Fantasy Football Week 5: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em

Welcome to The Big Lead’s weekly start ’em, sit ’em column. It pairs wonderfully with our weekly waiver wire column. We are here to dig into the toughest decisions you may be facing for your fantasy matchup this week and give you answers. Some of those answers may even be right!

Presenting our Week 4 start ’em, sit ’em calls.

Etienne has been frustratingly inconsistent to start the year. Weeks 1 and 3 were quality, double-digit outings that suggest Etienne is capable of living up to his billing as a legit RB1. Weeks 2 and 4, not so much. And with a matchup against a tough Bills defense looming, it’s fair to question if you might be better off looking elsewhere. Especially considering Etienne put up a paltry stat line against a subpar Falcons defense. But worry not. Etienne’s results aren’t quite there on a week-to-week basis but he has received more than 20 touches in three of the Jaguars’ four games this year. The volume is there. Stay the course. START ‘EM

There was a lot of hype around Goedert’s fantasy potential this year, and hype around tight ends can be outsized because it’s so hard to find reliable production at the position. Obviously, things haven’t gone the way many expected. Goedert has yet to score a touchdown on the year and his best outing to this point was a five-catch, 41-yard performance against the Buccaneers. The Eagles are saying all the right things about continuing to get him involved but the fact of the matter is the team’s passing offense is stuck in the mud right now, AJ Brown’s explosion on Sunday notwithstanding. You’re better off hunting waiver wire options than rolling with Goedert right now. SIT ‘EM

Samuel had a tremendous fantasy outing in Week 3 and it was followed by a truly confounding dud against the Cardinals in Week 4. The star wideout had zero targets on the day and received only three carries, totaling six yards. He suffered a rib injury during that Week 3 contest but he wasn’t listed on the injury report after the Cardinals game so the team thinks he is healthy. With that and the fact that the Niners have a huge game on Sunday coming up against the Cowboys, expect this to be a strange blip in an otherwise solid start to the year for Samuel. He’ll be heavily involved this week. START ‘EM

Lots of fantasy players invested heavily in Wilson, expecting a huge year out of the second-year receiver with Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball. That, of course, did not last and now Wilson’s high ADP has left many reluctant to abandon him. It still seemed like the savvy move until Zach Wilson suddenly became competent on Sunday and came to the conclusion that the more he targets his fellow Wilson, the better. While the QB’s Sunday night performance against the Chiefs could very well be a mirage, the Jets are going up against the Broncos’ defense next week. The same Broncos defense that gave up 70 points in Week 3 and let Justin Fields have the best passing day of his career in Week 4. You can do better than Wilson this week but you can definitely do worse given the unit he’ll be lining up across. START ‘EM

Some might be eager to move off Moss now that Jonathan Taylor is off the PUP list. We are not in that group. Taylor is probably not going to rejoin the Colts after the ugliness this summer and Moss should still be in line for touches as the team’s primary back. But this week represents a tough matchup for fantasy backs that rely on volume for point production as the Colts go up against the Titans’ defensive line, which has yet to give up a 100-yard game to any running back and has only given up one rushing TD on the year. It’s not Moss’ week. SIT ‘EM