• Start Tank Bigsby: The Jacksonville Jaguars running back should see a career-high number of opportunities this week.

• Sit Patrick Mahomes: Mahomes has rarely scored enough fantasy points over the past calendar year to be worth having in starting lineups.

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Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes

Deciding who to start or sit in fantasy football can be as simple as checking PFF’s rankings and choosing the higher-ranked player. This start-sit column goes a step further, examining why a typical starter might struggle in a given week or why an overlooked player could perform well. While usual starters often remain the best choices, we also focus on those borderline players worth considering.

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QUARTERBACKS

START

Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings

Darnold started the season on fire, notching the fourth-most fantasy points among quarterbacks over the first four weeks. He struggled in Week 5 against the great New York Jets secondary and then the Vikings had their bye week, but it’s worth remembering he has excelled against other defenses that have ranged from good to average.

He has played much better against man defenses than zone defenses so far this season, with a 68.0 grade against man and a 57.9 against zone. He averages 12.1 yards per attempt against man with a 9.1% big-time throw rate and a 2.5% turnover-worthy play rate. Against zone, he averages only 7.4 yards per attempt with a 4.4% big-time throw rate and a 5.7% turnover-worthy play rate.

The Detroit Lions, Minnesota’s Week 7 opponent, run zone coverage at the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. The Vikings are only 2.5-point favorites this week, so they might need to pass more frequently.

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