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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- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
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Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice
Last week, David Montgomery finished with 15 touches and only 43 total yards. He had 55% of the running back rushing attempts while seeing a 32.6% route share and 10.3% target share. Jahmyr Gibbs had two red zone carries while Montgomery got one. Overall, he played only 37% of the snaps. The once vaunted Detroit offensive line generated the 12th-fewest yards before contact per attempt on the ground. Montgomery didn’t look explosive with only a 9% missed tackle rate and 2.0 yards after contact per attempt. We’ll see if he can get going this week against the Bears, who in Week 1 allowed the 12th-highest yards after contact per attempt, the 13th-highest missed tackle rate, and the eighth-most yards before contact per attempt.
J.K. Dobbins played 53% of the snaps in Week 1 and had all three of the team’s red zone carries. He finished with 18 touches and 68 total yards. Dobbins posted solid tackle-breaking numbers with a 19% missed tackle rate and 2.63 yards after contact per attempt. He only had an 18.6% route share, which I kinda expected. He will be the back who contributes on early downs and in pass protection. Dobbins should have a strong day on the ground this week against Indy. In Week 1, Indy allowed the highest yards after contact per attempt and the sixth-highest rushing success rate while also having the 11th-lowest stuff rate.
Jordan Mason began the 2025 season with the role we thought he’d have all offseason. Mason was the goal line and early down hammer for Minny. He finished with a 57% snap rate, 16 touches, 75 total yards, 65.2% of the running back rushing work, and all of the red zone carries (three). He had only a 25% route share and 5% target share, as Aaron Jones is the primary receiving back. Mason’s per carry efficiency wasn’t great with zero missed tackles forced and only 2.0 yards after contact per attempt, but it’s a small sample size, so don’t panic yet. He has a brutal matchup on the ground this week, though, and will need a score to pay off this week. In Week 1, the Falcons had the eighth-highest stuff rate and allowed the sixth-lowest missed tackle rate and only 1.09 yards before contact per attempt.
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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.