Start em or sit em? Fantasy football start or sit decisions can be excruciating. While it feels great to make the right call and cruise to fantasy glory, it hurts just as much when you have someone erupt while on your bench. You can use our Who Should I Start? tool to gauge advice from fantasy football experts as you make your lineup decisions. And you can also sync your fantasy football league for free using our My Playbook tool for custom advice, rankings and analysis.
Let’s take a look at a few polarizing players and what fantasy football expert Derek Brown advises. And you can find all of DBro’s fantasy football outlook in this week’s fantasy football primer.
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Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice
Dallas Goedert has finished as a TE1 in fantasy points per game in EVERY season since 2019. Goedert dealt with injuries again last year with a knee issue and a hamstring ailment. When he was on the field and playing at least 60% of the snaps, he produced 11.8 PPR points per game, which would have equaled the TE8 in fantasy points per game last year. In that sample, he earned a 20.2% target share, churned out 55.1 receiving yards per game and 2.23 yards per route run, and garnered a 25.2% first-read share. Among 47 qualifying tight ends last year, those figures would have ranked sixth, fourth, fourth, and third last season. Goedert should have a solid opening to the 2025 season. Dallas’ new defensive coordinator, Matt Eberflus, over the last three seasons of coordinating a defense has featured single high with 54.5-60.2% of his defensive snaps while ranking ninth, 14th, and fifth in its usage over that span. Last year, against single high, Goedert had a wonderful 28% target per route run rate, 3.32 yards per route run, and 0.155 first downs per route run. Last season, Dallas allowed the sixth-highest yards per reception and the ninth-most receiving touchdowns per game to tight ends.
The Cowboys put Javonte Williams in bubble wrap during the preseason. He didn’t play a single snap in the preseason, so his expected workload and role remain a mystery. Considering the context of this depth chart, though, I do expect him to be the team’s workhorse out of the gate. Now, projecting him to maintain that role for the entirety of the season is where it gets tricky. It comes down to which version of Williams we get this year. Last season, Williams finished as the RB36 in fantasy points per game. Last year, Williams struggled after Week 8 as he didn’t force a single missed tackle for the rest of the season. His production in Weeks 1-8 offers some hope that we could see a better version of him in 2025. Yes, he hit a wall down the stretch last season, but in the first eight games, among 43 qualifying backs, Williams ranked 13th in missed tackle rate (20% per Fantasy Points Data). The Eagles return most of their run defense from last year, with some changes along the defensive line. Williams could surprise people in Week 1 against a Philly run defense that in Weeks 10-18 last year allowed the 13th-highest explosive run rate, the 12th-highest missed tackle rate, and the eighth-most yards after contact per attempt.
He’s FREE! George Pickens has been liberated from quarterback purgatory and will enjoy the best quarterback play of his career in a contract year. Last year, Pickens finished as the WR35 in fantasy points per game. He proved that he could operate as a number one option, ranking 16th in target share (23.9%), 25th in yards per route run (2.18), ninth in first-read share (32%), and 24th in receiving yards per game (64.3, per Fantasy Points Data). His numbers were even better in Weeks 1-13, before his hamstring injury, when he ranked 18th in separation, eighth in yards per route run (2.53), and 25th in route win rate. While I’m high on Pickens’ season-long outlook for 2025, I don’t love this matchup for him out of the gate. Last year, Philly allowed the second-fewest fantasy points per game and the fourth-fewest PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers. Yes, they lost Darius Slay in the offseason and replaced him with Adoree Jackson, but this is also a tough schematic matchup for Pickens. Last year, after Week 14 (including the playoffs), the Eagles had the tenth highest rate of two high (54.4%). In 2024, against two high, Pickens had only 1.07 yards per route run and 0.040 first downs per route run. Against two high, among 101 qualifying wide receivers, he ranked 59th in separation and 71st in route win rate. Temper your expectations for Pickens this week.
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If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.
