Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em Week 16

The 2021 fantasy playoffs are here.  Benjamin (@FFRabbitDad) and Brendan (@obryanbren) are back with more players to take a look at when setting your fantasy football lineups. There’s no room for error anymore so this is it. Check it all out here in our unique Start or Sit Faceoff, for this week with Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em Week 16.

Benjamin: Sorry but I needed a recovery day after that insane week of football. I just want things to be normal-er again. At least D’Onta Foreman and David Njoku did well last week. And then there was my call to start Fields over Prescott. If you listened, you’re welcome. A friend of mine didn’t listen and was eliminated from the playoffs by 0.25 points. I know there are a lot of teams with great players that didn’t make the cut last week and that’s just part of fantasy football. I run a league where the managers of Dalvin Cook, Jonathan Taylor, Tom Brady, Austin Ekeler, and Davante Adams are no longer in the playoffs. Crazy, right? Capitalize when you can and find those better matchups or situations because it’s one-and-done at this point.

Brendan: Last week was another whacky fantasy week in the NFL! There are some really crazy stat lines I have seen, for example, Dalvin Cook and Najee Harris only had a combined point total of fewer than 10 points. Another crazy example is that Travis Kelce (44.1 points) would have alone beaten a lineup of Tom Brady, Alvin Kamara, Najee Harris, Joe Mixon, Diontae Johnson, Amari Cooper, and Rob Gronkowski with 44.1 points to 39. Just about everyone mentioned there could be league winners for any owners this season. In my own leagues, I saw some very good teams get eliminated from the wacky outcomes this past week. Hopefully, that was not you!

Quarterbacks

Start: Russell Wilson – Jimmy Garoppolo

Brendan: Russell Wilson has been very steadily getting better since coming back from injury a few weeks back. Last week he easily had his best week going for 260 yards, two touchdowns, and a passer rating of 115. He also had his highest average yardage of 9.29 yards per play. I am writing this on Tuesday afternoon, so after the game tonight this could be a different story. Wilson will also be facing the Bears defense who has a top 10 D-PAC score of 7.62 and nearly 20 points per game to opposing quarterbacks. If you have had Wilson on your bench the last few weeks, this might be the week to start him.

Benjamin: You don’t usually think of fantasy points when you hear the name Jimmy Garoppolo. What you do think of efficiency and that’s what Garoppolo has been delivering since week seven. In those eight weeks, he is averaging 258 passing yards per game with a 69% completion rate. He’s also thrown multiple touchdowns in five of the last seven weeks. He should be able to put together another good fantasy day against a Tennessee defense that is surrendering more than 18 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. I’d have no hesitation in starting Garoppolo over Derek Carr or Russell Wilson this week.

Sit: Josh Allen – Carson Wentz

Benjamin: This is by no means a blanket statement, I am not telling you to bench Josh Allen at all costs. What I am saying is that, should you have access to a good alternative, you should seriously consider it. Everyone knows Bill Belichick’s M.O. when it comes to his defense, shut down the most powerful weapon the opposition has. Allen is that weapon and the Patriots are going to make him earn every yard he gets. Look back at week 13 when Allen completed just 15 passes for 145 yards. You can also blame the wind, but isn’t that part of the Belichick mystique? If I had picked up a guy like Taysom Hill or Jalen Hurts and kept him, I’d probably start him over Allen this week.

Brendan: Carson Wentz is on the verge of being cut off rosters with his recent outings. Wentz is only averaging 161 yards per game over the last five games and the attempts are down as well. Is Wentz actually slumping, or has the Colts’ offense just taken a priority focus on the running game? Or is one causing the other issue? It’s a pretty big question right now, but all we can see is Wentz’s production is not good. The Cardinals are only allowing 14 points per game to opposing quarterbacks and appear to have a few gaps in the rushing defense. I would assume the Colts will continue running the ball much more than throwing it, so Wentz should be benched.

Running Backs

Start: Ronald Jones – Justin Jackson

Benjamin: With Leonard Fournette likely to miss the remainder of the regular season, everyone should’ve been running to pick up Ronald Jones this week. Aside from a touchdown here or there, there really hasn’t been a reason to roster Jones. As the main guy out of the backfield, there’s a lot of promise here. In the six games from 2020 when Jones had at least 17 carries, he ran for at least 80 yards in five of them, four of them he reached 100 yards. If just one man gets the vast majority of carries in this Tampa Bay offense, he has the potential to be a top 10 fantasy running back each week. I’d start him over Michael Carter and Antonio Gibson this week.

Brendan: I might have to change this if Austin Ekeler is able to get off the Covid-IR in time to start. However, if Ekeler is sidelined this week, Justin Jackson will be a strong start. Ekeler has been seeing about 20 touches per game, between him being involved in the running and passing game. When he has been the primary back, Jackson has shown to be the full-time replacement for Ekeler in passing and running situations. The Chargers face the Texans this week, who have been giving up 26.76 points per game to running backs and a top-five D-PAC score of 13.07. Barring Ekeler’s return to the lineup, Jackson will be a strong start.

Sit: Chuba Hubbard

Benjamin: There is little hope for anyone in this dissatisfying backfield to warrant a fantasy start. Chuba Hubbard may have had some good college days, but he’s a ways off from those performances at the pro level. The Panthers just aren’t running the ball enough and Ameer Abdullah is siphoning away the bulk of the short passing work. With Tampa Bay coming to town as one of the most difficult run defenses to deal with, there’s even less of a likelihood that you can count on Hubbard this week. There are likely better options on your league’s waiver wire.

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Wide Receivers

Start: Amon-Ra St. Brown – Christian Kirk

Brendan: Amon-Ra St. Brown has quietly put up a few good weeks in a row. Last week he went eight for 90 with one touchdown on 11 targets. In his last three games, St. Brown has a dominating 35 targets, 24 receptions, 249 yards, and two touchdowns. Now, this week he has a great matchup with a bad Falcon defense giving up nearly 40 points per game to wide receivers and having a top three D-PAC score of 18.41. The last time I picked St. Brown it was a similar situation. He had just put together a few good games in a row, and I was expecting a breakout performance. He proceeded to have his worst game of the season and might have had zero points. I’m thinking he doesn’t disappoint this week.

Benjamin: I love the St. Brown pick, he’s been great! I’ve got another receiver who’s going to do you well in Week 16 and that’s Christian Kirk. He has surpassed 80 receiving in back-to-back games and there will be more of those with DeAndre Hopkins out for the season. His 12 targets, nine receptions, and 94 receiving yards led the Cardinals in each of those categories in week 15. Indianapolis is up next for Arizona and they just allowed the New England receivers to accumulate 174 yards through the air on 15 catches. I like Kirk enough this week to start him over Darnell Mooney or Brandon Aiyuk.

Sit: Marvin Jones Jr. – Chase Claypool

Benjamin: Many of us were high on Marvin Jones at the start of the season. However, with all the turbulence in Jacksonville, the veteran pass-catcher has lacked leadership and consistency. He’s logged more than four catches in a game once since week eight and hasn’t eclipsed 70 receiving yards since week six. Laviska Shenault and Laquon Treadwell have seen more targets over the last four weeks than Jones. Going up against the Jets this week is great unless you’re a pass catcher. The Jets just don’t threaten enough on offense for opponents to need to use the pass. Jones will be on my bench this week behind guys like Josh Reynolds and Tyler Johnson.

Brendan: Regardless of how you feel about his antics, Chase Claypool has not been playing up to his potential. Claypool has not scored over 15 1/2-PPR fantasy points since Week 5. Last week he was held without a catch on his two targets, however, in a designed trick play, he had 12 receiving yards thanks to a backward pass from Ray-Ray McCloud following his own reception. This week he is facing the Chiefs, which look to be one of the league’s most improved and hottest defenses and are ranked sixth in points to wide receivers over their last four games at 27.27 per game.

Tight Ends

Start: Cole Kmet – Zach Ertz

Benjamin: Cole Kmet is emerging into his role as an every-down tight end. The only thing that Jimmy Graham is ever used for is the occasional goalline target. Kmet has seen at least eight targets in three of the previous six games. In each of those games, he caught at least six balls for 11.2 yards per reception. I’m not predicting a top-three tight end week for him, but you’re going to get another solid score from Kmet. Seattle is pretty soft against the position with the sixth nicest D-PAC score of 5.84 and they allowed Brevin Jordan to catch four balls and a score in week 14. C.J. Uzomah and Pat Freiermuth should see the bench in favor of Kmet.

Brendan: Zach Ertz has quickly become a dependable target for Kyler Murray after arriving in Arizona a few short weeks ago. Ertz has seen seven or more targets in three of the last four games and caught four out of 11 targets for 74 yards last week. Going forward, it feels like the seven targets per game might be his floor with DeAndre Hopkins being out of the lineup. The Cardinals face the Colts this week who are surrendering 16.18 points per game to tight ends. I would expect another strong outing for Ertz this week.

Sit: Jack Doyle – Evan Engram

Brendan: Prior to the Colts’ Week 14 bye week Jack Doyle was starting to get some talk around the league as his targets and production were starting to see an uptick. However, in his last two games, he has only seen one target and one reception per game. I’m not going to repeat what I said about Wentz earlier in this article, but the play calling and Wentz’s play is causing any receiver on the Colts offense to be questionable. Leave Doyle on the bench.

Benjamin: Let’s just close the fantasy book on Evan Engram already. He had a great rookie campaign and hasn’t done anything since. He’s had only two games with more than four catches all season and those catches only go for 9.4 yards per reception. Even against Philadelphia, the team with the most favorable D-PAC score against tight ends. I have no confidence in Engram. Don’t get cute looking for the prime matchup or go based off name value, just start James O’Shaughnessy or Brevin Jordan instead.

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