Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em: Theo Johnson, Oronde Gadsden, Harold Fannin

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.

Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice

Harold Fannin Jr. (TE – CLE)

In Dillon Gabriel‘s first start, Harold Fannin Jr. had a 12.1% target share, a 47.2% route share, 13 receiving yards (0.76 yards per route run) and a 14.3% first-read share, per Fantasy Points Data. It was Fannin’s smallest route share of the season, and the touchdown he secured saved his fantasy day. David Njoku suffered a knee injury on Sunday, and Fannin became the Browns’ full-time tight end, playing 80.2% of the snaps with a 75.8% route share and a 20.8% target share, per PFF. He finished with seven grabs and 81 receiving yards. Fannin will be a strong streaming option over the next two weeks, assuming Njoku plays. But if Njoku is out, Fannin will be a must-start TE1. The Dolphins and Patriots, respectively, have allowed the eighth-most and seventh-most fantasy points per game to tight ends.

Oronde Gadsden II (TE – LAC)

Oronde Gadsden just had a wonderful breakout performance. He was the Chargers’ full-time tight end in Week 6 with a 75% snap share, an 82% route share and a 21.6% target share, per PFF. Gadsden turned eight targets into seven receptions and 68 receiving yards. If he keeps this role moving forward, catching passes from Justin Herbert, Gadsden will have plenty of streamer-worthy weeks and could flirt with TE1 value for the rest of the season.

Theo Johnson (TE – NYG)

Analysis: Since Week 4, Theo Johnson has had an 18.4% target share with 25.7 receiving yards per game (1.04 yards per route run) and a 21.7% first-read share, per Fantasy Points Data. That’s solid usage, especially when you consider that he’s also had three end-zone targets and three touchdowns in that time frame, too. In those three games, Johnson has averaged 12.2 PPR points. His upcoming matchups aren’t great, but if he continues to see this usage moving forward, he will continue to flirt with TE1 value.

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.