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
The SZN of BILL is here. Croskey-Merritt rendered Chris Rodriguez a healthy scratch in Week 1. He played only 33% of the snaps against the Giants, but he turned ten carries into 82 rushing yards. He split the red zone work with Austin Ekeler, with each player getting two carries inside the 20. Croskey-Merritt posted a 20% missed tackle rate and 4.10 yards after contact per attempt. He displayed the lateral agility, vision, and footwork that I loved in college. Croskey-Merritt looks gamescript sensitive at the moment after he had only a 13.5% route per dropback rate in Week 1. That could climb into the 30% range in Week 2 if he can shove Jeremy McNichols back into the shadows. Croskey-Merritt did have three pass blocking snaps in Week 1 and didn’t allow any hurries or pressures. Croskey-Merritt will have his work cut out for him in Week 2 against a stout Packers run defense. Last week, they allowed the fewest rushing yards (tied), zero explosive runs, and the fourth-lowest yards after contact per attempt. They did give up the highest missed tackle rate (32%), but that could easily be a one-week anomaly. Last year, in Weeks 10-18, Green Bay allowed the tenth-lowest explosive run rate, the third-fewest rushing yards per game, and the second-lowest missed tackle rate.
Washington had Austin Ekeler leading the way in Week 1. He had a 47% snap share (46% route share), finishing with nine touches and 57 total yards. Ekeler had a 10% target share and split the red zone carry load with Jacory Croskey-Merritt (two each). His per-touch efficiency was snoozeworthy with zero explosive runs and missed tackles. Ekeler has the veteran nod for now, but Jacory Croskey-Merritt will eat into his work if he continues what he did in Week 1 in the next few games. Ekeler has uphill sledding in Week 2 against a stout Packers run defense. Last week, they allowed the fewest rushing yards (tied), zero explosive runs, and the fourth-lowest yards after contact per attempt. They did give up the highest missed tackle rate (32%), but that could easily be a one-week anomaly. Last year, in Weeks 10-18, Green Bay allowed the tenth-lowest explosive run rate, the third-fewest rushing yards per game, and the second-lowest missed tackle rate.
I understand it paid off in Week 1, but I STILL can’t trust Jayden in Reed in a fantasy lineup, right now. Yes, he led the team with a 22.7% target share and 28.6% first-read share, but if he didn’t score in Week 1, people would be more hesitant to play him. He had only a 52.2% route per dropback rate with an unsustainable 42% target per route run rate, which still only got him five targets. The Packers sat on their lead against the Lions, which limited the passing volume, but playing slow and strangling teams with the clock could be their approach in 2025. They had the second-fewest plays run in Week 1. Until Reed’s playing time changes, I can’t trust him in fantasy lineups. If it burns me, it burns me. It’s too volatile and could easily leave you with a goose egg in your lineup in any week.
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