Tennessee Titans vs. Minnesota Vikings: Fantasy Football Outlook

Fantasy football is a part of most football fans’ lives. The Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans matchup has some fantasy appeal.

With week one fantasy football lineups comes great responsibility. I’ll be the first to admit that most of the time I get my lineup decisions wrong. That said, my process is usually correct and football itself is the real culprit to blame. Regardless, fantasy football is incredibly fun and this should be a great year for it.

If you’ve done fantasy football drafts, you’ve noticed that several Titans players are in the fantasy crosshairs much more so than previous years. DeMarco Murray, Delanie Walker, Derrick Henry, Marcus Mariota, Tajae Sharpe. All those players are being drafted and put to use in plenty of leagues.

Let’s take a look at how some of those Titans might fare in their week one matchup against the Vikings (and vice-versa).

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Marcus Mariota

I’m bullish on Mariota for this fantasy season. He finally has reliable weapons that can get open and an offensive line that looks more than competent. Mike Mularkey also seems more inclined to use his legs to his advantage, unlike our best friend Ken Whisenhunt. His rushing production will give him a solid weekly floor, but he also showed elite weekly upside last year as he put together some huge games throughout the season. That said, this isn’t the right week to use him. The Vikings are as stout a defense as he’ll see all year, and the Titans will be looking to run and control the ball for much of the game. Wait until week two to plug him into your lineups.

DeMarco Murray

As mentioned above, this is going to be a run-first game for the Titans (and the Vikings). Both teams consistently melted the clock last season and ran a relatively low amount of plays per game. That sets up well for DeMarco Murray, who faces a Vikings run defense that isn’t as stout as their pass defense. They can be attacked on the ground, and Murray should be able to get his with a big workload coming his way. He’s a solid RB2.

Delanie Walker

While I’m not sold on Mariota in this matchup, I still like Walker as a top-10 tight end play. The Vikings were middle-of-the-pack in giving up fantasy points to tight end, while Delanie has shown to be, pretty much, the Titans number one target in third down situations. Along with his underrated big-play ability, Walker should be started confidently despite the intimidating on-paper matchup.

Adrian Peterson

AP might get 40 carries in this game. Okay, maybe not 40, but 30 sounds about right. With either Shaun Hill or Sam Bradford behind center, the offense will clearly run through Peterson and almost only Peterson. The Titans run defense is underrated and they gave up just the fifth-fewest fantasy points to RBs last year. That being said, there’s only so much AP that the defense can handle, and surely he will start to wear the defense down towards the end of the game. He’s an RB1, just like he is every week.

Stefon Diggs

Diggs is looking like the Vikings bonafide number one receiver coming into the season. Fellow starter Charles Johnson isn’t much more than a deep threat and rookie Laquon Treadwell was unable to carve out a first-team role throughout the preseason. Given the Vikings quarterback situation, many will probably just avoid using any Vikings receiver, but in deeper leagues Diggs may be worth the risk. The Vikings can’t run the ball every play, and Diggs is a legitimate playmaker that can get open against a very suspect Titans pass defense. He’s more a high-floor than upside play, but he can be used as a WR3 or Flex.

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Kyle Rudolph

Another year, another Rudolph 300-500 yard season line with a few touchdowns sprinkled in. Rudolph has by no means lived up to his hype, but he’s still the starter and is always a red-zone threat. With a quarterback (whichever one plays) that will probably be uncomfortable behind center, Rudolph is an interesting streaming option as a safety valve that is always an option to score a touchdown. Considering the Titans gave up the eighth-most fantasy points to tight ends last year, you could do worse than Rudolph for a streaming option.

Team Defense/Special Teams

This is an intriguing matchup for both fantasy defenses. The Titans are probably on your waiver wire, and they present a tantalizing option as a streamer defense. The Vikings are either going to start Shaun Hill or throw a not-ready Sam Bradford in there. Both options have turnovers written all over them, and even if the turnovers aren’t there they won’t score many points. There’s only so much AP can do. Consider streaming them this week if you don’t have one of the elite defenses.

For the Vikings, they were a solid fantasy defense last year and should be just as good this year. The Titans were a target for opposing fantasy defenses last year (gave up the most fantasy points to defenses), but this year is different. Mariota doesn’t throw many interceptions and the running game will be effective and control the ball. Along with improved pass protection on the offensive line, there won’t be too many chances for the Vikings to rack up turnovers or sacks, so this might not be the best spot to use them. Also, their own offense might be their worst enemy in this one.

Next: Blueprint to Beat the Minnesota Vikings

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