Zay Flowers or Rashee Rice Week 1 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em: Fantasy football projections for WRs ahead of TNF clash 

Baltimore's Zay Flowers and Kansas City's Rashee Rice have a good number of similarities with each other. They are wide receivers on AFC teams, they were born in the same year and they were drafted in the same year.

They are also expected to play critical roles on Thursday when the Kansas City Chiefs begin their Super Bowl defense against the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of last season's AFC Championship Game.

The receiving department is expected to be dominated by star tight ends Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews, but that does not mean the wideouts will be invisible. So whom should a fantasy footballer start between them?

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Is Zay Flowers a good pick in Week 1?

AFC Championship - Kansas City Chiefs v Baltimore Ravens (Image Source: Getty)

For the longest time, the Ravens had been considered a run-first team whose main passing target has been a tight end – Shannon Sharpe, Todd Heap, Dennis Pitta and now Mark Andrews.

And then Zay Flowers happened.

Immediately thrust into a starting role as a rookie, he impressed with 77 catches for 858 yards and five touchdowns, helping the team clinch the top seed with a 13-4 record. However, he also committed a costly goal-line fumble during the conference title game.

Now with all that behind him, he looks to continue proving why he deserves mention as one of the most promising wideouts in the league, once again being projected to be a starter alongside Rashod Bateman.

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Is Rashee Rice a good pick in Week 1?

NFL: DEC 31 Bengals at Chiefs (Image Source: Getty)

Rashee Rice is something of an enigma heading into Week 1. During the offseason, he was involved in a vehicular incident that led to multiple felony charges against him.

Yet here he is, expected to play – and potentially even start – for the Chiefs. And he has a strong base to build on: from eight starts as a rookie last season, he caught 79 passes for 938 yards and seven touchdowns. Then, in the playoffs, he caught 26 balls – the most by a rookie.

His potential partners include Mecole Hardman, Marquise Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and rookie Xavier Worthy – a testament to how determined Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are to prove that Travis Kelce is not their only aerial weapon this season.

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Whom should I start between Zay Flowers and Rashee Rice in Week 1?

Who wins between Zay Flowers and Rashee Rice?

It is close, but Sportskeeda's Start/Sit Optimizer has Rice winning despite a negative rushing yards projection.

For all his troubles off-field, he was one of the less polarizing members of the WR room on the field in 2023. And that was only solidified in the postseason, giving fantasy footballers good reason to be confident that Rice can overcome his troubles to become the next/new Tyreek Hill.

As for Flowers, he may not get most of the Ravens' offensive yards now that Derrick Henry has arrived to reinforce the notion that they are a run-first team whose primary passing option is a tight end.

Who do you think will win the NFL's 2024 curtain-raiser between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens on Thursday? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.