Week 8 Start/Sit

                           Week 8 Start/Sit

    I'm going to try and be a bit more bold on my start/sit article. There's also little clarity on the Seattle and San Francisco backfield situations. If you happen to have Deejay AND Carson you have the luxury of waiting it out. San Francisco is a little bit more muddied with Hasty, McKinnon, and possibly Coleman returning from IR. I think if Coleman is active he will get the lead back duties with Hasty mixing in and Mckinnon on passing downs. 

    I'll start as I usually do with the running backs

Running Backs

Start✅ 

Gio Bernard Mixon is out and Gio will have 25 touch upside. Same goes for Boston Scott with Miles Sanders out and Jamaal Williams with Aaron Jones out. Start them all.

Leonard Fournette I said I'd be bold. RoJo may get the "Start" but it's obvious this coaching staff isn't happy with him as thier RB. Arians has called Fournette his "Nickel" back which equates to passing work. We've also seen Fournette take over late in games as the "closer". In a game they are favored by double digits I think Lenny solidifies and expands his role in this backfield. 

JK Dobbins With Ingram out we know Dobbins will get almost (if not all) the passing game work. He should get at minimum a handful of carries as well and I've been in love with Dobbins as a prospect. My hope is they see what he can do this week. Only problem is one fumble and I think it would be all GusBus from then out. 

Le'Veon Bell Never bet against a revenge game narritave. Added motivation is that it's against the pettiest coach in the league, Gase. I think at minimum Andy Reid will get Bell a TD might even feature him on the redzone to really rub it in his face. 

Darrell Henderson It's pretty clear he's taken control of this backifeld and per PFF is the highest graded RB... In the league... Yes you read that correctly. 

Sit❌

Devin Singletary Moss is back to pretty much full health and taking 50% of the work and a majority of redzone opportunity. That leaves Singletary to a between the 20s work in a timeshare behind a horrible blocking OL. No thank you. 

Melvin Gordon (if Lindsay gets cleared) If Lindsay sits you need to start Gordon on value alone. Not excited about it but volume is king.

David Montgomery (Downgrade) This isn't a sit just a downgrade against a tough Saints run D. Monty has done very little with tremendous opportunity. Hard to wonder why the Bears didn't persue Fournette, Bell, or even retain Mike Davis. 🤔

Wide Receivers

Start✅

Travis Flugham Stop doubting this man. He should smash in this matchup. Even with Reagor returning Fulgham has solidified his role in this offense. All of a sudden the Eagles have a nice young WR core in Reagor, Fulgham, and Ward. When Goedert comes back Wentz has all he needs to catapult this team to the playoffs.

Tee Higgins He continues to be hyper efficient with his targets and he should see plenty in another probable passing game script with Mixon out. I have a suspicion Cinci is over targeting Green to "showcase" him ahead of the trade deadline. That leads me to believe after the deadline Higgins will take on some of that massive target share. 

Brandon Aiyuk With Deebo out and literally the best WR matchup possible Aiyuk should smash here. Kittle is the main guy but they have manufactured touches for Aiyuk in the past. That signals they are itching to get him the ball.

Cole Beasley Don't let John Brown's return scare you. New England will most likely try to shut down Diggs and Brown seems to really open up this attack. Also, there's forecasted to have some wind in this game and with the Bills having almost zero running game. They will probably look to get the ball out quickly, short, and over the middle. Que Beasley.

Jarvis Landry Last week I said to sit him mostly due to his lingering Injury. Now I see he's clearly a gamer and insanely tough. With Beckham out now for the season Landry should be an absolute target hog. 

Marquise Brown Hollywood's game lines up well against this Steelers Defense. They have gotten beat deep and I can see him finally getting his boom game here.

Sit❌

Juju Smith-Schuster I was dead on my second guess last week. Ben seemed to be forcing the ball to JuJu. It's pretty clear he's only the 3rd most talented WR on this team and the talent will shake itself out. 

TY Hilton Don't do it. I know you might see the matchup and think "Ohh cool I can start TY this week." Wrong he's been getting out performed by guys names Zach Pascal and Marcus Johnson.

All the Cowboys WRs I understand you probably need to start Amari Cooper but if there's any way to sit him I would. This could get extremely ugly for the Boys on primetime. 

Darius Slayton Shepard gets a ton of targets from DJ. With him back in the lineup and Slayton is facing Carlton Davis in coverage. I want nothing to do with Slayton this week. 

Davante Parker Rookie QB in his first start and probably shadow coverage by Ramsey. That's gunna be a no for me dog.

Tight Ends

Start✅

Jared Cook Aside from Kamara Cook is essentially the best pass catcher on the roster. Crazy, I know. Gotta start him here.

Jonnu Smith I know he had a quiet return from Injury but he was a focal point of this offense with AJ Brown out. He should take some of that role back this week. 

Robert Tonyan Another underperforming TE last week. I think he bounces back here. There's a serious lack of pass catchers behind Davante Adams in Green Bay. 

Sit❌

Evan Engram Why do managers continue to start him? It's not going to happen for him this year.

TJ Hockenson It's the matchup that scares me this week. Also on the offensive side of the ball the Colts are very run heavy. That will limit all offensive opportunities for Detroit. Not to mention the Colts just got Darius Leonard back. 

Both Rams TEs The play here is when one is inactive you start the other. If you must start one it's gotta be Everett. Higbee is off the radar unfortunately.

Quarterbacks

Start✅

Carson Wentz Not only does he all of a sudden have a decent WR group on the field but it looks like he'll additionally have Goedert back. All systems go for Wentz this week.

Joe Burrow The rookie is going to see a ton of volume likely chasing points with no real running game threat. The volume along with his pass catchers and his talent make him a great start this week. 

Justin Herbert Don't let Denver's Defense scare you off of him. Herbert has proved he can beat bad matchups and the name of Denver is scarier than the actual matchup.

Ryan Tannehill Cheap start I know but I think the casuals are finally catching up to him. This will be the last week I list him because he's an every week start for me.

Sit❌

Jared Goff It's not as good of a matchup as it seems. Miami had been getting after it on defense. Goff is almost always a sit for me unless it's a cake matchup

Ben Rotheisburger On the road in Baltimore. Is a scary sentence for QBs. I almost listed Conner as a sit as well but his volume and the O/U dictate that to be a bad idea. The only Steeler I trust here is Dionte Johnson. 

Drew Brees He's outside my top 20 QBs this week. Not even in 2QB Leagues. Again without Thomas and Sanders.

     So I'm seeing Cam as a sit for most sites and I kinda disagree. He shouldn't do it as a passer but the way things are going I can see him going all in on the run this week to beat the Bills. Of he has 10+ rush attempts that's an insane floor on a day that involves a ton of wind in some games. 

     That's it for this week's start/sits. Hope you enjoyed it. Follow me on twitter @Chris_Cianci I'm always available to answer any questions there.