The football DFS season kicks off Thursday with the Broncos playing the Falcons in the Hall of Fame Game. Most of the teams' best players won't suit up for the first preseason game of the season, so the key players for DFS will be backups. All players are priced the same. FanDuel lineups consist of five players regardless of position (no team defense), including a Captain who receives 1.5x points. DraftKings requires six players of any position, including a Captain (1.5x).
QUARTERBACK
Joe Flacco won't make his Broncos debut, nor will Matt Ryan play. That leaves the quarterback options to Denver's Drew Lock, Kevin Hogan and Brett Rypien and Atlanta's Matt Schaub and Kurt Benkert.
Hogan is expected to start for the Broncos, but Lock probably will get more playing time as the team likely wants to take a longer look at its second-round pick from this year's draft. Don't expect to see fellow rookie Rypien, an undrafted free agent, until late.
The snaps distribution for Atlanta is harder to predict. Maybe the Falcons, knowing what they have in the veteran Schaub, want to give more snaps to Benkert, who spent all last season on the practice squad.
RUNNING BACK
Falcons running back Qadree Ollison should get plenty of touches this preseason, including in this game. After taking over for James Conner at the University of Pittsburgh he averaged 6.3 yard per carry in his senior season, resulting in the Falcons making him a fifth-round pick.
Phillip Lindsay is expected to sit this one out after dealing with a back injury over the weekend. Royce Freeman should get some touches for the Broncos, but it likely won't be more than a few series. Devontae Booker, Khalfani Muhammad and Devontae Jackson will vie for touches.
WIDE RECEIVER
DaeSean Hamilton (hamstring) will sit this one out, and the Broncos are being cautious with Emmanuel Sanders (Achilles). That leave both Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick as viable options for the Broncos' wide receivers.
As far as Falcons wide receivers, with Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley out, Mohamed Sanu and Justin Hardy should get plenty of targets. Russell Gage and Marcus Green are both sleepers who should get some work in the second half of this game.
TIGHT END
Denver's Noah Fant will look to make an impact over the middle as he tries to leapfrog Jeff Heuerman the depth chart for the top tight end spot.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I'd go with Ollison in the Captain's spot and mix in some combo of a quarterback paired with a receiver — Lock/Fant/Patrick or Sutton).
Using the kickers in this game - Brandon McManus or Giorgio Tavecchio - is also a strong consideration in the case it ends up a low-scoring game (over/under is 33) like most Hall of Fame Games in recent years.
