Week 1 NFL FanDuel Salary Movers

Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints

Week 1 2017 Salary: $4,700
Week 1 2018 Salary: $8,700

$4,000 is a mighty big jump in daily fantasy leagues. Yes, we're comparing one year to the next, but that type of jump is indicative of a player who blew away all expectations. In other articles, I might make you speculate as to who we are talking about, but for anybody playing fantasy last season, it's quite obvious that we are talking about New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara.

The Saints took Kamara with the 67th pick of the 2017 NFL draft. And despite his knack for finding the end zone in college (he had 23 touchdowns on just 284 total touches in two years at Tennessee), few could have predicted that he'd finish with the fourth-highest FanDuel points per game average of any running back in his rookie season.

What made the season even more special is that he did it as part of a duo in the backfield. The other players that finished ahead of him were all bell-cow type backs; Todd Gurley and Le'Veon Bell finished with 343 and 406 touches, respectively. Kamara had just 202.

To finish as high in the rankings as he did on so few touches speaks to his efficiency. It's no wonder that his 90.69 Total Net Expected Points (NEP) was 40.5% higher than the next-closest player. His 0.45 NEP per touch was matched only by Chris Thompson, who got 103 touches before suffering an injury last season.

Last season, Kamara finished Week 1 with just 5.8 FanDuel points, a number that made his then $4,700 salary actually look too high. That's not the case this season. His $8,700 price tag represents a $4,000 jump, $1,800 more than the next-closest player, Alex Collins.

We project Kamara to start off the 2018 season with 21.6 FanDuel points, making him the highest-projected back on the slate. Even so, it could very well be a conservative estimate given he scored at least 27.8 points in each of his two games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year. Was $4,000 too small of a jump in salary for a player with Kamara's talents? We'll find out on Sunday.

Other Big Movers

Alex Collins, Baltimore Ravens: $4,500 | $6,700
Mike Gillislee, New Orleans Saints: $6,700 | $4,600
Terrance West, Baltimore Ravens: $6,600 | $4,500