Every week in fantasy football is going to have tough decisions. Injuries and bye weeks already made that tough for us. But as teams start to realize their season is falling apart, we now have even MORE to deal with. QB changes. Coaching changes. Benchings. Trades. It’s a nightmare out here.
This article is about recognizing some of those tough start-sit decisions we are dealing with and putting a little logic behind it. As always, make sure you consult the Weekly Fantasy Football Rankings because not every league is created equal. A start for someone might be a sit for someone else depending on format and league depth.
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 9 Quarterback Start 'Em, Sit 'Em
Start: Malik Willis, Miami Dolphins
Howard Bender and I have been a little torn on Malik Willis. And by “a little torn,” I mean that he hates him and I like him. For fantasy at least, I just lean into mobile upside wherever possible. Well, this week, we not only get the mobile upside, but we also get a great matchup with a Lions team that could be without Jack Campbell, Brian Branch, and Kerby Joseph. Maybe even Howard will be on board - we’ll find out on the Fantasy Alarm SXM show this week.
Sit: Kyler Murray, Minnesota Vikings
I really don’t care if Kyler Murray is active or not. You can’t risk him with the hamstring injury. You can’t risk him playing the way he’s playing. And now that potentially being benched is on the table, you can’t risk him going out and giving you what Jacoby Brissett gave folks last week. And that was supposed to be a good matchup; this one isn’t.
Week 9 Running Back Start 'Em, Sit 'Em
Start: Jonah Coleman, Denver Broncos
After stashing Jonah Coleman for a long time, we still were nervous about him last week. I had to start him in a league, and I know some of you did as well because of a lack of options, but we still didn’t know if his workload would regress or not. After he got 41 snaps last week compared to only 13 for JK Dobbins, we are fully in on starting Coleman this week against Carolina.
Start: Quinshon Judkins, Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns have shown that they are willing to abandon the run at times. And, when they do, they turn to their pass-down back, Dylan Sampson. We’ve seen similar things happen in the past with Tony Pollard vs. Tyjae Spears. And it just happened last week with Cleveland, which saw a down game for Judkins. But the Steelers have also been the third-best team against the run this year. The Saints are the fourth worst. So, this week, we are starting Judkins.
Sit: Tyler Allgeier, Arizona Cardinals
I know there are a lot of folks who have no choice but to start Tyler Allgeier (I know that because I am one of them in the Sirius XM Music league). But I’d honestly rather not. Yes, I know that Jeremiyah Love is out and that Zonovan Knight might not clear concussion protocol. I also know that D’Andre Swift had a good game against Seattle. But that is the Bears. The implied point total for the Cardinals is only 16.5 this week, one of the lowest of the year. Starting Tyler Allgeier against the Seahawks does not sound fun to me.
Sit: Mike Washington Jr., Las Vegas Raiders
Again, another player that was smart to add off the waiver wire that we don’t really want to start this week unless we need to. Yes, he got 25 carries last week. But he wasn’t particularly efficient with them (I know some were short-yardage, which affects the YPC, but with 25 carries you should be doing more regardless). That alone could see the pendulum shift back towards Jeanty. And, even if Washington gets the run work this week and Jeanty gets the pass work, the 49ers are a top five team against the run. And they are favored over the Raiders by a lot.
Week 9 Wide Receiver Start 'Em, Sit 'Em
Start: Jameson Williams, Detroit Lions
Jameson Williams does appear in the “sit ‘em” section of this article from time to time. He can be a bit boom-or-bust, and the matchups don’t always work in his favor. But right now he’s been making things happen regardless of matchup. After not scoring all year, he now has five touchdowns over his last three games. And the Dolphins allow the highest rate of 20+ yard plays. So it’s a good spot.
Start: Zay Flowers, Jacksonville Jaguars
This is a problem we run into far too often in the fantasy community. We have a good receiver. He loses his quarterback. In the very first game, we now need to decide - is this player good enough to start without said quarterback? Last week Zay Flowers got four targets from Fagnano, which is good, but he didn’t catch any of them. The reality for us, though, is that Zay Flowers is a good enough player that, in most cases, you are probably just throwing him out there and crossing your fingers. He was still very good with Tyler Huntley, so we have to hope that, with a week of practice, he can make magic happen. If not, hopefully Jacoby Brissett can fix that.
Sit: Tre Tucker, Las Vegas Raiders
I’m actually looking to avoid Tre Tucker here this week if I can avoid it. Which is a shame because we’ve been relying on him in some leagues. But the return of Jack Bech threw a bit of a wrench that we weren’t expecting. The Target Report tomorrow will break down the full numbers but there short and sweet is that the Raiders used a strange wide receiver rotation that we have not seen yet that actually saw no one play a full-time role. In fact, both Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer ran more routes than any WR on the Raiders. So, for now, it’s a little hard to trust Tre Tucker.
Sit: Omar Cooper Jr., New York Jets
We were pretty darn excited about Omar Cooper Jr. He had his rookie blowup game without Adonai Mitchell and, in the first game back for Mitchell, he produced once again. This past week was a little bit jarring, though. Cooper played more snaps than Mitchell because they don’t want Michell hurting his finger again while blocking. But both Mitchell and Cooper ran the same number of routes. On those routes, Mitchell got 9 targets, and Cooper got 0. So Cooper went from back-to-back 100-yard games to zero yards, while Mitchell had 142. Since Garrett Wilson is the clear top dog, we don’t know which way things will go for sure here, which makes us nervous to start either one of Cooper or Mitchell against the Chiefs. If Garrett Wilson actually doesn’t clear concussion protocol, that might change things, but for now, we are planning not to start either guy.
Week 9 Tight End Start 'Em, Sit 'Em
Start: Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions
Folks may be tempted to sit Sam LaPorta after two duds. But I think that maneuver could make you end up looking the worst kind of wrong - wrong on both sides. LaPorta had two of the worst tight end matchups against the Vikings and the Packers, which explains the bad weeks. Now he has arguably the best possible matchup against the Miami Dolphins. If he doesn’t do anything this week, we have a serious problem on our hands, but we are giving him one more shot.
Start: Greg Dulcich, Miami Dolphins
Sam LaPorta isn’t the only viable tight end option in this matchup this week. The Detroit Lions have been a great matchup for tight ends all year with Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph missing a lot of time. Now Kerby Joseph is questionable, Brian Branch is in concussion protocol, and starting linebacker Jack Campbell is expected to be out with a neck injury. Dulcich has quietly been involved a decent amount lately, and the matchup here is pretty darn good.
Sit: Hunter Henry/Eli Raidon, New England Patriots
I know what you are thinking. “Coop, you are a Pats fan. And we like these guys in fantasy, don’t we? What gives?” Well, I know we like both of these guys (and we liked them both last week against the Dolphins). But this is a pretty bad tight end matchup against the Packers with Evan Williams and Xavier McKinney at safety. If Hunter Henry is out with this foot issue, Eli Raridon might be a DFS play, but we really don’t want to lean into guys getting their first start in bad matchups. Nor do we want to start Hunter Henry with a foot issue in a bad matchup. So we are trying not to use these guys.
Sit: Chig Okonkwo, Washington Commanders
Chig Okonkwo made a great one-handed catch last week. He looked pretty decent despite only getting four targets. So we are hanging onto him. But we are still in Yin & Yang tight end mode to see if Chig can fully break out. And we’d rather start our Yin tight end this week if we have them, as the Rams have been one of the worst matchups for tight ends all year. It gets much better after this matchup, but it’s just not a good spot this week for Chig.
Week 9 D/ST Start 'Em, Sit 'Em
Start: New Orleans Saints DST
The Saints aren’t really a good defense. But regardless of how good or bad they have been, this opportunity might be too good to pass up. Deshaun Watson has already been pretty friendly to opposing defenses with his playstyle and how many sacks he gives up. Now with Watson in concussion protocol, we could be getting a Shedeur Sanders start this week, which is even better for fantasy. Get him in there.
Sit: New England Patriots DST
The New England Patriots are actually a pretty good defense. And they have finally gotten healthy. But we’d rather not start them against a white-hot Green Bay Packers offense. The Patriots schedule actually goes Green Bay, then Detroit, then a bye week, so unless you want to commit to rostering two defenses for the next three weeks, New England DST is actually droppable. I’ve already dropped them in at least one league.
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.