Fantasy Football: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Week One

Quarterback

Start ‘Em

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins gave up an average of about 20 fantasy points per game in 2018. Lamar Jackson has huge rushing upside and has more weapons he can spread the ball to.

Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs San Francisco 49ers

With the hiring of Bruce Arians, Jameis already should be a better quarterback than he has been in the past. Put this on top of the poor defense of the Buccaneers forcing the Winston to throw the ball a lot, and you get a great fantasy quarterback. He may turn the ball over a bit, but he will make up for that in yards and touchdowns.

Sit ‘Em

Sam Darnold, New York Jets vs Buffalo Bills

Sam Darnold may have a chance to breakout this season entering his second season, but this game he may struggle. The Bills stout pass defense may give the young quarterback some trouble. The Bills had the best past defense in the NFL last season.

Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders vs Denver Broncos

Derek Carr is one of my bounce back candidates, but opening up the season with very little work with Antonio Brown hinders his value. On top of this, the Broncos have a solid defense and a new, great defensive-minded coach in Vic Fangio.

Runningback

Start ‘Em

Chris Carson, Seattle Seahawks vs Cincinnati Bengals

Chris Carson emerged as a top fantasy football back last season. He now gets to face the poor defense in Cincinnati. In addition to this, the Seahawks love to run the ball a lot. The Bengals gave up the third most fantasy points to runningbacks last season.

Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings vs Atlanta Falcons

In his last three games, Dalvin Cook averaged 18 touches per game with the new offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski. The Falcons allowed around 125 rushing yards per game last season, so Dalvin Cook should eat.

Sit ‘Em

Marlon Mack, Indianapolis Colts @ Los Angeles Chargers

Marlon Mack played extremely well last season, but that was with Andrew Luck at the helm. The Colts offensive line may be good, but it will be harder for the Colts to get the ground game going against the Chargers top 10 rushing defense.

Any Miami Dolphins Runningback vs Baltimore Ravens

Both Kenyan Drake and Kalen Ballage should be on the bench week one. There is too much uncertainty to who will take the load. On top of this, the Ravens posted the third best rush defense in the NFL last season.

Wide Receivers

Start ‘Em

Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs San Francisco 49ers

Chris Godwin is primed to have a breakout year this season with the departures of Adam Humphries and DeSean Jackson. Along with Jameis Winston, Godwin should also go off vs the 49ers defense that allowed the seventh most fantasy points to wide receivers last season.

Dede Westbrook, Jacksonville Jaguars vs Kansas City Chiefs

Westbrook has been the go-to-guy for Nick Foles thus far. He is going to see a lot of targets coming from the slot and could really go off in PPR formats. Even in standard, he has upside due to the possible shootout that most likely will occur against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

Sit ‘Em

T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts @ Los Angeles Chargers

T.Y. Hilton’s stock decreased greatly once Andrew Luck retired. He’s no longer a week-to-week starter with Jacoby Brissett as the starter. The Chargers were top 5 in fewest fantasy points allowed to wide receivers last season.

Calvin Ridley, Atlanta Falcons @ Minnesota Vikings

Calvin Ridley has the chance to go off once again this season, but the Vikings have a very good pass defense. The Falcons look to improve off last season, but if you have depth at wide receiver, I’d sit Ridley this week.

Tight Ends

Start ‘Em

Evan Engram, New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys

The Giants are very thin at wide receiver. With Golden Tate suspended, all they really have is Sterling Shepherd. Evan Engram is expected to see a huge role along with Saquon Barkley this season. He is a must start.

Delanie Walker, Tennessee Titans @ Cleveland Browns

After breaking his leg in the first game of last season, Walker is looking to have a bounce back year. He has posted three straight top five fantasy performances before last season, so he will still be heavily involved. The Browns gave up more than 15 fantasy points per game to tight ends last season.

Sit ‘Em

David Njoku, Cleveland Browns vs Tennessee Titans

Njoku is a tough one to bench due to when most people probably drafted him, but with all the receivers now in Cleveland, there isn’t a whole lot to be passed around to Njoku making him very touchdown dependent. The Titans also only gave up two touchdowns last season to tight ends.

Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins

Mark Andrews performed very efficiently at the end of last season, and became one of Lamar Jackson’s favorite targets. The problem with Andrews is that there is a rotation of three tight ends here in Baltimore. They also added more wide receivers to receive targets from Lamar. Also, the Ravens don’t pass the ball a whole lot, so Andrews may be touchdown dependent here.

Defense/Special Teams

Start ‘Em

Dallas Cowboys vs New York Giants

The Dallas defense isn’t spectacular, but they have a very favorable match up with Quarterback Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. now gone. They could create a few turnovers while also not allowing a lot of points.

Seattle Seahawks vs Cincinnati Bengals

With newly added pass rusher Jadaveon Clowney, the Seahawks have a top rush defense. The Bengals are missing A.J. Green and also have one of the worst lines in the NFL. This defense isn’t elite, but they are startable in favorable matchups such as this one.

Sit ‘Em

Jacksonville Jaguars vs Kansas City Chiefs

The Jaguars may once again have a top fantasy football defense, but they are facing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs that boast the top offense in the NFL. The Mahomes Air Raid attack makes the Jaguars a sit this week.

New Orleans Saints vs Houston Texans

The Saints had a top 15 fantasy football defense last season, but with the revamped Texans offense coming to town, they are a fade to me. Deshaun Watson now has a healthy Will Fuller, new toys in Kenny Stills and Duke Johnson, and a new Left Tackle to give him more time in Laremy Tunsil. This game could very much so be a shootout.

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