Welcome to our Week 17 edition of Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em. Benjamin @FFRabbitDad and Brendan @OBryanBren tag team this start or sit article, helping you make the best lineup decisions you can for fantasy football. They make use of our tools such as Consistency Score and D-PAC, two metrics that can help you find out just how well players are doing this year and how consistent they are.

It’s Week 17 and the finals of the fantasy football playoffs. Here are some players you should consider starting this week, along with some players you may want to try and avoid if possible. Let’s get right into it with Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em Week 17 Fantasy Football.

Quarterbacks

Start ‘Em

Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers

If you’re anything like me, you find yourself in the championship without your starting quarterback due to injury (see Jalen Hurts or Kyler Murray). Unless you kept a decent backup on your bench all season, you’re looking for someone to help you limp to the finish line. Enter Brock Purdy who is scoring over 15 fantasy points per game and steadily getting better. This week he has a great matchup against the Raiders who are giving up nearly 19 points per game and a third-highest in the league D-PAC score against quarterbacks at 9.11. He’s a great spot starter here and just keep your fingers crossed that Hurts comes back.

Jared Goff, Detroit Lions

I’m not gonna get cute with this selection. Just start Jared Goff at home. The opponent doesn’t even matter. Across his previous three home games, Goff has thrown eight touchdowns, zero interceptions, and averaged 303.3 passing yards per contest. He’ll be a top-five quarterback again like he has been in three of the last four weeks.

Sit ‘Em

Carson Wentz, Washington Commanders

The writing is on the wall that Carson Wentz should be starting this week for the Commanders. Depending on your league, you might be really desperate for a starting quarterback, but don’t get this desperate. It will be Wentz’s first game back after being out for eight games and facing a Browns defense that only allows 13 points per game to opposing quarterbacks. Even before he got hurt, Wentz was highly inconsistent with a consistency score of 4.72 ranking him 29th in the league with a median fantasy score of 8.92. No Bueno.

Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I’m just going to say it…The saga of Tom Brady is coming to an end. At the very least, I don’t think he’ll be in Tampa Bay next season. He’s thrown as many touchdowns (7) as interceptions (7) in his last four games. For now, we’ll see him in a do-or-die game against a Panthers defense that hadn’t allowed a 300-yard passer since Week 3 until Goff threw for 355 in Week 16. That list includes a zero-touchdown day from Brady. All signs point to ‘no’ for Brady this week.

Running Backs

Start ‘Em

Zonovan Knight, New York Jets

Zonovan Knight was dealing with a sore ankle, and horrible quarterback play, last week when he rushed for negative two yards and one catch for 15 yards. Some extra time to rest that ankle, Mike White coming back, and a favorable matchup against Seattle should lead to a higher output. Seattle is giving up nearly 29 points per game to running backs, and prior to his ankle injury, Knight looked good. I’d start Knight this week.

Tyler Allgeier, Atlanta Falcons

Tyler Allgeier checks all of the right boxes. He leads the team in carries and rushing yards since Cordarrelle Patterson returned to action in Week 9. He’s seen 10 or more carries in four straight contests. He is averaging 4.9 yards per carry on the season. Yet, for some reason, he is rostered in less than half of fantasy leagues going into Week 16. The Cardinals, who face the Falcons in Week 17, have the 10th most enjoyable D-PAC rating against running backs and are allowing 4.6 yards per carry. Pick up and start this man, then put his picture on your wall after you with the championship!

Sit ‘Em

Jeff Wilson, Miami Dolphins

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Just a few short weeks ago the talk was about how unstoppable the Dolphins’ offense is. Now after losing four straight games, and Tua Tagovailoa back in concussion protocol, it’s realistic to say the Dolphins could miss the playoffs. Wilson is back in the lead role seeing 60% of the snaps last week but faces a Patriot defense that only allows 17 points per game to running backs. Not a great situation for Wilson to thrive.

Zack Moss, Indianapolis Colts

With 36 total carries in his last two games, Zack Moss looks like the de facto RB1 for the Colts. Even with his 5.4 yards per carry in Week 16, he’s still averaging just 4.06 yards per carry since Jonathan Taylor went down. The entire Colts offense is a mess with a poor offensive line and Nick Foles as the (presumed) starting quarterback. Running backs with loads of opportunity can be useful, but the quality of Moss’ opportunity is seriously lacking. Then, they’re going up against a Giants squad that is hungry and within reach of a playoff berth. If you’re going for the gold, you’ve probably got a better option or two – like either of the “Start ‘Em” options we just mentioned.

Trophy Smack

Wide Receivers

Start ‘Em

DJ Moore, Carolina Panthers

In a crazy turn of events, Sam Darnold has returned to the Panthers as their starting quarterback and DJ Moore has suddenly turned into a serviceable fantasy football starter. Moore has been a very inconsistent wide receiver this season with a consistency score of 3.52 and a ranking of 35, but most of this can probably be attributed to quarterback play. The Panthers are facing the Bucs this week to potentially keep them in the talk to win the horrible NFC South. The Bucs have given up 34 points per game to wide receivers, so Moore should find some space to work.

Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings

Let’s call this one more of a hunch with some stats to back it up. Green Bay has given some wide receivers a tough time this season with recent exceptions to Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and Equanimeous St. Brown. In his last four games against the Packers, Adam Thielen has four touchdowns and 12.75 yards per catch. With so much at stake in this game for both sides, the Packers likely sell out to try and stop Justin Jefferson, leaving Thielen to do some magic on the field. Put this Minnesota native into your lineups this week.

Sit ‘Em

Zay Jones, Jacksonville Jaguars

After a couple of game stretch where Zay Jones looked really good, he came crashing back down to earth against the Jets hauling in only one catch for 14 yards. The Jaguars face division rival Texans this week, who have been surprisingly strong against the pass this season only allowing 26 points per game and a league-best 10.29 D-PAC score against wide receivers. In week five against the Texans, Jones only was able to find three catches for 12 yards. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar performance this week.

Marquise Brown, Arizona Cardinals

Not having Kyler Murray under center has been really bad for Marquise Brown and most of the Arizona pass catchers. Brown hasn’t hauled in more than four passes in the last four games with under 60 yards in each affair. Coupled with the sorry state of the Cardinals offense, there hasn’t been a receiver to surpass three catches and 60 yards in a game since Joshua Palmer in Week 9. If you’re at this point in the playoffs with Brown on your squad, you’ve probably got another option to go with.

Tight Ends

Start ‘Em

Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears

In a much injured offensive skill position room, Justin Fields was highly reliant on Cole Kmet last week giving him six targets and Kmet hauled in five of them. The Bears are playing the Lions this week. In week 10 Kmet had his best game of the season, and the Lions had their worst game against tight ends when they previously met up. The Lions are also giving up 14 points per game to tight ends, so this is a juicy matchup for Kmet.

Dawson Knox, Buffalo Bills

When you’re hot, you’re hot, and Dawson Knox is hot. With touchdowns in three consecutive games, those patient fantasy managers (like me) have been made very happy. His 13.6 yards per reception has also been a positive mark this late in the fantasy season. In his previous matchup against the Bengals, Knox accumulated 67 yards and a score. Week 17 will be his fourth straight game with a score and that makes any tight end great for fantasy.

Sit ‘Em

Gerald Everett, Los Angeles Chargers

Gerald Everett, and the Chargers’ offense, have been quite inconsistent this season. Everett is ranked 19th in the league with a consistency score of 2.25. He has been quite hit-or-miss and very touchdown dependent. Facing the Rams this week who are giving up only 10 points per game and a league-best 2.9 D-PAC score against tight ends. The Chargers are still fighting for a playoff spot, so they could show up motivated to win, but this does not appear like a good matchup for Everett.

Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles

After waiting five long weeks to get Dallas Goedert back into our lineups, we were gifted a solid performance of three catches and 67 yards over the Christmas weekend. In Week 17, he’ll face off with the Saints and their fourth most unforgiving defense against the position based on the D-PAC rating system. Only two tight ends have caught more than four balls against New Orleans all year with just two other tight ends eclipsing 31 receiving yards in a game. Regardless of the Eagles quarterback, I’m not a fan of Goedert’s situation this week.

Don’t forget to hit us up on Twitter with any of your lineup questions. You can find Benjamin @FFRabbitDad and Brendan @OBryanBren. If you have a question, we will give you some guidance. After all, we want you to win!

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