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.
- 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
Caleb Williams has finished as the QB20 or lower in weekly scoring in three of his past four games. He’s the QB14 in fantasy points per game. During that stretch, he hasn’t managed more than 25 rushing yards in any game. Among 45 qualifying passers, Williams is one of the most inaccurate quarterbacks in the league, ranking 15th in yards per attempt, 39th in highly accurate throw rate, 41st in catchable target rate, and having the fifth-highest off-target rate. If the Bears don’t continue winning, don’t be surprised if we see Tyson Bagent this season. Cincy should act as a one-week cologne to cover Caleb Williams‘ smelly play on the football field. Since Week 4, the Bengals have allowed the third-highest yards per attempt, the fifth-most passing yards per game, the most passing touchdowns, and the second-highest success rate per dropback.
Sam Darnold might be the QB20 in fantasy points per game, but he has been a QB1 in weekly scoring in three of his last five games (QB10, QB2, QB9). The problem for Darnold hasn’t been his play, but the passing volume of the Seattle offense. He ranks 26th in dropbacks this season despite ranking second in yards per attempt, tenth in passing yards per game, second in hero throw rate, and ninth in fantasy points per dropback. Darnold could be a QB1 again this week. Since Week 4, Washington has allowed the second-most yards per attempt, the tenth-highest success rate per dropback, the third-most passing touchdowns (tied), and the sixth-most passing yards per game.
The last two games for Bo Nix have dramatically helped his full-season totals as he’s now the QB7 in fantasy points per game. As a passer, his numbers are still rough to look at. Among 45 qualifying passers, Nix ranks 32nd in yards per attempt, 27th in highly accurate throw rate, 40th in catchable target rate, and he has the 11th-highest off-target rate. I don’t want to play Nix this week unless I’m out of other options. Since Week 4, Houston has been a shutdown pass defense, allowing the second-lowest yards per attempt and CPOE, and the lowest passing yards per game and success rate per dropback. Nix will have to display some 2024 magic this week to overcome this matchup.
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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.
