<h4>START: WR Julian Edelman</h4>
The Patriots were already lacking significant targets on offense to begin the season, but week one did them absolutely no favors as Danny Amendola, Rob Gronkowski and Shane Vereen will all miss tonight's game. This opens up the fantasy floodgates for Julian Edelman, who had a monster game last week (7 catches for 79 yards, 2 TDs), even with two of those three names sharing offensive snaps. With little in the way of threats at wideout as Tom Brady and his rookies continue to build a rapport, Edelman's all but locked in as a WR1 this week.
<h4>START: RB Stevan Ridley</h4>
Ridley had a rough go at it last week, coughing up two rocks (one officially) and subsequently benched in lieu of Shane Vereen. Ridley may have seen expected time on the bench as the coaches help him recover from his fumbling woes, but the Patriots don't have much of a choice this week. With Vereen expected to be out until at least week 10, the onus is on Ridley to represent the Patriots' feature back. He was tremendously effective all last season, and with a depleted receiving corps, look for New England to gameplan a run-heavy attack against the Jets. New York boasts a consistently stout D-Line, but Ridley's worth rostering as a high-RB2 when considering his expected number of touches and goal line looks.
<h4>SIT: WR Kenbrell Thompkins </h4>
Thompkins was targeted just as many times as Danny Amendola last week, which figures him to be an integral part of the offense going forward. Not this week, however. Thompkins reeled in only four of his 14 tosses and struggled mightily in practice this week as rookiedom reared its ugly head. It's worth holding on to Chad Johnson Kenbrell as he becomes more comfortable in the McOffense (and it wouldn't be a surprise if he recorded a TD and 50+ yards receiving tonight) but if you have better options at WR, I'd exercise some patience with the developing Thompkins.
<h4>SIT: TE Zach Sudfeld</h4>
Sudfeld really shined in preseason and looked to be a beyond suitable replacement while Rob Gronkowski was sidelined, but an errant drop in week one that led to an ugly interception all but sealed the young tight end's fate on Sunday. I expect Sudfeld to continue to receive plenty of reps on offense as long as Gronk is out, but it'd be going out on a limb to expect dynamic offensive production. To top it off, Sudfeld's dealing with a pulled hamstring, so while he'll likely see the field tonight, he could stay in for blocking assignments primarily as the coaching staff closely monitors the health of their remaining starters.