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.
Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice
Start’em
Alec Pierce (IND)
Well, I hope you read the Primer last week and started Alec Pierce. Last week, he finished as the WR14 with a 24% target share, 115 receiving yards, and a 33.3% first-read share. This week, he is primed to have another nice outing. Like last week, he faces another single high heavy team and should exploit it. This week, he faces an Atlanta secondary that has the highest single high rate in the NFL (73.2%). Against single high, Pierce has a 27.6% target share with 3.69 yards per route run and a 32.5% first-read share. Those are elite numbers no matter how ya slice it. Since Week 5, Atlanta has allowed the 12th-most PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers. Start Pierce again this week and enjoy.
Darius Slayton (NYG)
In the last two games, Darius Slayton has had a 21.1% target share with a 34.7% air-yard share, 44 receiving yards per game, 1.63 yards per route run, and a 27.3% first-read share. In those two contests, he has had one red zone target and two deep targets. He had a horrible drop last week that would have pushed him close to 100 receiving yards and added a touchdown to his box score. Slayton has a very nice matchup this week that makes him a strong flex play again. Since Week 5, Chicago has allowed the seventh-most PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers while ranking 15th in receiving yards per game allowed to the position.
Wan’Dale Robinson (NYG)
Since Jaxson Dart took over, Robinson has been the WR39 in fantasy points per game with three top-36 weekly scoring finishes (WR9, WR21, WR28). During those six games, he has had a 24.9% target share with 52.8 receiving yards per game, 1.59 yards per route run, and a 26.5% first-read share. In those six games, Robinson has also seen four red zone targets and five downfield targets. Robinson should eat this week against a secondary that, since Week 5, has allowed the third-most PPR points per target and receiving yards per game to slot receivers.
Fantasy Football Flex & Deep Plays to Consider
Parker Washington (JAC)
Across his last two games, Parker Washington has had a 23.2% target share, a 34.6% air-yard share, 71 receiving yards per game, 1.89 yards per route run, and a 25.9% first-read share. Last week, Dyami Brown was lost to a concussion, and Brian Thomas Jr. sustained an ankle injury. Their statuses are up in the air for Week 10. Adding to his murky outlook is the acquisition of Jakobi Meyers. Washington played on the perimeter in one of these games and in the slot for the other. I’ll update his status on Friday once we get a clearer picture of how the Jags’ wide receiver room will look for Week 10. There’s too much up in the air right now, even to attempt to project his role and matchup this week.
Concerning Starts & Players to Fade
Josh Downs (IND)
Josh Downs has finished as a top-36 wide receiver in weekly scoring in each game since Week 5 (WR34, WR15, WR27, WR22). Since Week 5, he has had an 18.2% target share, 48 receiving yards per game, 1.86 yards per route run, and a 21.6% first-read share. In those four games, he has seven red zone targets and one deep target. His route share in those games has been a decent 66%. This week, he faces an Atlanta secondary that has the highest single high rate in the NFL (73.2%). Since Week 5, against single high, his target share has dipped to 13.2% with 1.34 yards per route run and a 15.7% first-read share. Since Week 5, Atlanta has held slot receivers to the 14th-fewest receiving yards per game and ranked 16th in PPR points per target. Downs is a middling flex play this week. He could easily score a touchdown and save his day, but I don’t project a standout performance.
Sit’em
Jakobi Meyers (JAC)
The newest Jags’ receiver isn’t flex-worthy this week. With a short timetable for him to learn the offense and build rapport with his new quarterback, he is likely only a part-time player this week with a bad matchup. Meyers will have flex-worthy weeks moving forward, but this isn’t one of them. Houston has allowed the second-fewest schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game to wide receivers.
Darnell Mooney (ATL)
Darnell Mooney has been a ghost since his return to the lineup. Since Week 7, he has had a 9.4% target share with 31.3 receiving yards per game, 0.96 yards per route run, and a 15.9% first-read share. In those three games, he has only one red zone target and four deep targets. He has regulated to a downfield, low volume role with a 20.8 aDOT and 40% of his target volume coming via deep targets. Since Week 5, Indy has allowed the seventh-lowest passer rating and the eighth-lowest CPOE to downfield targets. Sit Mooney this week and he’s borderline droppable at this point.
Keon Coleman (BUF)
Keon Coleman is droppable. Since Week 2, he has had only a 15.8% target share with 24.6 receiving yards per game, 1.17 yards per route run, and two red zone targets. This week, he faces a Miami secondary that has utilized two high at the fourth-highest rate (57.9%). Since Week 2, against two high, Coleman has had a 14% target per route run rate and 0.82 yards per route run. If you wish to continue to roster him, sit him this week. Since Week 5, Miami has allowed the second-fewest PPR points per target to perimeter wide receivers.
Malik Washington (MIA)
Since Week 5, Washington has been the WR65 in fantasy points per game, with one outing with double-digit PPR points (13.6 in Week 8). Across his last five games, he has had a 62.3% route share, a 15% target share, 27.2 receiving yards per game, 1.19 yards per route run, and a 16.1% first-read share. During that span, he has had six red zone targets and one deep target. Don’t flex Washington this week. Since Week 5, Buffalo has allowed the seventh-fewest PPR points per target to slot receivers (Washington 49.1% slot rate).
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