Every week fantasy football owners have to make decisions on who to start, who to sit and who potentially to go pick up off the waiver wire to play. Sometimes those decisions can be tough. For help with that check out Breaking Football’s weekly rankings. In addition to that, I will be giving my weekly take on starts, sits and sleepers.

Each week I will be giving two players I like starting, two guys I would like to bench and one sleeper per position (except for D/STs, there will only be one start and sit). Now of course every week you would start Aaron Rodgers, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown, among others, assuming they play. This weekly article is to help fantasy owners decide on their “non-stud” players. If you have more specific questions regarding fantasy football, ask me on twitter (@MikeSports22) and as always happy hunting fantasy friends.

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Quarterbacks

Starts

Jameis Winston vs Chicago: Last week the Bears gave up 321 passing yards to Matt Ryan while allowing him to complete 70% of his passes. Expect Winston to take advantage of the extra week of preparation and produce even better numbers this week. Last season, Winston threw for over 4,000 yards and had 29 total touchdowns. Last season against the Bears, Winston had 18.5 fantasy points while throwing for over 300 yards.

Derek Carr vs New York: Against the Titans last week, Carr threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns while the Jets gave up 224 yards and two touchdowns to Tyrod Taylor. Expect the Raiders to score easy and often against the Jets poor pass defense. Carr could easily finish the game with over 320 yards and three touchdowns. It’s a great matchup for Carr and with his weapons on offense, he should take advantage of it.

Sits

Alex Smith vs Philadelphia: Smith had the game of his life last week against New England. However, if you remove the two blown coverages by the Patriots that led to 75+ yard touchdowns, Smith had just 16.6 fantasy points. The Eagles are a good defense and last week held the Redskins to just one offensive touchdown while forcing Kirk Cousins into three turnovers.

Andy Dalton vs Houston: Raise your hand if Dalton screwed you last week with his -3 fantasy point performance (raises hand). Dalton had five turnovers and the Bengals scored zero points in the game. The Texans gave up 29 points last week to the Jaguars, but just 14 to the offense. Expect Dalton to score more than -3 points against the Texans but not enough to finish as a QB1 this week.

Sleeper

Jared Goff vs Washington: Second week in a row as a sleeper; Goff finished as the QB14 last week, throwing for 306 yards, one touchdown and finished with 16.4 fantasy points. Meanwhile, the Redskins allowed Carson Wentz to throw for 307 yards, two touchdowns and finish with 18.9 fantasy points; finishing as the QB5 last week. Look for Goff to have similar numbers this week.

Running Backs

Starts

Ty Montgomery at Atlanta: Last week the Falcons gave up almost 41 fantasy points to the Bears running backs, including 11 catches for 61 yards and a touchdown. Montgomery is coming off a strong week one with 19.3 fantasy points including four catches for 39 yards against a stout Seahawks defense. Expect a big game from Montgomery this week, especially in the passing game.

Terrance West vs Cleveland: West had 19 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown last week against the Bengals, despite being on the field for just 27 snaps. With Danny Woodhead expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a hamstring injury, West should get 15-20 carries a game for the foreseeable future. While West won’t get many targets, zero against the Bengals, he is the clear-cut early down and goal-line back.

Sits

Carlos Hyde at Seattle: Last week Hyde had just nine rushing attempts as the 49ers fell behind early in the game, expect that to happen again this week against the Seahawks. While the Seahawks gave up 19.3 fantasy points to Ty Montgomery last week, he had 7.9 of those points via the passing game. This game will be a blowout early on and Hyde’s upside is therefore limited.

Bilal Powell at Oakland: Against the Titans last week, the Raiders held the duo of DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry to just 10.5 fantasy points. Powell struggled against the Bills in week one, finishing with just 8.9 fantasy points. The Raiders should win this game easily and expect Powell to be shut down again this week.

Sleeper

Tevin Coleman vs Green Bay: The Packers gave up just 7.3 fantasy points to the Seahawks’ running backs last week, but that is more thanks to the Seahawks’ poor offensive line than the Packers defense. Last week Coleman had 9.8 fantasy points against the Bears, including four catches for 42 yards. Look for the Packers to try and take away Julio Jones, leading to Coleman getting six or more catches this week. If Coleman can get in the end zone at least once, he has top 12 upside this week.

Wide Receivers

Starts

Keenan Allen vs Miami: In a decent game against the Broncos last week, Allen had 14.5 fantasy points but only caught 50% of his targets. Now Allen goes from the “No Fly Zone” to the Dolphins secondary that has no elite cornerbacks. Expect Allen to have a big game and finish with seven or more catches for over 100 yards.

Emmanuel Sanders vs Dallas: Last week Sanders had just 5.6 fantasy points but barely missed out on two touchdowns. The Cowboys secondary gave up just 23.4 fantasy points to the Giants last week, only problem was Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t play and Brandon Marshall had just one catch for ten yards. Now the Cowboys best cornerback Orlando Scandrick is expected to miss the game with a hand injury. Expect the Broncos to throw all over the Cowboys inexperienced secondary and Sanders to have a big game.

Sits

Dez Bryant at Denver: Against the Giants, Bryant struggled against Janoris Jenkins and finished with just 6.3 fantasy points. This week he faces the “No Fly Zone” that allowed only 186 receiving yards per game last season. The Broncos gave up 18.9 fantasy points to Melvin Gordon last week and expect the Cowboys to run the ball a lot to protect their defense in this game.

Pierre Garcon at Seattle: After a tough loss to the Packers last week, expect the Seahawks to bounce back at the expense of the 49ers. Last week Garcon had 14.1 fantasy points against the Panthers young secondary. The “Legion of Boom” is going to shut down the 49ers’ passing attack after giving up 46.1 fantasy points to the Packers’ wide receivers last week.

Sleeper

Donte Moncrief vs Arizona: Last week, the Cardinals gave up 61.2 fantasy points to the Lions’ wide receivers. Now, while Andrew Luck isn’t suiting up for the Colts again this week, Jacoby Brissett is expected to start. In his first play as a Colt last week, Brissett dropped a 50 yard bomb to Moncrief for his only catch of the game. With Patrick Peterson following T.Y. Hilton around, look for Moncrief to be a frequent target for Brissett.

Tight Ends

Starts

Zach Ertz at Kansas City: The Chiefs held Rob Gronkowski to just 5.3 fantasy points last week. However, the man responsible for that, Eric Berry, is out for the year with a torn Achilles. Ertz had eight catches for 93 yards while catching 100% of his targets last week against the Redskins. With Berry out, expect the Eagles to take advantage of the matchup. Ertz should produce similar numbers against the Chiefs as he did last week.

Eric Ebron at New York: Last week the Giants gave up 18.9 fantasy points to the Cowboys’ tight ends. The Giants have three good cornerbacks but will need all three to cover the Lions’ top passing threats. Expect Ebron to see a lot of targets as the Lions will need him to produce if they want to win the game.

Sits

Jared Cook vs New York: Cook had a good game last week against the Titans finishing with 10.6 fantasy points. However, the Raiders have great matchups on the outside with Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree against the terrible Jets’ secondary. Expect Cook to struggle to see enough targets to be a top 12 tight end this week unless he gets in the end zone.

Austin Hooper vs Green Bay: Finishing the game last week against the Bears with 20.8 fantasy points, many fantasy owners picked him up off of waivers this week. However, Hooper had 15.8 of his fantasy points on a single play thanks to the Bears’ blown coverage. Last week the Packers gave up just three catches for eight yards to Jimmy Graham. I like Hooper for the season, but not this week.

Sleeper

Coby Fleener vs New England: Last week Fleener had 16.4 fantasy points against the Vikings strong defense and scored the only touchdown for the Saints. Against the Chiefs last week, the Patriots gave up 18.9 fantasy points to the tight ends. With Snead suspended, someone has to catch passes besides Michael Thomas if the Saints are going to score enough points to stay in the game against the Patriots.

D/STs

Start

Cardinals D/ST at Indianapolis: Another week without Andrew Luck mean the Colts offense will struggle. While Jacoby Brissett is expected to start and he is an upgrade over Scott Tolzien, it’s still an easy call to start the Cardinals D/ST against the sluggish Colts. Last week the Rams D/ST scored 29 fantasy points against the Colts.

Sit

Broncos D/ST vs Dallas: The Broncos defense is much better against the pass than the run so expect the Cowboys to protect their defense by chewing the clock and running the ball a lot. With the Cowboys successfully able to run the ball, that limits the Broncos’ defensive upside to create sacks and interceptions.

Sleeper

Raiders D/ST vs New York: Last week the Bills D/ST scored ten fantasy points against the Jets. While the Raiders defense isn’t very good, anyone facing the Jets offense is a streaming option at D/ST. Look for Khalil Mack to have a big game against the Jets subpar offensive line.

About The Author Mike Fanelli

Mike is a former journalism major who spent all four years in high school working for the school newspaper. At 25 years old, he is happy to write for Breaking Football as it gives him a platform to get his sports opinions out there.

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