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
Jaylen Warren took over as Pittsburgh’s lead back last week with 58.1% of the snaps, 18 touches, and 134 total yards. Warren is currently the RB13 in fantasy points per game. He has a 28.8% route share and a 9.2% target share. We haven’t seen the usual per-touch brilliance from Warren so far this season, with only a 16% missed tackle rate and 1.96 yards after contact per attempt (zero explosive runs). The missed tackle rate is solid but not awe-inspiring. Warren will have a tough day on the ground this week, but he can make up for that through the air. New England has allowed the third-fewest rushing yards per game, the eighth-lowest missed tackle rate, and the 14th-fewest yards after contact per attempt. The Pats, however, have allowed the sixth-most yards per reception and the fourth-most receiving yards to running backs.
Isiah Pacheco has been a massive letdown to this point. He has averaged 53% of the snaps, had 15 of 29 running back carries, and a 37.6% route share. He has averaged only nine touches and 28.5 total yards. His per-touch numbers also haven’t been anything to write home about, with zero explosive runs, a 7% missed tackle rate, and only 2.40 yards after contact per attempt. He has only one red zone rushing attempt, while Kareem Hunt and Patrick Mahomes have combined for five. This might be the last hurrah. If Pacheco can’t post a nice stat line this week, it might be time to consider giving up hope. The Giants have fielded one of the worst run defenses in the NFL, allowing the most rushing yards per game, the seventh-highest explosive run rate, and the second-most yards after contact per attempt.
TreVeyon Henderson has been stuck behind Rhamondre Stevenson through two weeks, playing only 31.7-35.2% of the snaps, and I don’t know if that changes this week. Henderson has averaged eight touches and 45.5 total yards. His passing game role has been stable with a 32.1% and 30% route share in each game. Henderson hasn’t been the efficient per-touch back that we thought we were getting, though. He doesn’t have an explosive run yet and has managed only a 13% missed tackle rate and 0.75 yards after contact per attempt. Yes, I know he has only eight carries so far this season, so the sample size is insanely small. I still had to mention it. I don’t see his role growing this week, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t bust at least one big run this week to save his day as a flex play with a good matchup. Pittsburgh has allowed the third-highest explosive run rate, the fifth-most rushing yards per game, and the second-highest missed tackle rate.
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