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.
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Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice
Going into Week 5, it was unclear how the Cardinals were going to divide the running back workload in the absence of Trey Benson, who was placed on injured reserve (IR) last week after sustaining a knee injury in Week 4. (Benson himself was starting in place of James Conner, who was lost to a season-ending foot injury.) Michael Carter, who began the season on Arizona’s practice squad, played 57.4% of the Cardinals’ offensive snaps in Week 5 and had a team-high 18 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown against the Titans. Carter also led the backfield in pass routes (18) and had five catches for 22 yards. As if the usage gap between Carter and Emari Demercado wasn’t big enough, Demercado did himself no favors by lollygagging at the end of what should have been a 72-yard touchdown run and then dropping the ball before he crossed the goal-line, blowing a chance to salt away a game that the Cardinals wound up losing 22-21. Carter figures to lead the Arizona backfield again in Week 6 and should be startable until Benson’s return — even in a tough matchup against the Packers in Week 7.
The Saints have ramped up Kendre Miller’s usage over the last two weeks. In Week 4, Miller played 31% of the offensive snaps and had 11-65-1 rushing in the Saints’ loss to the Bills. In Week 5, Miller played 39% of the snaps and had 10-41-0 rushing and 1-8-0 receiving in a win over the Giants. After being plagued by injuries during his first two years in the league, Miller is finally getting a foothold in the Saints’ offense. Miller doesn’t have standalone value yet, because Alvin Kamara is still the undisputed lead back in New Orleans, and the Saints don’t have enough offensive punch for two of their backs to be fantasy-viable. But Miller is at least flirting with Flex value, and he’d become quite valuable if anything happened to Kamara. One minor concern is that Taysom Hill’s return to action after last season’s knee injury could put a dent in Miller’s rushing volume. Hill had six carries Sunday in his first game back.
Chargers RB Omarion Hampton has been placed on injured reserve with a foot injury, leaving the Chargers scrambling to fill the void. Hassan Haskins, who played for Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh at the University of Michigan, figures to be part of the replacement plan, though he’s likely to share work with Kimani Vidal and perhaps others. (The Chargers could potentially re-sign Gus Edwards.) The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Haskins is bigger than Vidal and is the best bet to handle goal-line work. In his final college season at Michigan in 2021, Haskins ran for 1,327 yards and 20 touchdowns. But Haskins is a plodder with minimal pass-catching ability, so he’s unlikely to play on passing downs. Haskins is worth an investment if you have a screaming need at running back, but realize that he probably won’t have the backfield to himself while Hampton is out. Also consider that the Chargers’ offensive line has been decimated by injuries.
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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.