Start Dominic Zvada over Tyler Bass — Week 1 Start/Sit Verdict

Start Zvada — the red-zone opportunity and projection edges are too wide to ignore.

Dominic Zvada gets more red-zone stalls to kick from (1.9 to 1.3 per game) and projects 8.1 to Bass's 7.5. Bass's edge is the consensus rank, K20 to K20. The gap is narrow.

Dominic Zvada

K20NYGvs DAL

8.18.18.1 Projected Points

Start· medium

Tyler Bass

K20BUFvs HOU

7.57.57.5 Projected Points

Sit

Why Dominic Zvada

Start· medium

Starting PK with big leg and strong college accuracy. Rookie with no prior NFL sample.

8.1 projected on 2.1 FG tries plus 2.2 XPs, with a 23.5 implied total and 1.9 red-zone stalls per game feeding the leg — startable K1 volume.

2.1 FG tries projected, just over the 2.0 league median this week.
NYG's offense stalls in the red zone 1.9 times a game (2025) — that's where kicker points come from.
Vegas has NYG at 23.5 points as 1.5-point dogs.

The call

The 23.5 implied team total is squarely in the range where kickers clear 8 points, and the sheet projects 1.7 makes on 2.1 attempts plus 2.2 extra points — that's a full workload, not a boom-or-bust one-kick night.
Red-zone stalls of 1.9 per game over 17 games is the key driver: this offense reliably converts drives into field-goal tries, which is exactly what separates fantasy kickers.
He's the locked-in PK1 with no injury designation, so there's no split-duty or availability risk to price in.
Only wobble is the open roof with no forecast yet — check wind before locking him in, but nothing in the sheet argues for a downgrade.

Why Tyler Bass

Sit

Starting placekicker. Strong leg on kickoffs and long-range attempts.

Sit — K20 by consensus, projects K27 this week: 1.3 red-zone stalls a game, and 7.5 pts projected vs HOU.

1.8 FG tries projected, just under the 2.0 league median this week.
BUF's offense stalls in the red zone 1.3 times a game (2025) — that's where kicker points come from.
Vegas has BUF at 23.5 points as 1.5-point favorites.

Head-to-head stats

Metric	Dominic Zvada	Tyler Bass
Projected points	8.18.18.1	7.57.57.5
Consensus rank	K20	K20
Projected FG attempts	2.1	1.8
Red-zone stalls / game	1.9(2025)	1.3(2025)
Implied total · spread	23.5+1.5	23.5-1.5
Depth chart	K1	K1