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.
- Waiver Wire Picks
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice: Running Backs
Jacory Croskey-Merritt was a predraft love lister for me. Sadly, he dropped all the way to the seventh round of the NFL Draft before the Commanders picked up the phone. If Croskey-Merritt hadn’t had his 2024 season cut off by an eligibility issue, he would have gone much higher than this. His 2023 season was excellent. He ranked 19th in yards after contact per attempt and 12th in elusive rating (per PFF). He’s a no-nonsense runner who makes one cut and gets downhill. We still have to see what his role in the backfield is this week. Yes, I know he was listed as the RB4 on the most recent depth chart. (clears throat) I DON’T CARE! I’m also old enough to remember when R.J. Harvey was listed at the bottom of the Denver Broncos depth chart. I think he will be the primary early down runner and get the goal line work, but I also know Chris Rodriguez remains on this roster. There’s some risk running him out there this week as an RB2, but as a flex option for most teams, the risk is baked in. On paper, the Giants look like a plus matchup on the ground, but looks could be deceiving. Last year, in Weeks 10-18, New York allowed the ninth-highest explosive run rate, the 11th-highest missed tackle rate, and the second-most yards after contact per attempt. During part of that sample (after Week 13), Dexter Lawrence was out. The Giants also upgraded their run defense significantly this offseason with the additions of Abdul Carter, Jevon Holland, and Darius Alexander. I’m treating this as an average matchup until we see everything play out in Week 1.
The workload division for the New England backfield is up in the air. We’ll have to see how that plays out early this season before we can get a full understanding of TreVeyon Henderson‘s weekly expected touch count. Even if he is more limited out of the gate, Henderson has the per-touch explosiveness to make the most of his opportunities. In two of his last four seasons in college, Henderson ranked top ten in yards after contact per attempt (seventh, eighth) and top 20 in breakaway percentage (10th, 18th). He will operate behind an improved offensive line that added Garrett Bradbury, Will Campbell, and Morgan Moses in the offseason. Henderson should be the favorite for passing down work, which is great news for his floor and ceiling. Across his last two collegiate seasons, Henderson has ranked 21st & 22nd in receiving grade. Josh McDaniels will feature him through the air. In McDaniels’ last five full seasons of directing NFL offenses, he has ranked inside the top ten in four of those years, with 20-36.2% of the passing attack flowing through the backfield. The Raiders have a worrisome defensive line assortment when it comes to stopping the run. Last year, Adam Butler (48.3) and Thomas Booker IV (53.6) had run defense grades below 55, and Malcolm Koonce has performed at a similar level in two of his three NFL seasons. Last year, the Raiders had the 14th-highest missed tackle rate and allowed the eighth-highest yards after contact per attempt. Arguably, their run defense personnel has worsened, too. Henderson could rip off a few big runs in Week 1 and finish with a banner day.
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