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
Start ‘Em
Darren Waller made his 2025 debut last week and ran hotter than the sun. He turned a 37% route share, 16% target share, 27 receiving yards (2.70 yards per route run), and a 20% first-read share (two scores) into a TE4 finish for the week. Waller should see his route share increase in the coming weeks. He’s a volatile play until we see that happen with the state of the tight end position; you might be pressed into playing him. The matchup is right for him to make the most out of his routes this week again. Carolina has allowed the ninth-most fantasy points per game and the second-most receiving yards to tight ends.
Juwan Johnson is the TE8 in fantasy points per game, ranking seventh in deep targets and fourth in red zone targets among tight ends. Johnson has a 20.8% target share with 1.53 yards per route run (51 receiving yards per game) and a 26.7% first-read share. He has finished as a top ten fantasy tight end in three of four games (TE1, TE4, TE9). Johnson could be a TE1 again this week, but the matchup isn’t great. He’ll have to get there with raw volume. The Giants have faced the third-most tight end targets this season, but are 19th in fantasy points per game against the position and have yielded the third-fewest yards per reception.
Mason Taylor finally had the breakout game that I’ve been waiting for last week. If you’re tight-end needy, I hope you grabbed him off the waiver wire. Last week, he was the TE11 in fantasy, soaking up a 25.9% target share with 65 receiving yards (2.50 yards per route run) and a 33.3% first-read share. Taylor has one red zone target this season. He should see plenty of volume to flirt with TE1 value again this week and moving forward. Dallas allowed Dallas Goedert to secure all seven of his targets against them for 44 receiving yards, and Tucker Kraft snagged all five of his targets for 56 receiving yards. Taylor should post a solid stat line this week.
Sit ‘Em
Brenton Strange is the TE14 in fantasy points per game with one TE1 finish this season (TE7). He’s still looking for his first red zone or deep target this season. Strange has a 16% target share with 45.5 receiving yards per game (1.80 yards per route run) and a 15.7% first-read share. Strange isn’t on the streaming radar as Kansas City has allowed the sixth-fewest receiving yards and the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends.
Harold Fannin Jr. has seen his fantasy value crater over the last two weeks as the TE30 and TE31 in weekly fantasy scoring. He has only two red zone targets this season. Fannin Jr. has a 56.6% route share, a 14% target share, 1.62 yards per route run (40 receiving yards per game), and a 17.6% first-read share. Minnesota has the highest two high rate in the NFL (75.5%). Against two high, Fannin Jr. has had a 12.7% target share, 1.24 yards per route run, and an 18.9% first-read share. Sit Fannin Jr. this week. Minnesota has allowed the 11th-fewest receiving yards and the ninth-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends.
David Njoku is borderline droppable at this point. He’s the TE24 in fantasy points per game and hasn’t finished higher than TE15 in any week. Njoku has only one red zone target. He has an 11.6% target share, 0.99 yards per route run, and a 13.7% first-read share. He hasn’t surpassed 40 receiving yards in any game this season. Minnesota has the highest two high rate in the NFL (75.5%). Against two high, Njoku has an 11.1% target share, 1.06 yards per route run, and a 16.2% first-read share. Sit Njoku this week. Minnesota has allowed the 11th-fewest receiving yards and the ninth-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends.
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.
