that atrocious Bengals defense. But even with Hampton facing Kansas City’s eighth-ranked run defense, he’s a good bet to see 20 touches in what shapes up as one of Week 1’s more interesting matchups.
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Close Call: DK Metcalf, Pittsburgh (WR35) vs. Matthew Golden, Green Bay (WR37)
The Case for Metcalf: In terms of just pure physical talent, Metcalf is easily a top-10 wide receiver—his combination of size and speed doesn’t come along all that often. In six professional seasons, Metcalf has never had fewer than 900 receiving yards in a season, and he has surpassed 1,000 yards three times.
In the offseason, the Steelers sent a Day 2 pick to Seattle for Metcalf and then handed him a four-year, $132 million contract extension (nice work if you can get it). Metcalf is Pittsburgh’s No. 1 wide receiver by a massive margin, and it’s not hard to imagine him exceeding his previous career-high of 141 targets in 2025.
The Case for Golden: In what may have been a portent of the Apocalypse, the Packers broke a streak over two decades long of not taking a wide receiver in the first round by taking Golden 23rd overall after a 2024 campaign at Texas in which he posted a 58/987/9 stat line.
It can be dangerous to read too much into preseason hype, but Golden consistently stood out on the practice field and in exhibition games. With Jayden Reed nursing a foot injury, Golden could become Jordan Love’s top target in short order, and the Lions surrendered the second-most PPR points to wide receivers last season.
The Verdict: Golden. The rookie has a far better matchup on paper. Aaron Rodgers and Metcalf played as many preseason snaps as I did. And Metcalf will face star cornerback Sauce Gardner when the Steelers travel to New York to face the Jets on Sunday. In fact, given Pittsburgh’s (snicker) other wideouts, Gardner will probably have safety help, too.
Close Call: DeMario Douglas, New England (WR47) vs. Xavier Legette, Carolina (WR49)
The Case for Douglas: Demario Douglas needs a hug.
With the arrival of free agent Stefon Diggs and the selection of Kyle Williams, Douglas has been cast onto the fantasy scrap heap. Thrown out like a bag full of coffee grounds and orange peels. But Douglas tied for the team lead in receptions last year and led all Patriots receivers in targets.
Douglas has a rapport with Drake Maye that Diggs and Williams do not—at least not yet. And Maye and the New England passing game could come out hot in Week 1—the Raiders have as many questions at cornerback as any team in the league.
The Case for Legette: There are all kinds of hype surrounding Tetairoa McMillan in Carolina this season, but many folks appear to have conveniently forgotten that last year Legette was a first-round pick in his own right, and he has reportedly made strides entering his second season.
The Panthers aren’t deep at wide receiver—the team sent veteran Adam Thielen packing, and youngster Jalen Coker landed on injured reserve to open the season. That could mean a robust target share in the season opener against a Jacksonville Jaguars squad that fielded the NFL’s worst pass defense in 2024.
The Verdict: Legette. This is a case of floor vs. ceiling—Douglas should be a decent PPR “flex” play in Week 1, but Legette has better odds of posting the kind of stat line that wins weeks. Yes, the Jaguars have Travis Hunter now—but Hunter playing cornerback part-time isn’t going to suddenly make Jacksonville’s secondary not suck.
Close Call: T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota (TE12) vs. Kyle Pitts Sr., Atlanta (TE15)
The Case for Hockenson: The case for Hockenson in Week 1 starts with forgetting just about everything we saw from the 28-year-old in 2024. Hockenson clearly wasn’t himself after tearing up his knee late in the 2023 campaign, and it showed—just 41 catches for 455 yards and zero touchdowns.
However, while Hockenson had a “meh” 2024, one team he did have success against was the Chicago Bears. Hockenson had double-digit PPR points in both games against Da Bears last year, including his best game of the season—seven catches on nine targets for 114 yards in Week 12.
The Case for Pitts: Do we really need to make a case for the awesomeness that is Kyle Pitts Sr.? Since topping 1,000 yards as a rookie, the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft has laid waste to his position like Conan the Barbarian sacking a village. Travis Kelce wishes he could grow up to be Kyle Pitts Sr..
Wait? That didn’t happen? What did?
Joking aside, there are reasons for optimism that Pitts might finally be able to get things in gear this season—coaches and teammates alike have said he’s going to be a big part of the Falcons offense this year. He also starts the season with a gravy matchup—the Buccaneers gave up the eighth-most PPR points to tight ends in 2024.
The Verdict: Hockenson. Believe me, I want to see Pitts do something this year as badly as anyone (why do I keep falling for the whole Pitts pit?). But J.J. McCarthy’s first NFL start will probably include quite a few short and intermediate throws—and that should mean quite a few targets for Hockenson.
Gary Davenport is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow Gary on X at @IDPGodfather.