now when you're making those decisions of who you want to start in your fantasy football lineup well it's actually pretty simple it comes down to upside who are those players that could go off in week one and help you wi we got some names in mind and we call them booms these are our favorite running backs that had that huge upside this week and while you're setting those lineups don't forget to set your Underdog line too for those pick thems NFL week one picks are live and right now if you sign up for the very first time on Underdog f fasy make sure you use promo code endgame because that gets you the new customer special for week one Travis Kelce going higher than half a yard that's right he gets one yard in week one you win that pick and you still have a 50% deposit match up to $1,000 check out Underdog fantasy and use promo code endgame all right Chris start us off who's your first favorite running back boom my favorite running back boom this week is James Cook of the Buffalo Bills going up against the Arizona Cardinals now how's it Arizona Cardinal's defense gotten better since last year sure has it got significantly better no I still think this is going to be one of the worst defenses in the NFL this year James Cook is going to get the bulk of the touches in this Buffalo Bills offense sure maybe Ray Davis gets sprinkled in but he's a rookie he's probably not going to be used very heavily and another thing I really like about James Cook in this game is I think this game could be a sneaky shootout type of game you look at this matchup you have two very good offenses with Buffalo and Arizona then you obviously you have Arizona defense which is not very good at all but even the bills defense is not going to be elite like we've been used to in years past this defense is not going to be the same they're not going to be one of the worst but I think Arizona is going to be able to put up points on this defense and make the bills have to keep the gas on the pedal in this game so I think we're going to see James Cook heavily involved on the ground through the air I think he's got tremendous touchdown upside this week and in this matchup against this weak Arizona Cardinals defense it would have surprised me one bit if James Cook is a top 10 maybe even a top five running back this week so if you drafted James Cook as your rb2 maybe your rb3 depending on where you drafted him find a way to get him in your lineup this week if at all possible I really think he can help you take home the win and boom for your fantasy team well running back I can't wait to put in my starting lineup this week right away is a guy I drafted a lot of again Kenneth Walker I think he's ready for that career season and I think he's ready to start right now in week one and why not first week of the season he's going to be at home against the Denver Broncos you probably remember the Denver run defense the one that got absolutely humiliated by the Dolphins in that one week and wound up as the second worst in terms of fantasy points allowed to running backs now they did get slightly better throughout the second half of the year but that really isn't saying much because it's hard to not improve when you were on Pace to be historically the worst run defense ever so I guess they tightened up a little bit this is still not a great defense did not do much to improve significantly on the defensive side and here's the thing I don't think this is going to be a super high scoring game and that's why I'm in on Seattle and their Rush offense I don't really think Denver's offense is going to put up much of a fight on the road in Seattle with bonick making his very first start I don't have a lot of confidence in that Broncos offense in general but if Seattle's offense starts off hot and I really am big on the Seahawks new offense this year Pete Carroll finally gone and we got some actual movement maybe like behind the line of scrimmage some different looks some creativity on offense with an offensive coordinator coming from the college ranks again I'm really big on the Seahawks offense and Kenneth Walker is going to be the focal point we heard nothing really about Zack shanet throughout the offseason all we heard is that Kenneth Walker is going to be catching more passes finally we're going to unlock his full potential and again this matchup is pretty much a dream match up for any running back but man I really think Walker could just stomp over the Broncos this week all right then another running back we were big on the draft season it's finally time to see what he can do in the regular season yes it is I've been talking up Jerome Ford all offseason I think people are finally coming around on it now that Nick chub is officially starting the season on pup and they also cut Deontay Foreman now they did add him back to the practice squad and he probably will be on the roster but I'm not worried about Deontay Foreman this is going to be Jerome Ford's backfield from now until whenever Nick chub comes back and probably beyond that now you look this week they're playing Dallas you say oo tough matchup Dallas good defense and you're right when Dallas is fully healthy they are a good defense but even last year when they were pretty much fully healthy they were not one of the best run defenses that was the way you could attack this defense was on the ground and you look at this game this week you got the Cleveland Browns they actually do have potentially the best defense in the NFL you look at the other side of the ball the Cowboys Dak and Sidi have had very little time together this training camp I don't think the Cowboys are going to be able to light up this Browns defense and put the Browns in negative game script I think like you said with Kenneth Walker it's going to be a low-scoring close game and you look at the Browns side Deshawn Watson hasn't really been healthy this camp this off season I think the Browns are going to go into this game saying hey let's just try to win an ugly game lean on our defense lean on that running game and that means a ton of Touches for Jerome Ford and I'm not scared of this cowboys run defense whatsoever plus not to mention he's a capable pass catcher so he can get you points that way as well I really think Jerome Ford comes out of the gates fire in on all cylinders and Smashes in week one and I'll tell you what you talk about those pick them lines that you talked about earlier I love his line on Underdog right now higher than 44 and a half rushing yards I'm smashing the higher on that I think he goes well over this in this game like you pair that with that Travis Kelce new customer special and right away you can triple your first entry and don't forget if you do sign up and use our promo code endgame not only are you going to get that Travis k Chelsea new customer special but you're also going to get that deposit match 50% up to $11,000 take that money put it on Jerome Ford and Travis Kelce higher than half a yard and instantly triple your entry all right now we talk about low-scoring games potentially favoring the running game how low can we go how about Vikings Giants low I mean the matchup here is Sam darnold vers Daniel Jones I think that the running game will have a big factor here yes I do like the Vikings aren't dumb like Kevin McConnell is a good offensive coach I know he likes to pass the ball but I think he likes to win more so we'll probably see a little less of Sam darnold than we saw of Kirk Cousins and those other quarterbacks last year we're going to see a lot of Aaron Jones because they did not have an Aaron Jones last year it was Alexander Madison who just doesn't look like the kind of guy he used to be they couldn't really establish the Run that's why they got Aaron Jones and look the only issue with Jones the reason why people are a little hesitant is because he gets banged up right he gets injured from time to time well guess what it's week one he's healthy he's fine he had a long offseason to rest he's good to go and when Aaron Jones is 100% you can tell because he puts up big numbers remember down the stretch last season for Green Bay he was a League winner in your fantasy playoffs he put up huge numbers I don't see why he can't have a big game here it's the Giants first of all bottom 10 run defense last year no is issues there in terms of matchup and again this is a team where I feel pretty confident the Giants will not be running up the score putting up a ton of points on the opponent which means the Vikings can afford to establish the run but here's the other thing which makes me a little bit more interested in Aaron Jones this year the fact that they don't have really an elite quarterback and that might be an understatement that just means that not only will they run the ball more but I feel like Aaron Jones is going to see more receiving work than ever cuz he's going to get those check Downs he's a nice little safety blanket for Sam darnold so he's got that receiving floor he's got that rushing upside and he's got a nice matchup here so I'm going to be all in on Aaron Jones for sure in week one all right what's another runningback who has that weak-- winning upside I think Rashad white has weak-- winning upside this week I don't understand why he was so kind of undervalued in drafts this year I guess people are worried about Bucky Irving taking a significant role but look even if Bucky Irving does carve out a roll it's not going to be week one already this is going to be Rashad White's backfield this week and he draws a fantastic matchup against the Washington commanders going to be one of the worst defenses in the NFL this year and look I know Dan Quinn is a great defensive coach and maybe he can work a miracle with this defense and and get him to a respectable level at some point but it's probably not going to be right away in week one I think Rashad white is going to have no problem with this defense and also the Tampa Bay offensive line Looks significant iFly better so far this year I don't know if rasa White's ever going to be one of the most efficient running backs but he could be more efficient we know he's getting all the passing down work in this game he's got touchdown upside Rashad white finished the season last year pretty much every single week finishing as a top five I think he continues that this year going into week one I think he puts up another top five finish this week against his terrible Washington defense so if you took the discount on Rashad white feel good about him this week I think he's going to smash well for get a little deeper a running back really wasn't expected to be a everyweek fantasy starter but I think this week Gus Edwards is a must start so let me explain here now it seems like it's going to be some sort of a committee there for the Chargers we don't really know what's going to happen you know har playing it close to the vest I got a strong feeling we're going to see a lot of Gus in week one because first of all yeah JK Dobbins is there how much run is he really going to get I mean how much do they really trust that he is just good to go in week one extended game action they really want to risk something happening to him if they even believe that he's going to be a big part of this game plan at all why not just go with the bus so I feel like Dobbins might get a few touches that's it and look kamani Vidal I'm still high on him as a potential sleeper but even the running backs that are rookies that get drafted earliest get slow played into the season the first month they barely get involved I don't even know if FAL sees much if any action in this game he was barely going to make the roster at one point so I really think this is Gus's backfield in week one and again this matchup is too good to ignore it's the Raiders they're not going to put up a lot of points and they're also not the most formidable defense Gus is going to get the early down work all the goal line work and remember this is now Greg Roman offense where it's going to be run first run second pass if absolutely needed and that's it so like I don't usually like to project fancy value based on touchdown upside I have a feeling Gus gets at least one if not two touchdowns and he can rip off huge chunks of yardage so if I have Gus in any of my leagues and I do have him in several I'm starting him now those are some of our favorite running back plays but you want to know every single game which running backs we like which running backs we don't which wi receivers quarterbacks tight ends we like it's all here on the week one playlist for start sit booms and and more