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
Justin Herbert is the QB9 in fantasy points per game, while ranking third in passing yards per game, seventh in CPOE, eighth in highly accurate throw rate, and 11th in hero throw rate. He has averaged 4.3 rushing attempts and 26.6 rushing yards per game. Herbert will face what has become a softer Minny pass defense, as they have allowed the tenth-highest yards per attempt and 11th-highest passer rating while sitting at 15th in adjusted completion rate. The Vikings can still bring the heat with their pass rush, though, ranking second in blitz rate and third in pressure rate. Herbert should navigate the pocket fairly well as he ranks 12th in yards per attempt and 14th in passer rating against the blitz.
With Aaron Jones back this week, we likely see Jordan Mason return to his role as the early-down component of Minnesota’s committee backfield. In Week 1, Mason had all three red zone rushing attempts while logging 15 of 23 running back rushing attempts with a 25% route share (5% target share). Among 57 qualifying backs, Mason ranks 21st in explosive run rate and 17th in missed tackle rate. He should have success on the ground this week. The Chargers have been a soft run defense to exploit all year, allowing the third-highest explosive run rate, the sixth-highest missed tackle rate, and the fifth-highest yards before contact per attempt.
Over the last two games, Kimani Vidal has had a 65.9% snap share, a 44% route share (8.6% target share), and averaged 17 touches and 86.5 total yards. He has handled nine of ten red zone rushing attempts for the team. Among 57 qualifying backs, he ranks second in explosive run rate and 12th in yards after contact per attempt. Vidal should have a solid day this week against a Minnesota run defense that ranks 15th in rushing yards per game while giving up the 14th-highest yards before contact per attempt, the fifth-highest yards per carry to zone runs, and the fourth-highest success rate to zone runs (Vidal 67.7% zone).
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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.
