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.
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Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice
Travis Etienne is the RB20 in fantasy points per game, averaging 15.9 touches and 84.8 total yards. He is tenth in snap share, 19th in weighted opportunities, and 17th in red zone touches among running backs. Among 60 qualifying backs, Etienne ranks 19th in explosive run rate and 26th in yards after contact per attempt. The Raiders have toughened up as a run defense and present a sizable obstacle for Etienne this week. Since Week 4, the Raiders have allowed the fifth-lowest explosive run rate, the tenth-fewest rushing yards per game, and the fourth-lowest yards before contact per attempt. Etienne is a volume play that you hope gets into the end zone this week.
With Cam Skattebo‘s unfortunate injury last week, Tyrone Tracy Jr. will be the team’s workhorse moving forward. Last week, in the second half, he played 74% of the snaps with five of seven running back carries and a 61.1% route share. Tracy Jr. hasn’t been nearly as impressive this season on a per-touch basis as last year, with an 11% missed tackle rate and only 2.09 yards after contact per attempt. Tracy Jr. should produce solid RB2 numbers this week. Since Week 4, San Francisco’s run defense has been quite average, allowing the ninth-highest yards before contact per attempt, the 13th-highest yards per carry to zone runs (Tracy 62.2% zone), logging the second-lowest stuff rate, and sitting at 16th in success rate.
Since Week 6, Samaje Perine has been the 1B in the Cincy backfield as the RB29 in fantasy points per game. He has averaged 8.3 touches and 54.3 touches with three of 11 red zone rushing attempts. During that stretch, he has had a 42.2% snap rate, a 32.1% route share, and a 3.2% target share. Perine has been insanely efficient with his rushing work ranking ninth in missed tackle rate and 12th in yards after contact per attempt. He should have another strong game this week against a Bears’ run defense that, since Week 4, has allowed the fourth-most rushing yards per game, the ninth-highest explosive run rate, the tenth-most yards before contact per attempt, and the 14th-highest success rate. Perine is a strong flex play this week.
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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.
