5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 1

Los Angeles Chargers' Passing Offense

With the Bengals, we were focusing largely on their offseason improvements as a justification for using them. That didn't happen for the Los Angeles Chargers. In fact, they may have gone in the wrong direction, losing tight end Hunter Henry to a torn ACL.

This one's all about the losses of their opponents.

The Kansas City Chiefs' defense was a far cry from being a shut-down unit last year. They ranked 23rd in Adjusted Defensive NEP per play and were 20th against the pass. That alone could have been enough to justify rolling out some Chargers stacks in Week 1, but the Chiefs took some steps backward in the offseason.

Specifically, they traded cornerback Marcus Peters to the Los Angeles Rams for a swap of draft picks. Peters was one of the two best pieces for an already below-average unit, and his departure doesn't bode well for the Chiefs' 2018 defensive outlook.

Peters played 94% of his snaps as the left cornerback, according to Pro Football Focus, meaning quarterbacks throwing at Peters would have been throwing to the right. Not only did quarterbacks throw that direction less often, but they were far less successful when they did so.

The Chiefs' one strength last year is now gone, leaving them susceptible to attack by opposing passing games. The Chargers are just the first to test this new-look squad.

One piece the Chiefs can use to compensate a bit for the loss of Peters is Kendall Fuller. He came over in the Alex Smith trade after balling out for Washington last year. But Fuller played 93% of his snaps in the slot, according to Pro Football Focus, meaning there's still a gaping black hole on the outside.

Given Fuller's prowess in the slot, Keenan Allen can expect to see plenty of him on Sunday. Allen does run on the outside, too, so it's not to say you need to avoid him, but he will likely meet more resistance than the other receivers.

The most obvious -- and likely best -- alternative is Tyrell Williams. Williams had 23.03% of the team's targets at least 16 yards downfield last year, netting three or more in a game five separate times. With Mike Williams potentially taking away snaps from Travis Benjamin, it would make even more sense for Tyrell to slide into the role as being the team's big downfield threat.

Mike Williams isn't out of consideration at $5,400, either. Williams started the preseason in the hole after missing most of last year due to injuries, but he was listed as the team's third receiver on their depth chart for Week 1. He showed both in the preseason and in college that he's a threat near the end zone, so while he may not have the yardage upside of Tyrell Williams, Mike should still be an option if rolling out multiple Philip Rivers stacks.