Good morning.

Week 1 of the NFL season is only two games in and we’ve already got the full bingo card checked off: Christian McCaffrey has another calf injury, A.J. Brown’s a bust, and Quentin Johnston’s the greatest WR of all time. We are SO back!

Before you get ready to watch (and overreact) to the first full Sunday slate, we’ve got some starts and sits ready to go to make sure you start your season off hot. Let’s get after it…

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STARTS & SITS 🧐

Our goal every week isn’t to let you know your RB1 is a smash start, it’s to highlight those fringe players on your roster you’re more unsure about.

As always, start your studs, but here are some mid-tier names to sub in or out, as well as some sneaky sleepers…

Quarterback

✅ Start ‘Em

Drake Maye vs. LV: The Raiders had a middling pass defense last season, finishing 15th in passing yards allowed. But they did give up a lot of passing TDs (29, tied for 5th-most), while only totalling 10 INTs (tied for 22nd) and 38 sacks (tied for 21st), per NFL.com’s Marcas Grant. Maye finished as a QB1 in 50% of his starts last year, and should do the same today with an upgraded supporting cast and coaching staff.

Trevor Lawrence vs. CAR: The Panthers allowed the most fantasy points, passing TDs (35) and total TDs (40) to opposing QBs last season, per CBS Sports’ Jamey Eisenberg. Look for the Liam Coen regime to get off to a strong start.

Baker Mayfield @ ATL: Mayfield threw for three TDs in each of his games against the Falcons in 2024, including a 330-yard outing in their last encounter. The Falcons gave up the 6th-most fantasy points to opposing QBs a year ago, per Yahoo’s Justin Boone, and with this game having one of the higher projected point totals on the week at 47.5, some fireworks should be expected.

❌ Sit ‘Em

Caleb Williams vs. MIN: “No team blitzed more than Brian Flores’ Vikings last year. He sent the heat on 55& of his plays, a clip 5% higher than any other team. As a rookie, Williams ranked 22nd out of 30 qualified QBs in YPA against the blitz. His 59.1% completion rate ranked 23rd. Worst of all, PFF charted him with an accurate throw rate of 44.9%. That ranked last in the league.” — Kyle Dvorchak

Justin Fields vs. PIT: The Jets have the 2nd-fewest implied points this week (17.8) and their top offensive guard, Alijah Vera-Tucker, is out with a triceps injury. We expected them to be a bad offense, but were hoping for some rushing production from Fields. Unfortunately, that looks unlikely this week—Pittsburgh allowed the 4th-fewest rushing yards per game to opposing QBs last season, per Fantasy Points’ Graham Barfield.

Jared Goff @ GB: “Despite all his success in recent years, Goff was held to just 145 yards and a TD on the road against the Packers in 2024 and 210 yards, a TD and an INT in 2023. He finished outside the top-20 fantasy QBs in both of those games. To make matters worse, Micah Parsons has joined the Packers' pass rush. This isn’t the week to start Goff.” — Justin Boone

😴 Sleepers

Bryce Young @ JAX: The Jags ranked 32nd in pass defense efficiency last season, per NBC Sports’ Kyle Dvorchak, and allowed a league-high 4,375 passing yards. Young was the QB6 from Week 12-on in 2024, so look for him to stay hot here.

Joe Flacco vs. CIN: Flacco passed for at least 307 yards in each of his past five games for the Browns when he started for them in 2023, and he scored at least 20.9 fantasy points in four outings over that span. Today he takes on the Mario Kart rainbow strip that is the Cincinnati Bengals, who allowed the 6th most fantasy points to opposing QBs in 2024, per Jamey Eisenberg. And Flacco, who averaged 41.7 pass attempts with Cleveland in 2023, will need to throw it often to keep up with Joe Burrow and the loaded Cincy offense.

Running Back

✅ Start ‘Em

TreVeyon Henderson vs. LV: Last year, Raiders defensive linemen Adam Butler (48.3) and Thomas Booker IV (53.6) had run defense grades below 55, and Malcolm Koonce has performed at a similar level in two of his three NFL seasons. Vegas also had the 14th-highest missed tackle rate and allowed the 8th-highest yards after contact per attempt, per FantasyPros.

Travis Etienne vs. CAR: The Panthers ranked last in total yards, yards per carry and fantasy PPG allowed to opposing RBs last season, per Yahoo’s James Koh. As for this year, PFF has their defensive line as one of the five worst and their linebacker corps as the 3rd-worst in the league. So not much better... Meanwhile, Etienne was one of the best outside zone runners Koh charted last year, and Liam Coen’s Bucs had the 8th-highest outside run rate in the NFL.

❌ Sit ‘Em

Washington RBs vs. NYG: For now, this committee is too hard to sort through. Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler played in 12 games together last year (including the postseason). By expected fantasy points, Robinson’s role was worth 11.3 Half-PPR XFP/G (RB33) while Ekeler’s was at 8.4 XFP/G (RB45). Jayden Daniels is a huge factor as well, taking 29% of the carries inside-5 and 21% of the designed rush attempts, per Graham Barfield. Fade this backfield unless someone emerges as the guy.

Nick Chubb @ LAR: Chubb did not look like himself at all last year, averaging just 3.4 yards per touch (his previous low was 5.3.). He also had the lowest rate of explosive runs among all RBs with 100 carries (5%), per NFL.com’s Michael Florio. He’s now 29 years old and coming off another injury, as he broke his foot last season. He’ll be the starter by default, but fade him until proven otherwise.

Kaleb Johnson @ NYJ: The Jets allowed the 5th-fewest YPC (3.8) last season, per Graham Barfield, and Johnson remains listed as the RB3 on Pittsburgh’s depth chart. He’ll need to prove it first before I trust him with one of my starting spots.

😴 Sleepers

Dylan Sampson vs. CIN: It remains to be seen how much Sampson will mix in, but the less-talented Ford played six full games as the team's lead back last season and was productive, averaging 14 touches, 78 yards and 14 fantasy points. He was also the team's lead back for most of 2023 and finished 16th in RB fantasy points (25th in PPG) while piling up 1,132 yards and nine TDs, per ESPN’s Mike Clay. Sampson should overtake Ford immediately, and it’s never a bad idea to start pieces in what could be one of the week’s highest-scoring matchups.

Ollie Gordon II @ IND: This is a real desperation sleeper pick here, but with Achane (calf) not 100%, Gordon could be a worthwhile dart throw with TD-upside. Especially if he ends up getting “all the plays” and “all the yards”…

Wide Receiver

✅ Start ‘Em

Emeka Egbuka @ ATL: Jalen McMillan’s on IR, Chris Godwin’s still out, and Cade Otton’s battling a lingering groin injury—that leaves Egbuka as the WR2 behind Mike Evans. Evans should see Atlanta’s top CB, A.J. Terrell, while Egbuka will matchup often against 4th round rookie safety turned nickel DB, Billy Bowman Jr. The Falcons gave up the 4th-most fantasy points to outside receivers and the 6th-most to receivers in the slot last year, per James Koh, so no matter where Egbuka lines up, he’s in a good spot.

Marvin Harrison Jr. @ NO: The Saints traded away CB Marshon Lattimore last season and let Paulson Adebo walk in free agency. This was after they already ranked 4th in most fantasy PPG allowed to receivers in 2024, per USA Today’s Jack McKessy. Maserati Marv should look like his Ohio State self today against a bunch of scrubs.