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 dive into our start/sit lineup advice and outlook for a few of the top fantasy football waiver wire pickups of the week.
- 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
Kayshon Boutte (WR – NE): 32% Rostered
- Next Opponents: CLE, ATL, @TB
- True Value: $5
- Desperate Need: $7
- Budget-Minded: $2
Analysis: Kayshon Boutte balled out in Week 6 as the WR4 in fantasy, with a 19.2% target share, 93 receiving yards, two touchdowns and a 16.7% first-read share, per Fantasy Points Data. While he didn’t equal that performance in Week 7, Boutte still had a nice day, turning his two targets (8.6% target share) into 55 receiving yards and a score. He offers flex appeal again this week, tied to MVP candidate Drake Maye. Cleveland has allowed the third-most PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers.
Tez Johnson (WR – TB): 17% Rostered
- Next Opponents: @NO, BYE, NE
- True Value: $2
- Desperate Need: $4
- Budget-Minded: $1
Analysis: In Week 7, Tez Johnson assumed a full-time role in the Bucs’ offense, commanding an 18% target share and finishing with 58 receiving yards and a score. Baker Mayfield will have to rely upon the talented rookie even more moving forward, with Mike Evans possibly on the shelf for the rest of the regular season and Chris Godwin’s health in the wind. Entering Week 7, Johnson had a solid 17% target per route run rate and 1.87 yards per route run, per Fantasy Points Data. Johnson is a strong flex this week against the Saints, who have allowed the 12th-most schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game to wide receivers.
Sterling Shepard (WR – TB): 15% Rostered
- Next Opponents: @NO, BYE, NE
- True Value: $1
- Desperate Need: $2
- Budget-Minded: $0
Analysis: Entering Week 7, Sterling Shepard had a 13.8% target share, 40.3 receiving yards per game with 1.64 yards per route run, and an 11.5% first-read share. The sturdy veteran had only one game with more than 60 receiving yards and two top-36 weekly wide receiver finishes (WR33, WR32). Against the Lions, he secured all seven of his targets with 25 receiving yards. Even with Mike Evans’ injury, I don’t foresee Shepard evolving into more than a weekly deep league flex play. Still, he does offer some PPR flex appeal, especially this week against the Saints, who have given up the 12th-most schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game to wide receivers.
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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.
