Start/Sit mailbag: Week 2

By: Josh Frey-Sam

The disappointments in Week 1 were aplenty.

Dak Prescott, Bo Nix and Joe Burrow led the charge at quarterback.

Running backs Ashton Jeanty, Jahmyr Gibbs and Omarion Hampton weren’t so hot either.

Don’t forget about the plethora of wide receiver letdowns, too, including Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Brian Thomas Jr. (at least he scored), Nico Collins, Amon-Ra St. Brown and AJ Brown… just to name a few.

Listen, those are bound to happen. They are what keep us coming back all season.

Everyone has a clean slate again as we arrive at Week 2, and I know a lot of you are tilting after seeing a few duds and other unexpected performances on Kickoff Weekend.

That’s what I’m here for.

Every Saturday, I will answer your burning start/sit questions to help you win on Sunday. To get yours answered, DM me on Instagram or X @jfreysam, or email me at [email protected].

Let’s get started.

Keenan Allen or Jaylen Waddle?

One of those interesting decisions that you probably weren’t expecting to make after one week, because you likely drafted Waddle to be an every-week WR2 and Allen to be a depth option.

It looks like these two players might reverse roles this season, and that’s why I’m going with Allen here.

Waddle has a good matchup against the Christian Gonzalez-less Patriots this week, but he also left in the middle of last week’s game and has been nursing a shoulder injury all week. Above all else, how can you possibly trust Tua Tagovailoa to get the ball to him right now? To make matters worse for the Fins’ offence, right tackle Austin Jackson is out for this contest, so it’ll be much tougher to generate those explosive plays you drafted Waddle for.

Meanwhile, Allen slipped on his Chargers jersey for the first time in a year and put up a ho-hum 7-68-1 stat line against the Chiefs in his season debut. Now he gets a much more favourable matchup against the Raiders’ defence.

I like Allen for several reasons, the most of which is the high floor he presents.

TJ Hockenson or Harold Fannin Jr.?

Another Week 1 bust vs. a breakout. You probably scooped Fannin Jr. off waivers this week after his tremendous 7-63 pro debut against the Bengals last week.

I do have some hesitation starting him over Hock, though. It’s tough to ignore Fannin Jr.’s usage last week (21% target share on 31 routes run), but there’s a large part of me that believes that won’t be consistent.

The Browns (11.5-point underdogs) should be throwing a lot against the Ravens, but the presence of David Njoku, who played nine more snaps and ran 10 more routes than Fannin Jr., is enough to turn me away from what could be a dud game.

Instead, I’m choosing Hockenson here.

I get it — he had three catches (four targets) for 15 yards in Week 1, but I also think that was a product of a shaky JJ McCarthy. With that first game under his belt and a matchup against the Falcons’ defence, which was a middle unit at defending tight ends last year, I believe Hock is poised for more work.

With Jordan Addison suspended and Justin Jefferson commanding so much attention, I just don’t see how Hockenson isn’t leaned upon to move the ball for the Vikings in primetime.

Travis Etienne or Javonte Williams?

I love this one and I hate it, because it feels nasty.

Except, it was quite pretty if you owned ETN or Williams in Week 1. Williams found the end zone twice, while ETN posted the second-highest rushing total of his career (143).

The most encouraging part of it all for both players was their usage. Both operated as the clear RB1 for their respective teams, which was far from expected entering the season.

ETN, who logged 16 carries and three receptions, was thought to have Tank Bigsby and rookie Bahshul Tuten take a major bite out of his workload, while Williams (15 carries and two receptions) seemed like a guy who had a short leash with Miles Sanders behind him.

I’m going with ETN here for one reason: there seems to be more certainty in his workload.

The Jags traded Tank Bigsby, the biggest early-season threat to ETN’s workload, earlier this week. Yes, Tuten is still there, and I think he will carve out a bigger role in this offence as the season goes on, but for now, this is clearly ETN’s backfield. It’s also a nice matchup against the Bengals, who, albeit, conceded just 49 ground yards last week.

Good luck this week. If I can ask one favour — if you know anyone else looking for fantasy advice or who would enjoy this newsletter, it would mean a lot if you let them know about the Back Bacon Brief.

Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Josh