Week 1 Fantasy Football: $250K NFL Sunday Kickoff Lineup Strategy

The NFL season is officially one week away, and here at OwnersBox, we are geared up for the 2025 season. There are endless things that come with the NFL season, future bets, season-long tailgates, Sunday afternoon sweats, (engagement announcements..) whatever it is, the NFL brings something that no other spectacle can. Yet it's Fantasy Football that so clearly dominates the audience. Throughout the season, I will be running through all things Fantasy on the OwnersBox blog, from weekly lineups to waiver wires to Do’s & Don’ts. Make sure to keep up with my weekly Player Picks entries and Salary Cap lineups.

For Week 1, OwnersBox has a $250K Salary Cap contest to kick off the season. Enter your $15 lineup for a shot at the $50K top prize. It's simple: you have a Salary Cap of $50,000 to build the best 9-player lineup (QB, RB1, RB2, WR1, WR2, TE, F, F, SF), and compete against thousands of other lineups. You can enter up to 150 different lineup combinations to increase your chances of winning.

Over on the OwnersBox Fantasy YouTube Channel, Biev and I built a lineup for this contest. I'd like to say you could build a better lineup, but I'm not so sure that's possible. We’ll be building winning lineups like this every week on our season-long show.

Bryce Young ($5,300) 

Ironically, a third year 1st overall pick is not getting much attention, especially when you add one of the best receivers in the draft. People also forget that the Panthers surged down the stretch last year, led by Young. A poor Jags team could push for a 1-0 start for the cats. 

Jahmyr Gibbs ($7,300)

Possibly the best RB in the league. Don't really have to make much of an argument here for a guy who is going to take snaps all over the field. 

Bucky Irving ($6,600) 

Irving completes the Bucs backfield. The only way he doesn't sneak top RB conversations is if Todd Bowles continues to have games where he mismanages his elite RB, but with a mediocre 

Falcons defence in a huge divisional game, Bucky should be a guy to look for.  

Malik Nabers ($6,600)

A second-year surge is on par here for the LSU product, finally getting a good QB room. This pick really does not need any explanation. Look for Malik to make some major noise this season. 

Tetairoa McMillan ($5,100)

If the Panthers want to make noise, the first-round receiver is going to have to ball out his freshman season, Tet was a DAWG as a Wildcat, and a horrible 4-8 season undermined his draft position. In my opinion, he’s a huge prospect, and with a strong push from Bryce Young, look for Tet to be right beside him.

Kyle Pitts ($4,400). 

Fantasy potential G.O.A.T. Kyle Pitts, do I need to explain? Jokes aside, Pitts is finally at the core of a very skilled offense and as 3rd or even 4th option in this scheme could make some noise and get back to his 1,000-yard rookie play. 

Flex/Flex/SuperFlex

TreyVeyon Henderson ($5,300), Rickey Pearsall ($4,900) and Tyler Warren($4,200) are some solid rookie and 2nd-year options that could get off to a good start with easy matchups to start off the season. 

The season kicks off in a week, so make sure to check out our Salary Cap contests on OwnersBox, and keep up with our NFL Show on the OwnersBox YouTube channel all season long!