Welcome to the fourth 2022 edition of Fantasy Football: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Ems. Many students here at BHS are involved in fantasy football leagues. Many also fail to receive guidance on the important weekly decisions that may change the outcome of their matchups. I, along with guest analysts, will break down a handful of players at each position weekly and give you advice. Any readers with specific players they would like covered are encouraged to email to myself (at the end of this article) or other analysts. 

Here’s last week’s results: 

My Previous Starts:

QB: Kirk Cousins, QB11 (21 Points). Cousins was solid. He finished with 2TD and a 2-point conversion, and finished right around his 2022 average. If you had Cousins step in this week, he did what he was supposed to do and helped you hopefully win this week. For me, this is a win.

RB: Eno Benjamin, T-RB21 (8 Points). I don’t know how this happened. I was so locked in on Eno Benjamin this week. He usually has nice bursts of speed through the tackles and is efficient, but last Sunday, he barely eclipsed a measly 2 yards per carry. 8 points isn’t a performance that will completely swamp your week, but he didn’t do you any favors. A loss on my part. I was a week too early. He dropped 23 points on Thursday Night Football this week. 

*CC: Rob* WR: DJ Moore, T-WR62 (3 Points). My friend Rob here is a neglected fantasy football manager. He is on Year 2 of the DJ Moore experience, and not loving it. It seems the Panthers QB was facing DJ Moore in fantasy this week, because of his 7 targets, he only caught 2. Another absolutely pitiful performance from DJ. His only positive outlook this year would come from a trade to a new team, preferably Kansas City. *This does not count for my count, but Rob starts the year off 0-1.*

TE: Kyle Pitts, T-TE12 (10 points). Now, on the contrary, I am a neglected fantasy football manager. I’m on Year 2 of the Kyle Pitts experience, and not loving it. But last week was a rare delight. Although Atlanta miraculously scored their season high of 28 points and somehow beat the 49ers, it was barely due to Kyle Pitts. BUT, he did score a touchdown, which makes it the first time the former 4th overall pick scored on American soil. He had a pitiful 3 catches for 17 yards, but that touchdown did help push him into the low double digits. Considering the current TE landscape, he wasn’t an awful start, but not one worth oohing and aahing over. Tiny L.

My Previous Sits: 

*CC: James* QB: Russell Wilson, T-QB16 (15 Points). When Russell Wilson (infamously) said ‘Let’s Ride’, he meant ‘Let’s ride the waiver wire’. He is bad. Like, you could probably cut him at this point bad. And this was somehow his 3rd highest performance through 6 weeks. James made a good call. If you aren’t regularly sitting Wilson, you’re either in a huge league, or you’re awful at fantasy football.

RB: Najee Harris, T-RB17 (12 Points). This is right on the border. Najee did not put up a performance you’d hope you’d get from your first round pick, but he also hasn’t done that all year. This performance was carried by that receiving TD, as that accounted for 50% of his points. I know 12 points is a good week for most, but if you were in a position to sit Harris, you must have a strong enough team to exceed 12 points. I will give myself the win for this one. 

WR: Mike Williams, T-WR62 (3 Points). Some things never change. One of those things is Mike Williams will look like the best WR in the league one week, and then play hide-and-seek midgame the next. I may begin to just say to sit whoever is lined up opposite of Pat Surtain Jr. Big uppercase W for me.

TE: Hayden Hurst, T-TE25 (5 points). Hurst had a strong first drive to begin the game and scared me into thinking I made a big mistake saying to sit him. I don’t think he caught another ball the rest of the game. Burrow’s targets have been painfully inconsistent this year, which is a similar issue from last year. Be cautious with Bengals receivers+tight ends. Another W.

I’m a harsh critic of myself, but I’d say I was 4/6 (66.6%) for last week, and 13/22 (59.1%) for the year. 

So now, heading into Week 7, here’s my advice:

Start ‘Ems (Who you should START this week)

QB: Justin Herbert (Los Angeles A)

Justin Herbert is, shockingly, the T-QB8 so far this season. He, and the Chargers, have not been as good as they were expected to be. This pick pertains more to smaller leagues, but keep Herbert in your lineups. He’s going up against the worst defense in the league against QBs, Seattle, and he should explode this week. His pass-catchers finally seem to be healthy, and he’s gonna go ballistic. College professor Dr. Malossi said of Herbert, “Herbert is ‘ma homie’”.

RB: *COLLABORATOR CHOICE: Jake McAuliffe* Kenneth Walker III (Seattle) 

Kenneth Walker is a beast. With Rashaad Penny out for the year, Walker is miles ahead of Deejay Dallas as Seattle’s RB1. With the Chargers defense being worse than expected this year, and the Seahawks having the 26th ranked defense going into this week, expect a shootout. Don’t be surprised if this means Walker finds the end zone several times. 

RB: Ezekiel Elliott (Dallas)

This sickens me to say, but start Zeke this week. He has been the 20-something’th RB in total this year at this point, and is splitting points with Tony Pollard. He looks largely lethargic. I think he will eclipse 100 yards (for the first time this year) and reach the endzone against the bottom-1 Lions run defense. Zeke will eat.

WR: Alec Pierce (Indianapolis) and Allen Lazard (Green Bay)

Alec Pierce and Allen Lazard are very different receivers. Pierce is a distant second option (behind Michael Pittman Jr) in Indianapolis, while Lazard is the Packers top and only WR in Green Bay. Their one similarity this week: they play weak defenses vs WRs. Their opponents, the Titans and Commanders, respectively, are the 1st and 3rd worst defenses against WRs, respectively. Put Pierce in a FLEX/WR3 spot and Lazard in a FLEX/WR2 spot, and don’t look back. Local Colts fanatic Jayden Diaz said of Pierce, “He’s developing nicely as a WR2 in this powerhouse [sic] offense”.

TE: Evan Engram (Jacksonville)

Evan Engram has become a favorite target of Trevor Lawrence in his first year in Jacksonville. Honestly, there’s not much reasoning behind this pick, besides the fact that the Giants defense is the 6th worst against tight ends and his former team. He’s looking for revenge against his former teammates this week. 

Sit ‘Ems (Who you should SIT this week)

QB: Jared Goff (Detroit)

Jared Goff’s relevance in fantasy this year is somewhat miraculous. Goff is the QB10 so far, and has already had his bye, so he’s been really solid. If you have him and another QB, I’d still bench Goff. This is why. Even with him having most of his pass catchers finally at 100% health, this is a tough matchup. Dallas allows the 4th least fantasy points to QBs, and although they’ve had two weeks of preparation, I don’t see Goff putting up high double-digit points like he did early on in the season. Football player and attractive junior Jake Geller said of Goff, “Don’t play him because he s**ks”. A very blunt take, but appropriate in such context. 

RB: David Montgomery (Chicago)

David Montgomery is another example of good player, bad matchup this week. He has been wildly inefficient some weeks, and wildly efficient in others. He does well out of the backfield in some weeks, and poorly in others. This week, he will not do well in both spots. He is due for another dud week against the elite New England run defense.  

WR: Jakobi Meyers (New England)

Speaking of New England, Jakobi Meyers has emerged as their top receiving target. He has only one single-digit performance this year, and more targets than guys like Robert Woods and Gabe Davis. He’s gonna get shut down by Jaylon Johnson and the surprisingly good Chicago secondary. Somehow, the Bears defensive backs have allowed the 2nd(!) least points to WRs through 6 weeks in 2022. Not sure how, but this makes me wary of Meyers this week. 

TE: Robert Tonyan (Green Bay)

Robert Tonyan’s most consistent criticism was that nearly half of his points came from touchdowns. Since Week 3, he has actually averaged nearly 10 scoreless points per game. He has quietly become a very dependable target for Aaron Rodgers and a dependable TE for your roster. But not this week! Against the 5th strongest defense vs. TEs, Tonyan will struggle to get into a groove. 

Thank you for tuning in. If you have requests for next edition, email me at [email protected]. Good luck this week to all!