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
Isiah Pacheco‘s Week 1 usage and stat line were nightmare fuel if you invested in him in draft season. He played only 51% of the snaps, finishing with seven touches and 28 total yards. He had 50% of the running back rushing workload, a 29.8% route share, and a 7.7% target share. Pacheco did get the only red zone carry for the backs and was effective with his tiny workload, with a 20% missed tackle rate and 3.20 yards after contact per attempt. Kansas City should lean on him this week, but we’ll see if that happens. Andy Reid didn’t do so last week and abandoned the running game. The matchup is there for Reid to come to his senses this week and give Pacheco more work. Last week, Philly had the sixth-lowest stuff rate, gave up the seventh-highest yards after contact per attempt, and allowed the second-most yards before contact per attempt.
Nick Chubb did lead the Houston backfield, but he wasn’t the “bell cow” that was reported prior to Week 1. He played 49% of the snaps while seeing 48% of the rushing share and logging a 20.6% route share. The backfield was split up into four parts in Week 1, with Chubb, Dare Ogunbowale, Dameon Pierce, and Woody Marks all seeing at least seven snaps. Chubb was encouraging with his volume. While he didn’t have any explosive runs and only had 2.08 yards after contact per attempt, he did have a 31% missed tackle rate. If this offensive line can open some holes for him, he could surprise this season if that continues. Sadly, I don’t think that starts this week. Tampa Bay picked up right where they left off last year as a top-shelf run defense in Week 1. They allowed the seventh-fewest rushing yards and yards after contact per attempt, zero explosive runs, and the 11th-lowest missed tackle rate. Chubb needs a touchdown to save his fantasy outing in Week 2.
I’ll start this off with the usage for R.J. Harvey wasn’t what I hoped for, but I think better days are ahead for Harvey. Sean Payton utilized a three-headed committee in Week 1, and I don’t see that lasting. Tyler Badie had a 25.6% route share (the same as Harvey). I think Badie will fade into the background. The only question is how long it will take for that to happen. It could come as soon as this week. In Week 1, Harvey played 31% of the snaps with only one target (2.5% target share) as he finished with seven touches and 69 total yards. Harvey was money when he did touch the ball, though, racking up a 33% missed tackle rate and 2.50 yards after contact per attempt. J.K. Dobbins handled all of the red zone rushing work (all three attempts), so that’s also something to watch. Please, Sean Payton, unleash Harvey in Week 2. Indy is a good matchup to do so. 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.
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