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
Wilson has had a tough run to open the season. Whether it has been defenses scheming up to stop him, Wilson receiving tough shadow coverage, or him and Rodgers not syncing up, it has been rough. Wilson is the WR43 in fantasy points per game despite a 25% target share, a 34% air-yard share, and a 31.2% first-read share. Wilson has produced only 47.8 receiving yards per game and 1.36 YPRR. Wilson is tied with Allen Lazard for the team lead with five red zone targets. This week doesn’t look any more promising. Minnesota has allowed the seventh-fewest PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers. Wilson will run about 61% of his routes against Stephon Gilmore (77.3% catch rate and 92.6 passer rating) and Shaquill Griffin (47.1% catch rate and 53.3 passer rating).
Pittman has limped out the gate as the WR55 in fantasy points per game. Richardson has been a big part of the problem, but Pittman has still seen a 28.2% target share, a 27.8% air-yard share, and a 31.9% first-read share with 2.12 YPRR. Pittman leads the team with three red zone targets, and he’s gotten involved in the deep passing game (four targets, third on the team). Over the last two weeks, Jacksonville has flipped their defensive approach with the fifth-highest two-high rate (55.6%). Since Josh Downs‘ return, Pittman ranks first in target share (23.8%, tied with Downs), first in YPRR (2.47), and second in first-read share (26.7%) against two-high. Pittman will run about 78% of his routes against Ronald Darby (79.2% catch rate and 132.1 passer rating) and Montaric Brown (63% catch rate and 90.2 passer rating). Jacksonville has allowed the eighth-highest PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers.
Since his return to the lineup, Downs is tied with Pittman for the team lead in target share (28%) while posting 2.67 YPRR and a 37.8% first-read share (first on the team). Over the last two weeks, Jacksonville has flipped their defensive approach with the fifth-highest two-high rate (55.6%). Since Week 3, against two-high, Downs has tied Pittman in target share (23.8%), ranked second in YPRR (1.94), and led the team in first-read share (33.3%). Jacksonville has allowed the eighth-most receiving yards and the ninth-highest PPR points per target to slot receivers. Downs will run about 95% of his routes against Jarrian Jones (78.6% catch rate and 111.6 passer rating).
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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.