Start/Sit Questions: Week 7

By: Mike Johnson (@mjohnson86)

Some things in fantasy football are easy. We know we should start Ja’Marr Chase and Saquon Barkley. We know we should bench the backup running back who is only on our roster in case of injury. A lot of the decisions are made for us. However, there are a lot of things that are not so simple. All of the “in between” situations are what can make the difference between a few wins and losses, and therefore it can be the difference between a successful season or a failed season. Every Friday, we are here to help!!

I’ll take questions each week in our #fantasy-football channel in our Discord from people looking for Start/Sit advice and give my thoughts. This article on Fridays will feature a few of those questions and responses, so join our Discord to be a part of the conversation or ask questions of your own!!

Question 1:: Patrick Mahomes or the “Red Rifle” (Andy Dalton)? (Engineer Price)

Answer:: Mahomes has disappointed his fantasy owners for the last year and a half now, and he is far more focused on winning than box scores at this point in his career. However, there will still be a few spots where the Chiefs will be pushed and this 49ers offense is one team that can potentially do just that. The combination of San Francisco potentially pushing him to be more aggressive and the Chiefs coming off a bye week where they may have figured some things out offensively make me want to give Mahomes another shot this week.

Question 2:: Xavier Worthy or Jaylen Waddle in the Flex? (MSG6)

Answer:: Building off the last question, I think the Chiefs probably used the bye week to brainstorm effective ways to get Worthy involved and I think they may have to have a more aggressive offensive mindset this week. Meanwhile, the Dolphins are still starting Tyler Huntley at QB, and while the Colts are a good matchup, Waddle is still behind Tyreek Hill and De’Von Achane in the pecking order.

Question 3:: Flex spot, choose one of Tank Dell, Jordan Mason, Chase Brown, or De’Von Achane? (0.5 PPR) (AQ172)

Answer:: Tough one. This roster must be loaded. I think Mason will be limited if he plays, or at least he will share carries with Isaac Guerendo and Deebo Samuel at a much higher rate than he has so far and the Chiefs are a tough matchup. Brown appears to be taking over the Bengals’ backfield, but Cleveland’s defense is solid. Achane is coming back from a concussion and has a good matchup, but I think it’s unlikely he sees an elite workload as they ease him back in. My lean is to Dell as he should be heavily targeted by Stroud as long as Nico Collins is out, and this could be a high-scoring game.

Question 4:: Dalton Schultz or Mark Andrews? Kyle Pitts or Tucker Kraft (Brooks Truck)

Answer:: How many TEs are on your roster?!?!? Kidding, I assume (hope?) these are for two separate rosters. I would go with Schultz and Pitts. Schultz was targeted eight times last week in the first game the Texans played without Nico Collins. Schultz, Stefon Diggs, and Tank Dell accounted for an incredible 83% target share last week and a condensed target tree in a potentially high-scoring environment is a situation we want to be involved in. 

I’ll take Pitts over Kraft at this point, as I think Pitts is knocking on the door of a big game while Kraft’s target competition seems to be increasing with the Packers WRs getting back to full strength.

Question 5:: Jordan Addison or Malik Nabers? Pick 2 RBs: Tony Pollard, Brian Robinson Jr., or Jahmyr Gibbs? (0.5 PPR)  (wordrew)

Answer:: The first one is easy, as there are only a handful of WRs I would start over Nabers. For the RBs, I lean to Pollard and Gibbs. Robinson’s matchup appears to be the best of the bunch, but he has to contend with Jayden Daniels, Austin Ekeler, and Jeremy McNichols also vying for carries. I lean towards the workloads in these spots, and Pollard without Tyjae Spears plus the always efficient Lions offense are the spots I would go with here.

Join us Saturday for Week 7 Rankings!