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: Running Backs
Bigsby had an awesome sophomore season for Jacksonville, especially considering how his rookie season unfolded. He finished as the RB40 in fantasy points per game, with eight weeks as the RB36 or higher in weekly fantasy scoring. Bigsby wasn’t involved in the passing game, having only 12 targets last year. We’ll see if that changes this season, as Bigsby was catching passes in the preseason in limited action. Among 46 qualifying backs, he ranked 21st in explosive run rate and second-best in yards after contact per attempt. Bigsby will be locked into a committee, and it remains to be seen how work will be divided up this season. He could take on more of the early down lifting with Travis Etienne playing on passing downs, or they could rotate drives while Bhayshul Tuten siphons off some snaps and opportunities. Bigsby has a nice on-paper matchup in Week 1, but appearances could be deceiving. Last year, in Weeks 10-18, Carolina fielded a legendarily bad run defense, giving up the most rushing yards per game, the fourth-highest explosive run rate, and the eighth-highest missed tackle rate. Carolina invested significant resources into their defensive line with the signings of Bobby Brown III, Tershawn Wharton, and Patrick Jones II, which will upgrade this unit along with the return of a healthy Derrick Brown. This is better viewed as an above-average matchup that could easily be a bad matchup for rushers this season.
Travis Etienne had an incredibly disappointing season last year as the RB37 in fantasy points per game. He dealt with a shoulder issue (Week 4) and hamstring problems (Week 6). In Weeks 1-3, he averaged 15 touches and 67.4 total yards. In Weeks 10-18, after he was over the hamstring woes, he averaged 14 touches and 57.6 total yards. His per-touch efficiency in the 11 games that he was at his healthiest last year was putrid. Etienne had an 8% missed tackle rate and only 2.30 yards after contact per attempt. Those are backup-level worthy tackle-breaking numbers. Etienne will be locked into a committee, and it remains to be seen how work will be divided up this season. He could take on more of the passing downs with Tank Bigsby playing on rushing downs, or they could rotate drives while Bhayshul Tuten siphons off some snaps and opportunities. Etienne has a nice on-paper matchup in Week 1, but appearances could be deceiving. Last year, in Weeks 10-18, Carolina fielded a legendarily bad run defense, giving up the most rushing yards per game, the fourth-highest explosive run rate, and the eighth-highest missed tackle rate. Carolina invested significant resources into their defensive line with the signings of Bobby Brown III, Tershawn Wharton, and Patrick Jones II, which will upgrade this unit along with the return of a healthy Derrick Brown. This is better viewed as an above-average matchup that could easily be a bad matchup for rushers this season.
With Quinshon Judkins still unsigned and not part of the backfield equation, Jerome Ford is penciled in as the leader of the ground game out of the gate. Last year, when he was active with Nick Chubb in the lineup, he averaged 8.2 touches and 47.7 total yards as the RB39 in fantasy points per game. Ford remained explosive last year. Among 46 qualifying backs, he ranked eighth in explosive run rate and yards after contact per attempt while finishing 18th in missed tackles forced per attempt. The Browns have been hesitant to load Ford up with volume in recent seasons, despite his per-touch efficiency screaming that he deserves more volume. We’ll see him work in tandem with Dylan Sampson, but their division of labor is still up for debate. Ford is a decent flex play in deeper leagues with a nice matchup. Last year, in Weeks 10-18, Cincy allowed the tenth-highest explosive run rate and the 13th-highest missed tackle rate while also ranking 15th in rushing yards per game allowed.
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