Nickel Coverage: Five questions that need answered before Week 1

— -- After a statistical fast that lasted more than eight months, the NFL was kind enough to give fantasy football fans a nibble of numbers Thursday night. Beginning on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, we are going to gorge ourselves on fantasy stats all the way through Monday Night Football's doubleheader on ESPN.

There are plenty of big questions heading into the weekend fantasy feast after an offseason of speculation, and we are here to give you some answers. Each week throughout the season, I will posit five of the week's most intriguing fantasy questions to a rotating panel of experts from ESPN, ESPN Fantasy and NFL Nation. Five questions for five analysts, thus, Nickel Coverage.

Responses this week come from NFL Nation Giants reporter and frequent NFL Insiders contributor Dan Graziano, Tim Hasselbeck from Fantasy Football Now and NFL Live, ESPN Fantasy analysts KC Joyner and Jim McCormick, and NFL Nation Dolphins reporter James Walker.

Which rookie will make the biggest Week 1 impact?

Graziano: Amari Cooper. I'm not loving any of the matchups for the rookie running backs this week, and I think Cooper is going to be the real deal  -- a monster from the get-go as Derek Carr's No. 1 option in Oakland.

Hasselbeck: Tevin Coleman.  It's tough to figure out a rookie's impact before he even plays in a regular-season game, so I'm going with the rookie who I believe will receive the most touches Week 1.  Coleman is the starting running back for the Atlanta Falcons, and because of Devonta Freeman's hamstring injury, he may be the only option that the Falcons want to use at the position in Kyle Shanahan's offense this week.  Nearly 20 touches will be hard to beat for any rookie.

Joyner: Ameer Abdullah. He ranked in the top 10 in college last year in rushes of 20 or more yards (18, tied for eighth) and 40 or more yards (7, tied for sixth). Detroit drafted him to be its home run back and will give him every opportunity to do so against a San Diego defense that ranked 26th in rushing yards allowed last season.

McCormick: Cooper. I'm guessing the tight point spread we see for the slightly favored Bengals is off, and the game flow could see the Raiders down early, pushing the passing game to the front burner (even as Oakland would likely prefer to pound the ground and eat up the clock). I'm also placing stock in Cooper's massive preseason target share as an indicator he could be among the league's upper echelon in such usage. Even if this isn't the boldest call, it's undoubtedly the most fertile fantasy situation among incoming professional freshmen.

Walker:  I assume most are going to pick Raiders receiver Amari Cooper, and that's a good and easy selection. But I'm going to go a little deeper with Jacksonville running back and second-round pick T.J. Yeldon, who is a former college teammate of Cooper's at Alabama. I sense the Jaguars are still in "protection mode" with quarterback Blake Bortles. I expect Jacksonville to try to hang in games by playing it safe and running the ball a lot with Yeldon with a hint of  Denard Robinson. Carolina has a tough front seven, but it takes only one touchdown and a few good runs for a fantasy tailback to get solid points.

What are your expectations for Davante Adams in Week 1: WR1, WR2, Flex, or are you going to wait to see how he fares against the Bears before using him?

Graziano: I'd have no problem running Davante Adams out there as one of my wide receivers in my three-WR league, because I think he'll produce in the Packers' offense. But if I had a more proven option who was ranked similarly or had a great matchup ( Golden Tate? Vincent Jackson?), I'd sit Adams and wait to see. He's not going to just replicate Jordy Nelson's production, because he doesn't have Jordy Nelson's exact skill set.

Hasselbeck: He's a solid WR2 for Week 1 in my opinion, and I most certainly do not need to see him versus the Bears to figure out how I feel about him.  Chicago was an absolute disaster on the defensive side of the ball a year ago, and with the Nelson injury, Adams is scheduled to play nearly every offensive snap for Green Bay.

Joyner: Nelson racked up 154 targets last year (9.6 per game), a total that ranked fourth highest among wide receivers. Green Bay won't expect Adams to shoulder that workload level, but in a matchup against a very weak Chicago secondary, it won't take a high target volume for Adams to post numbers worthy of a starting fantasy wide receiver. He is pegged squarely as a WR2 on my board this week.

McCormick: In gauging the risk/reward returns on deploying Adams in a new role after a largely inefficient rookie effort, I'm pricing Adams as a WR2 given a healthy predicted point total for the game and what should be a valuable share of the Packers' passing game. Rodgers has proved to be somewhat of a star maker already in his career, helping to coax special fantasy seasons from Greg Jennings and James Jones in previous campaigns. The Bears' retooled defense didn't make many appreciable upgrades in the secondary, while Rodgers dropped 10 TDs and zero picks on the Bears last season.

Walker: Plug and play Adams right now and don't look back! There are too many factors in Adams' favor. First, the No. 2 option at receiver in Green Bay's offense is better than half of the league's first options when it comes to fantasy points. Second, Chicago's secondary is nothing to write home about, and even head coach John Fox isn't expressing much confidence in his team this week. Finally, you never know how a veteran signing like James Jones will eventually impact a young receiver like Adams. Once Jones gets reacclimated to Green Bay's offense in a couple of weeks, his opportunities could increase and naturally impact the amount of balls thrown to Adams. Owners of Adams need to cash in now in the event the dynamics eventually change in Green Bay.

Which player do you think will make an unexpected splash this week?