Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em: Tory Horton, Tez Johnson, Sam Darnold

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

Tory Horton (WR – SEA)

Analysis: Tory Horton made his presence known Sunday night while starting in place of Cooper Kupp, who was out after sustaining a late-week hamstring injury. Horton made the most of his 16.6% target share with 48 receiving yards and two scores. The Seattle passing offense isn’t a source of massive volume, but it has been incredibly efficient this season, with Sam Darnold arguably playing the best football of his career. Kupp is an older receiver, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the hamstring issue keeps him out for a few games, which would leave Horton as a strong weekly Flex play.

Tez Johnson (WR – TB)

Analysis: Since becoming a full-time starter for the Bucs in Week 6, Tez Johnson has had a 16.5% target share with 1.70 yards per route run and a 17.7% first-read share, per Fantasy Points Data. In those three games, Johnson has one red-zone target and three deep targets. In two of those three games, he has finished as a top-36 wide receiver in weekly scoring (WR18, WR26). Johnson is a decent Flex play over the next two weeks against New England and Buffalo, who, since Week 4, respectively rank 17th and 15th in PPR points per target allowed to perimeter wide receivers.

Sam Darnold (QB – SEA)

Analysis: Sam Darnold is like rye bread. He’s not the best option (white bread) nor the healthiest (whole wheat), but he’s a solid choice that leaves you satisfied. With three top-10 fantasy finishes on the season and three finishes between QB18 and QB24, Darnold has upside with a relatively safe floor each week. In Week 10, the Seahawks face the Cardinals, who entered Week 9 surprisingly allowing the 10th-fewest fantasy points to the quarterback position. On a team with Jaxon Smith-Njigba and two quality running backs, Darnold is a solid fantasy play each week.

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.