Fantasy football start ‘em, sit ‘em: Week 10 lineup advice

If you’ve gotten this far in your fantasy football season with your start/sits still mattering after reading this advice every week, good for you. As we roll into Week 10, we’re getting close to the fantasy playoffs, which will start in Week 14 in a number for leagues. Let’s push for those playoff spots together. Here’s this week’s start/sit:

Running back

Start: Duke Johnson, Cleveland Browns

20 receptions, 29 targets, and 203 yards. Those were Duke Johnson’s receiving stats over the first eight weeks of the season. Then the head coach and offensive coordinator got fired and Johnson was freed. Nine catches on nine targets for 78 yards in one game. It just made sense to use him more as a receiver and new offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens apparently believes that too. Now Johnson and the Browns will face the Atlanta Falcons, who allow the most receptions to running backs in the league and the fourth-most fantasy points per game to the position.

Start: David Johnson, Arizona Cardinals

Don’t let a 16.5-point spread and a bad offense deter you from Johnson. This is still a “start your studs” scenario, but also way more than that. Johnson is another back freed by a change in offensive coordinator. Johnson was used on more outside runs and targets down the field. As much as Kansas City being ahead would instinctively make you think it would take away the opposing running back, the Chiefs have allowed the most fantasy points per game to backs this season.

Sit: LeSean McCoy, Buffalo Bills

Over the past three games, McCoy has 24 rushing attempts for 24 yards. He also has 10 receptions and 101 yards, but 6/82 of that came in one game. The Bills are a historically bad offense and 11th in DVOA against the run and seventh against running backs in the passing game. Just stay away from that offense if you can.

Sit: Leonard Fournette, Jacksonville Jaguars

Leonard Fournette will return in Week 10, but to what extent is unknown. Fournette hasn’t exactly been great when healthy, so adding an injury to that isn’t going to help. Jacksonville will not have a three-back rotation with Fournette. T.J. Yeldon, and Carlos Hyde. If you have another option, it’s going to be better to see how this trio plays out before committing to anyone in your lineup.

Wide receiver

Start: Kenny Golladay, Detroit Lions

Golladay only got four targets after the trade of Golden Tate, which was supposed to open up more for him in the passing game. But he did play a season-high 97 percent of the offensive snaps, so the opportunity is going to be there. Chicago is the best defense in the league and have allowed the 12th-fewest fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers. Still, if the Lions are down, there’s going to be a lot of volume in the passing game and Golladay should be the recipient on a good amount of it.

Start: Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Green Bay Packers

This was the message on Valdes-Scantling during the waiver wire article earlier this week:

Geronimo Allison is out for what is expected to be an extended period of time, which will give MVS a bigger role in the offense, something he probably deserved regardless. Over the past four games, Valdes-Scantling has 27 targets and 317 yards with two touchdowns. He’s already become one of Aaron Rodgers’s most trusted targets already and he’s the team’s deep threat with 12.5 intended air yards, the highest on the team.

Valdes-Scantling should get more opportunity against a Dolphins defense that has struggled against the pass, especially if cornerback Xavien Howard spends most of his time focused on Davante Adams.

Sit: Randall Cobb, Green Bay Packers

Cobb had a huge game in Week 1, but hasn’t been a factor since — it doesn’t help he missed three weeks with a hamstring injury and is still feeling some effects. Against New England, he had five receptions but for only 24 yards. He hasn’t topped 40 yards receiving since that Week 1 game. Maybe he’ll be a bigger part of the passing game once he’s fully recovered from his injury, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to be in Week 10.

Sit: Robby Anderson, New York Jets

The allure of Josh McCown returning to the lineup might spark some optimism for Robby Anderson after the chemistry the two had last season, but let’s hold up for a second. Read that last sentence again. If you’re really hoping Josh McCown is what’s going to help your fantasy wide receiver, you’re stretching a bit. For as bad as the Bills offense has been, the defense has been really good. Because the Jets don’t really have a No. 1 option. Anderson could see a healthy dose of Tre’Davious White, which would make a productive day even more difficult.

[Sunday morning update: Anderson has already been ruled out for the game, so yea, don’t start him.]

Tight end

Start: David Njoku, Cleveland Browns

Njoku could be another player rescued by the coaching change in Cleveland. HIs Week 9 production — four catches on five targets for 53 yards — was in line with Week 7, but there’s still promise that the Browns offense will intigrate the athletic tight end into the offense more. Njoku is only being targeted at an average of 7.9 yards past the line of scrimmage when that number was 9.7 last year per Next Gen Stats. Last week, in Kitchens’s first week as OC, that went back up to 9.0, so more targets further down the field could be in Njoku’s future.

Sit: Jared Cook, Oakland Raiders

Cook is either a monster or irrelevant. That’s how his fantasy season has gone. He had four catches for 74 yards in Week 8, but in Weeks 6, 7, and 9, he had eight catches for 50 yards combined. With Amari Cooper gone, Cook should be the top option in the passing game, but last week that only turned into two targets, two receptions, and 20 yards as the Raiders got blown out. They’re probably going to get blown out again against the Los Angeles Chargers, so play anyone on this Oakland offense at your own risk.