Skip to main content

Start/Sit advice for Week 8

I am the luckiest librarian today: I have yet another stellar post from a guest writer. Two in one day?! Whaaaaat? This rounds out the group of guest writers that I'm going to use on the blog for now: Jen, Michael, Bob, and now Steve. They all have different opinions and are full of thought-provoking advice. As you can see below, Steve makes me proud with his tremendous quantity of links and the consensus start/sit for the week. So get after it, give me feedback on these great writers, and most of all, good luck in Week 8.

Full disclosure: I’m new to the fantasy advice game. I’ve been playing fantasy since 2005 (not quite as long as Michael), and am currently in 4 leagues, which is a record for me; I usually have 3, but my family wanted to start up one this season for fun… so far be it from me to opt out of that. Why I thought I could handle juggling 4 leagues AND contributing to the fantasy blog that has helped win me 3 championships (and a lot of $$) is beyond me, but I’m more excited about this opportunity than at least 2 of my leagues anyway. Thank you to Sara, hello Jen, Michael, and Bob, and greetings to anyone else reading.

You probably already know this, but the teams on bye weeks this week are the Giants and 49ers. So you will be missing out on all of their underperforming offensive players for at least one more week (Eli, Andre Williams, Larry Donnell, Reuben Randle, Gore, Crabtree, Boldin, Davis, Kaepernick; hat tip to Odell Beckham Jr.). I was high on Cruz this year, and in my main league have Gore and Crabtree, so you can imagine how my season is going. But you don’t care about me… you care about winning week 8.

Despite a slew of injuries to start and only 2 teams on byes, you may have some questions on who to play; especially if you’re outside a playoff spot looking in. You need a W and you need it now. Hopefully these will help:


Roto Arcade’s Flames & Lames



Bruno Boys Start & Sit (they’ve broken it up not only by position, but also start and sit; presumably to boost pageviews)


Fantasy Sharks Start/Bench (I believe Jen posted this link the other day)

FF Toolbox Start ‘Em and Sit ‘Em






NFL.com Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em (okay Jen no more poaching links… promise)


Also, I really like the Fantasy Pros Start tool here, in which you compare players to start based on different scoring. I use it a lot.

For those too lazy to click through 14 different links and look up your guys, here are some consensus guys that made multiple lists for starts and sits (Fantasy tip – don’t be lazy!). In no particular order:

QB STARTS:
Ryan Tannehill, Tony Romo, Matthew Stafford, Russell Wilson, Kyle Orton, Carson Palmer

QB SITS:
Andy Dalton, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton, Jay Cutler

RB STARTS:
Joique Bell, Lamar Miller, Jerrick McKinnon, Shane Vereen, Andre Ellington, Ahmad Bradshaw

RB SITS:
Alfred Morris, Chris Ivory, Chris Johnson, Steven Jackson, LeSean McCoy

WR STARTS:
Jeremy Maclin, Sammy Watkins, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, Terrence Williams

WR SITS:
Roddy White, Torrey Smith, Desean Jackson, Mohammad Sanu

Now just some thoughts on the recent waiver wire surge of running backs. Obviously the big 3 this week were Bryce Brown (Bills), Denard Robinson (Jags), and Tre Mason (Rams). I’m sure there was a feeding frenzy in every league to get one or all 3 of these guys, but unless you’re stockpiling touches or hoarding points for the playoffs, I’m not really sure I see the hype. First of all, if you need a win ASAP to stay in contention, I know the temptation is there to make a move and start someone new and fresh (as your team is probably not living up to its potential). But take a closer look and you might not find what you want to see.

Tre Mason – I know Michael posted a bit about seeing ahead and acting on opportunities such as his, but I’m really hesitant. Yes, he put up 14.5 on Seattle’s defense and Stacy didn’t touch the ball once, but that backfield situation is a MESS right now, and with Jeff Fisher saying things like “it’ll be a week-to-week thing” and “Zac could get 25 carries this week”, I’m not really confident starting Mason. And when you look at his schedule down the stretch, it makes it look even more bleak: KC this week, then SF, ARI, DEN, SD, OAK, WAS, ARI, NYG. With the exception of the Raiders, that’s somewhat of a murderer’s row for running backs. I understand starting him if you’re desperate and have no other options, but temper expectations.

The same could be said for Denard Robinson. Gerhart is returning and will get some snaps, but even as the starter, this week is not the best time to deploy the flavor of the week in Jacksonville’s backfield. Miami’s run D is SOLID. Plain and simple. Since week 3, no RB has had more than 50 rushing yards against them, and only 1 TD. A lot of people (including Bob) are high on streaming them as a DST this week, which makes it counter-intuitive to be pro-Miami Defense and pro-Jaguars running back. Robinson also has a bye in week 11, which is another lost week right before playoff time. And also… he’s on the Jaguars. I’m staying away.

Easily the best back of the three I listed is Bryce Brown, who was a monster 2 seasons ago in LeSean McCoy’s absence in Philly. He has fumbling issues, yes, but is an athletic freak that definitely has huge upside. However, I think it will be more of an RBBC than people think between him and Anthony Dixon, and since Kyle Orton took over, the Bills have been pass happy (never thought I’d say that in my lifetime). He plays the Jets this week who are also pretty decent against the run, and has a bye next week… effectively making two useless weeks in a row. Three if you count playing the Chiefs after the bye. Four if you count going to Miami after that in week 11. Five if you count playing the Jets AGAIN week 12. The Bills are winning games, but it’s not really because of their running backs. Jackson was good in PPR, so maybe Brown has some upside there, but otherwise stick him in your flex spot and hope for the best.

I know you’re desperate, and unfortunately I don’t have any suggestions on who you could plug ‘n play instead of the 3 I just listed, but again, just try to temper expectations and say some prayers to the fantasy gods Saturday night. If you’re deploying any of these guys, I hope I’m wrong for your sake. If all 3 go off, I’ll buy you a drink.

Just kidding… I’ll buy myself several drinks for being so bad at predicting the future. Besides, you admitted you don’t care about me anyway.


*Okay, the last one was a joke.

Comments

Unknown said…
Well done and welcome to the club. BTW this is Bob Tierney. I use my pseudonym of Sean McPhisto on Google.
dukhomia said…
During the time of Daily Fantasy Football Sleepers Week 8 there is an amazing news for you. You should just follow the key word that you have seen. Hope you can find your queries with special tricks. fantasy football
dukhomia said…
During the time of Daily Fantasy Football Sleepers Week 8 there is an amazing news for you. You should just follow the key word that you have seen. Hope you can find your queries with special tricks. Daily fantasy football

Popular posts from this blog

Back on the fantasy wagon

With my library conferences behind me (for a few weeks at least), I can now concentrate on fantasy football again. If you happen to be a librarian and are interested in how my co-presenter and I tied together fantasy football and information literacy, check out my co-presenter’s blog . Though I imagine most of you would much rather catch up on the following football news and thoughts for the week: I remain a bit dazed and confused by my certainty last summer that Cedric Benson was going to rock my RB2 world in 2007. Didn’t happen and now he’s moved onto ankle surgery, alleged intoxication and resisting arrest on boats. Awesome. You can practically taste Matt Forte’s value skyrocketing here. In fact, wondering about rookie RBs in general? Well then check out FF Xtreme’s The Day After: Ranking the Rookie Running Backs . I love reading articles or stats that challenge my preconceived notions – The Fifth Down’s Chad the Completion Percentage Machine does just that. No offense to thos

Streaming Defenses - Week 16

Don't know about you all, but in our house this week is just chock full of events, visiting with family, and getting organized for our upcoming time off over the holidays. Lots of scrambling going on around here and attempts to install some sense of gratitude in my boys. What am I grateful for this season? Many things but let's start with Bob. Bob has been my fantasy football rock, coming back week after week to post. Hats off to you, Bob, and thank you for your diligent work and research. So here he is with this year's final streaming defense post.  Well it’s the last week of the Fantasy Football Playoffs in most leagues, and my last post of the season. I hope you all found these posts useful. And if I failed you, you have to murder a lot more experts before you get to me. I myself have had a terrible playoff season. I’m out of all but one of my leagues due to the weird games the last two weeks. Between weather that didn’t materialize to normally consistent players co

Start/Sit Week 4 and a smattering of rankings

It's been awhile, my fantasy football friends. I have lofty intentions of getting several posts up here each week, but life is busy and I will do my best. So in the intervening 6 years since I've posted regularly on here, our family added another child (now there are 3!), moved back to Boulder for a sabbatical year and then returned to Knoxville, and we have basically been chugging along like many of the rest of you. My two boys (who turn 12 and 9 soon) are in a fantasy football league for the first time this year with their buddies, which ostensibly is the just the dads (and mom!) playing one another of course. But my oldest is taking it super seriously and what kind of Fantasy Football Librarian would I be if I didn't step up my game for him? So I'm back - and am interested in the fantasy landscape - lots of the same awesome sites out there, but many new ones as well. I'll try to incorporate a mix. Please be sure to let me know if my 2006 ways aren't working i