When I do the fantasy football rankings over at Fantasy Alarm, there is a science to it. We are combing through data, we are looking at narrative, we are identifying matchups. Those are created using our heads. But there are two exercises each week where I find out what is really in my heart.

One, are the start/sit questions. Especially for my own lineups. And the other is this article. When push comes to shove, who do we actually trust in lineups? Who do we WANT to start? And who actually deserves to sit. Here are the ones on the fringe this week where we need to make a call, one way or the other. 

Who Should You Start in Fantasy Football This Week?

One thing that will always remain true with this article or any of our content is that it is more satisfying when you go with your heart or your gut or whatever body part wills you to make the most fun decisions. Fantasy football is SUPPOSED to be fun. And it’s more fun when YOU make the decisions. That said, I’ve been using my pesky brain over here to come up with some reasons why you should or shouldn’t start some of the guys sitting on the fringe of lineups. So here is my fantasy football lineup advice for those guys.

 

 

 

Week 6 Quarterback Start 'Em, Sit 'Em

Start: Kirk Cousins, Las Vegas Raiders

Do we think the Buffalo Bills defense is bad? Not necessarily. But they have certainly not been good against the pass. They are allowing ~280 passing yards a game so far, which is the second most, only behind the Detroit Lions, who are missing both of their safeties. Despite the down week last week, Kirk Cousins has thrown for over 240 yards in every single game this year. So he’s actually a decent start this week. 

Sit: Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints

It’s not really that we don’t like Shough. And I’m starting him in a 14-team league this week myself. But the Giants have actually been pretty solid against the pass, allowing just under 200 yards a game, which is top seven for defenses. These are both actually teams that you generally run on, which is why I’m betting the under on this game as well. You could do worse than Shough this week, but I don’t have him ranked as a QB1 for the first week in a while. 

Week 6 Running Back Start 'Em, Sit 'Em

Start: Woody Marks, Houston Texans

I think a lot of folks are going to call this one a “sit” because of the matchup. But I’m genuinely curious - how many folks out there can afford that? Most leagues have two RB spots and a flex. Are there really 24+ RBs that are a better start than Woody Marks? If there are, I’d love to see the list. For me, if I added Marks, it was because I needed him. With David Montgomery out and him in a full-time role, I’m just going to start him. 

Start: MarShawn Lloyd, Green Bay Packers

This one has been a bit of a weird rotation on early downs between Marshawn Lloyd and Kaleb Johnson. But this week they decided to lean into Lloyd with only 9 snaps for Kaleb Johnson. And Lloyd rewarded them with his first two rushing touchdowns of the year. Going against the Cowboys this week, Lloyd is now someone we can consider using, especially with four teams on bye week. 

Sit: Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Washington Commanders

This one could surprise some people because Jacory Croskey-Merritt had a solid week last week. But there are bigger concerns with his profile. Namely that Rachaad White returned here and took literally every third-down and two-minute drill snap, of which there were 19 combined. That led JCM to have exactly zero targets on the day. There was one goal-line carry, and that quietly also went to Rachaad White. That type of usage in modern fantasy football, especially in full PPR, really is just not super appealing to us. 

Sit: RJ Harvey, Denver Broncos

RJ Harvey was a target machine. Coming into Week 6, he was tied at RB5 in targets with Christian McCaffrey, which is kind of wild as Harvey had missed a game. But there is a reason we said “was” a target machine. Sean Payton took over playcalling from Davis Webb, and not a whole lot seemingly changed, with one exception - RJ Harvey got only one target, which he didn’t catch. So we are now pretty darn scared to start RJ Harvey because he wasn’t getting many carries even before; those targets were everything. 

 

 

 

Week 6 Wide Receiver Start 'Em, Sit 'Em

Start: Jalen Coker, Carolina Panthers

There is a thing we do where players get hurt or even simply go on their bye week, and something inside of us is hesitant to put them back in lineups. We even get that feeling with star players at times, wondering if they are going to “be themselves” or not. And I’ve noticed that folks are already asking me start/sit questions that involve Jalen Coker. So I just want to remind folks that, for three games, including one he got hurt in, Jalen Coker was a WR1 in fantasy points per game. In this WR landscape, we can’t afford to sit guys like this. So Coker is going right back into the lineup wherever we have him - as long as he’s out there. 

Start: Germie Bernard, Pittsburgh Steelers

At one point, the rookie Germie Bernard was fairly buried in the Steelers WR room. And, even then, he managed to flash at times, like a single drive against New England where he caught four passes. But he was still a part-time guy and difficult to trust. But now with Michael Pittman, Roman Wilson, and Ben Skowronek all ruled out for this week, we are willing to take Bernard right off the wire and throw him right into lineups. He got nine targets last week, so it’s not like we are going into this one completely blind. 

Sit: Kendrick Bourne, Arizona Cardinals

Bourne has been a waiver wire darling. And he has multiple weeks this year with 8+ targets. But the truth is that he’s still behind Trey McBride and Michael Wilson in the target pecking order, two guys that get double-digit targets in most games. And the Los Angeles Rams are just not a team that is easy to throw on; they are only allowing 157 passing yards per game, which is the second fewest of any team. Just not a good spot. 

Sit: Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos

Even Jaylen Waddle might be on the fringe this week, but Courtland Sutton is definitely on the outside looking in. We hoped that Sean Payton would lean more on his old friend this week, but that was not really the case. Now the team allowing the fewest passing yards per game comes to town with the Seattle Seahawks. 

Week 6 Tight End Start 'Em, Sit 'Em

Start: Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers

Germie Bernard wasn’t the only beneficiary of the wide receiver injuries for Pittsburgh. When guys started getting ruled out, the Steelers pivoted to more two tight end sets. That saw Darnell Washington in line with Pat Freiermuth lining up at wide receiver for 27 snaps. The matchup is pretty good this week, so we are willing to throw The Muth in there right off the wire. 

Start: Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles

We were nervous that Dallas Goedert could be eased in coming off injury. We were also nervous that Zach Ertz might eat into some of that work. None of that happened. So now Dallas Goedert returns to the role he was already rock solid in, even with DeVonta Smith healthy. The Eagles are going to have to throw given the state of the team, so Goedert is probably a reliable play, with or without Smith out there. 

Sit: Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints

We warned for weeks that this could happen with Juwan Johnson. They LIKE rotating the tight ends over there. We just haven’t had many weeks with them all healthy. Oscar Delp missed the start of the season. And Noah Fant missed a couple of weeks in the middle. But last week, with everyone healthy, the rotation was in full swing. And Noah Fant actually played more snaps than Juwan Johnson. We’ve been trying to tell folks that if you’ve been relying on Juwan, don’t stop looking for upside on the wire. 

Sit: Tyler Higbee, Los Angeles Rams

Tyler Higbee has been skating by in these high-volume games. But the underlying stats are not good for Higbee. He doesn’t have a good route participation. He doesn’t have a high target share (and he’s behind Puka Nacua and Davante Adams). He doesn’t have a high aDot. He doesn’t line up at WR often. He has zero targets on screens. He has zero endzone targets. Tyler Higbee is a trap, and I refuse to start him in fantasy football. 

 

 

 

Week 6 D/ST Start 'Em, Sit 'Em

Start: Indianapolis Colts DST

If we have a good defense in a good matchup, we use them. If we have a good defense with an okay matchup, that is fine too. After that, all we care about is finding good matchups, even if the defense isn’t great. The Colts aren’t really a great defense, but the Titans have yet to win a game, and they have yet to score more than 20 points. So we’re throwing them in there. 

Sit: Philadelphia Eagles DST

If you drafted the Eagles, you probably thought you would just start them all year. And you almost certainly figured you would be starting them against the Panthers. But the Eagles' offense is falling apart, and that has made it difficult to keep the defense off the field. And the Carolina Panthers turned out to be a much better team than we thought they were. All of a sudden, we are in a spot where we might just drop the Eagles and enter the streaming realm. 

How To Handle The Toughest Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Decisions?

This is actually simpler than you’d think. Because Fantasy Alarm has three different ways for you to handle your tough start/sit decisions:

  • Weekly Rankings - I do these rankings personally every week and keep them updated based on the news and rumors
  • League Sync - Sync up your actual league to our systems so you can receive custom advice for your own settings. 
  • Start/Sit Tool - Plug in the two players and see what our projections and matchup analysis have to say.