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. And here are all of our fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 9.
- 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): 40% Rostered
- Next Opponents: ATL, @TB, NYJ
- True Value: $4
- Desperate Need: $6
- Budget-Minded: $2
Analysis: Kayshon Boutte has been a volatile player for fantasy purposes, but he’s on a hot streak, catching passes from MVP candidate Drake Maye. Boutte entered Week 8 with an 11.8% target share, a 17.2-yard average depth of target (aDOT), with 2.03 yards per route run and a 14% first-read share, per Fantasy Points Data. He stayed in the flames against the Browns with a 20.8% target share, 75 receiving yards and another score. Boutte’s role in the offense has also been elevated with Stefon Diggs dealing with a chest issue. The Falcons aren’t a secondary that I am looking to attack in fantasy with Boutte in the Flex, but after that, he gets Tampa Bay and the Jets. Outside of Sauce Gardner and Jamel Dean in those secondaries, there’s nothing to fear, and Boutte will again be a volatile Flex option with strong weekly upside.
Alec Pierce (WR – IND): 29% Rostered
- Next Opponents: @PIT, ATL, BYE
- True Value: $2
- Desperate Need: $4
- Budget-Minded: $1
Analysis: Alec Pierce is a Fllex-worthy option over the next two weeks because he has been Indy’s single-high beater. Pittsburgh utilizes single high at the second-highest rate in the NFL (61.9%), and Atlanta leads the NFL in its usage (72.6%). Pierce entered Week 8 with a 29.2% target share, 4.18 yards per route run and a 32.1% first-read share against single high, per Fantasy Points Data. I expect Daniel Jones to look his way early and often over the next two games.
Troy Franklin (WR – DEN): 37% Rostered
- Next Opponents: @HOU, LV, KC
- True Value: $2
- Desperate Need: $4
- Budget-Minded: $1
Analysis: In Week 8, Troy Franklin finally turned his high-value role in the Denver offense into a monster performance. Franklin entered Week 8 third on the team in deep targets, and he is fifth in the NFL in red-zone targets. Franklin destroyed the Dallas secondary with a 27.5% target share, 89 receiving yards and two scores. Two of Franklin’s next three matchups are rough, but he is a strong Flex option again against the Raiders, who have allowed the eighth-most PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers, per Fantasy Points Data.
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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.
