Start Chase Brown or Kenneth Walker? Week 1

Our Week 1 call

Start Chase Brown over Kenneth Walker in Week 1.

De-vigged player props project Chase Brown at 6.3 points and Kenneth Walker at 2.5, a gap of 3.8. Drafters take Chase Brown at ADP 13 and Kenneth Walker at 22. Market coverage on Chase Brown is 40 percent of what his position needs, so the market side of this carries proportionally less weight.

What the books imply

Player prop markets imply 6.3 fantasy points for Chase Brown, with 40 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

Player prop markets imply 2.5 fantasy points for Kenneth Walker, with 30 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

That puts Chase Brown 3.8 points ahead of Kenneth Walker on the books.

Week 1 matchups

Chase Brown and CIN host TB on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

TB allowed 26.8 fantasy points to RBs in its one game this season, the 10th most in the league.

Running backs ran for 76 yards and a touchdown against TB and caught passes for 52 more yards.

Kenneth Walker and KC host DEN on Monday at 8:15 PM ET.

DEN allowed 42.9 fantasy points to RBs in its one game this season, the 2nd most in the league.

Running backs ran for 197 yards and a touchdown against DEN and caught passes for 62 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, Kenneth Walker has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Chase Brown was not on the injury report when the call was made.

Kenneth Walker was not on the injury report when the call was made.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Chase Brown played 17 games for CIN and scored 282.6 PPR points, 16.6 a game, finishing RB7.

He ran 232 times for 1019 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 69 of 88 targets for 437 yards.

He was on the field for 67 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Chase Brown, Week 18 of 2025 against CLE: 13 carries for 72 yards, 6 targets and 4 catches for 18 yards, 1 touchdown, 19.0 PPR points.

Chase Brown, Week 17 of 2025 against ARI: 47 of 77 snaps, 22 carries for 101 yards, 3 targets and 3 catches for 40 yards, 2 touchdowns, 29.1 PPR points.

Chase Brown, Week 16 of 2025 against MIA: 37 of 61 snaps, 12 carries for 66 yards, 4 targets and 4 catches for 43 yards, 3 touchdowns, 32.9 PPR points.

How Week 1 went

Chase Brown scored 18.8 PPR points and Kenneth Walker scored 34.1.

The call was wrong: Kenneth Walker outscored Chase Brown by 15.3.

Chase Brown finished 12.5 points above the 6.3 the props implied.

Chase Brown, Week 1 against TB: 46 of 64 snaps, 16 carries for 56 yards, 6 targets and 5 catches for 22 yards, 1 touchdown, 18.8 PPR points.

Chase Brown finished as the week's RB14 in PPR scoring.

Kenneth Walker finished 31.6 points above the 2.5 the props implied.

Kenneth Walker, Week 1 against DEN: 47 of 69 snaps, 23 carries for 173 yards, 6 targets and 3 catches for 18 yards, 2 touchdowns, 34.1 PPR points.

Kenneth Walker finished as the week's RB2 in PPR scoring.

Their other Week 1 calls

• Start Ashton Jeanty over Chase Brown.
• Start Derrick Henry over Chase Brown.
• Start De'Von Achane over Chase Brown.
• Start Kenneth Walker over Ashton Jeanty.
• Start Kenneth Walker over Breece Hall.
• Start Derrick Henry over Kenneth Walker.