It is finally here! With Week 1 upon us, it’s time to set your lineup to get the season started with a W. If you have Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara or any other elite fantasy football RB, you already know you are starting them. This article will help you make the tough decisions for who to start on the fringes of RB2/Flex territory.
Welcome to our weekly fantasy football RB start or sit, and as an added bonus, if you haven’t landed on a team name, for instance, someone already took the name Bishop Sycamore in your league, there is a name suggestion with each player as well. Good luck this week!
QB Fantasy Football Start/Sit
WR Fantasy Football Start/Sit
Fantasy Football Start or Sit: Week 1 RBs
Start: Raheem Mostert at Lions
Team Name: Ketchup & Mostert
Matchups don’t come much better than a season opener with the Detroit Lions D, which finished tied for last in the league with the Houston Texans last year, allowing 32.5 fantasy points per game (fppg) to opposing RBs. There was a lot of talk in the offseason over who would finish the year as the 49ers RB to have for the playoffs, between Raheem Mostert and Trey Sermon. While that one is TBD, we know who is starting or at the least 1a this week. Mostert will feast on the Motor City Kitties, so get him in your lineup if you have him.
Start: Gus Edwards at Raiders
Team Name: The Gus Bus
Over the last two seasons, the Baltimore Ravens have run the ball 1,151 times, which is 57.7 percent of their plays. The next closest team, the Tennessee Titans, has run the ball 966 times. With J.K. Dobbins out for the year and now Justice Hill being waived due to injury, the Ravens have a very thin backfield heading into Week 1 and a juicy matchup with the Raiders D, which gave up 28.9 fppg to opposing backs last year. Now, the top RB in Baltimore is Lamar Jackson, but Gus Edwards stands to receive the bulk of the work this week with unproven Ty’Son Williams serving as depth. This is a great spot for Gus Edwards, so start him if you have him.
RELATED | Week 1 Fantasy Football Rankings — PPR + Half PPR
Sit: Arizona RBs at Titans
Team Name: Chasing Points
If you checked out the QB Start/Sit article, you will see that we are targeting this game for a potential shootout, with the high Vegas total. The Titans also are not very stout against opposing RBs, giving up 25.6 fppg last season. The problem is that this is a crowded backfield with more questions than answers at this point and a QB, in Kyler Murray, who will take a third of the carries himself. Chase Edmonds is slated to be the starter, but James Conner will work in as well and likely take the goal line scraps that Murray leaves behind while Edmonds will likely be the more valuable PPR guy of the two. Conner profiles more for the lead-back type of role, but he has durability issues, while Edmonds has never had more than 97 carries in a season. If you have to start Edmonds because you went WR-heavy early in your draft or just have a thin RB position, you can, but it’s better to wait a week and see what the usage looks like.
Sit: Broncos RBs at Giants
Team Name: Melvin & The Chipmunks
This is another tough backfield to predict heading into the season, with Melvin Gordon III looking to be the 1a and Javonte Williams looking like the 1b. The Giants D gave up 24.6 fppg last season, so if we were confident in the workload of Gordon we could roll him out, but I certainly prefer him as a Flex to an RB2. If you are in a pinch, you might have to but lean towards players with more defined roles and more guaranteed volume in Week 1. In Week 2, the Broncos have a prime matchup against the Jaguars, so hold out for if you can.
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