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
Despite his incredible efficiency and his standout performances this season, Dowdle took a back seat to Chuba Hubbard last week with a 43.5% snap rate, a 20.8% route share, and a 10% target share. Dowdle has outplayed Hubbard handily on a per-touch basis. Among 57 qualifying backs, Dowdle ranks 13th in explosive run rate, 17th in missed tackle rate, and sixth in yards after contact per attempt. Last week, Dowdle finished with 20 touches and 79 total yards, seeing a touch or a target on 20 of his 27 snaps played. That type of usage on a per-snap basis is difficult to maintain. You’re threading a fine needle, so if Dowdle’s snap count doesn’t flip back in the other direction, he could become volatile, while on the surface it looked like he got an RB2-level workload in his last game. Dowdle is a strong flex and could be an RB2 this week (RB36 in Week 13). Since Week 10, New Orleans has allowed the tenth-most rushing yards per game, the 13th-most yards before contact per attempt, and the third-highest yards per carry to zone runs (Hubbard 58.6% zone).
In Carolina’s last game, Chuba Hubbard reclaimed the lead back role with a 58.1% snap rate, a 54.2% route share, and a 10% target share. Hubbard finished with 19 touches and 124 total yards as the RB5 for the week. Hubbard’s lack of efficiency has been startling, especially with Carolina’s insistence on reinstalling him as the lead back. Among 57 qualifying backs, he has zero explosive runs and ranks 54th in missed tackle rate and 55th in yards after contact per attempt. Hubbard could still have a nice day against a burnable Saints’ run defense. Since Week 10, New Orleans has allowed the tenth-most rushing yards per game, the 13th-most yards before contact per attempt, and the third-highest yards per carry to zone runs (Hubbard 58.6% zone).
Tyrone Tracy opened the week with a full practice (hip). Tracy sustained the hip injury in Week 13 and was forced to leave the game, so the full practice to open the week was nice to see. I expect that Tracy will be a full go this week and return to the role we saw him operate in for Week 12. Against the Lions, he played 70.7% of the snaps with 23 touches and 130 total yards. He was the Giants’ clear lead back. Tracy has been a volume play that has lacked efficiency with his 2.7% explosive run rate, his 7% missed tackle rate, and 2.04 yards after contact per attempt. Tracy could easily be an RB2 this week, though, against the Commanders’ Swiss cheese run defense. Since Week 10, Washington has allowed the second-most rushing yards per game, the fourth-highest explosive run rate, and the fifth-highest missed tackle rate.
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