MLB Best Bets – Free (Wednesday 7/24)
Josh Gross
Earlier this year, we introduced Fantasy Wins Added and the Fantasy Gradebook — two concepts that I hope revolutionize the way we value players in fantasy football and measure success.
With Week 1 in the books, let’s take a look at the leaders.
You can access the full Fantasy Gradebook and Fantasy Wins Added tool here, available to FTN Platinum subscribers. Use code PEACHES to save 20%!
Week 1 Leaders in Fantasy Wins Added: Fantasy Football MVPs
Justin Jefferson was the king of the mountain in Week 1. He added 0.35 fantasy wins to your squad all by himself. That means if you had Jefferson, your win rate jumped to 85%.
Here are the Week 1 Fantasy Wins Added for the top 5:
| Player | Pos | Team | Wins Added |
| Justin Jefferson | WR | MIN | 0.35 |
| Cooper Kupp | WR | LA | 0.25 |
| Saquon Barkley | RB | NYG | 0.25 |
| Davante Adams | WR | LV | 0.23 |
| Patrick Mahomes | QB | KC | 0.22 |
Saquon Barkley’s massive Week 1 made him the third-most valuable player in fantasy on the week, tied with Cooper Kupp in Fantasy Wins Added. Kupp was the king of this stat last year, and he’s off to a hot start yet again.
Davante Adams didn’t skip a beat with his new team, nor did Patrick Mahomes in his first game post-Tyreek Hill.
And in case you’re wondering … yes, this means that Mahomes was more valuable than Jonathan Taylor last week in terms of raw Fantasy Wins Added. If you had Mahomes, your win rate was 72%. If you had Taylor, your win rate was 70%.
One interesting nugget: The Chiefs (Mahomes and Travis Kelce) and Colts (Taylor and Michael Pittman) both had two of the 10 most valuable fantasy players from Week 1.
(The Bills had MVPs Nos. 11 and 12. You can easily guess which two players, but can you guess their order? Check out the full dashboard for every player.)
In all, of the 30 most valuable players in fantasy football in Week 1, we had:
| Position | # in the top 30 most valuable |
| Wide Receiver | 13 |
| Running Back | 12 |
| Quarterback | 3 |
| Tight End | 2 |
Week 1 Fantasy Football Grades
In Week 1, only four players earned an “A+” grade:
| Player | Pos | Team | Final Grade | Opportunity Grade | Efficiency Grade | Flex Grade | Year | Week |
| Justin Jefferson | WR | MIN | 100 | 91 | 70 | 100 | 2022 | 1 |
| Saquon Barkley | RB | NYG | 100 | 92 | 63 | 95 | 2022 | 1 |
| Patrick Mahomes | QB | KC | 100 | 90 | 75 | 2022 | 1 | |
| Travis Kelce | TE | KC | 100 | 94 | 65 | 92 | 2022 | 1 |
| Josh Allen | QB | BUF | 97 | 80 | 68 | 2022 | 1 |
(Whoever scores the most points at their position in a given week earns a 100 Final Grade. Every other player at their position is judged based on the No. 1 performance.)
We also had five players earn an “A” this week:
| Player | Pos | Team | Final Grade | Opportunity Grade | Efficiency Grade | Flex Grade | Year | Week |
| Cooper Kupp | WR | LA | 95 | 91 | 71 | 95 | 2022 | 1 |
| Davante Adams | WR | LV | 94 | 96 | 76 | 94 | 2022 | 1 |
| Ja’Marr Chase | WR | CIN | 93 | 100 | 79 | 94 | 2022 | 1 |
| Jonathan Taylor | RB | IND | 94 | 95 | 71 | 93 | 2022 | 1 |
| D’Andre Swift | RB | DET | 93 | 79 | 65 | 92 | 2022 | 1 |
Six other players earned an A-, bringing our grand total of players who earned a grade of 90 or higher up to 15 on the week.
Another 71 players earned a “B” grade (B-, B, B+), while 129 players fell into the “C” range of average.
