Start / Sit – Week 2

We’re already being reminded that draft day is only one day in the fantasy season. Heading in to week 2, the start/sit questions are piling up. I’ve pulled a few interesting conundrums from Reddit’s /rFantasy_Football, and I’ll run through my picks below.

Frank Gore or Kerwynn Williams

Williams is the play here.

Frank Gore will be paired with Jacoby Brissett as Chuck Pagano sends Scott Tolzien to the bench. Brissett can run a little, and so that can always improve things for the running back. My two worries with Gore are his sharing the backfield with Marlon Mack (who ended up getting a TD in week 1), and how much are the Colts going to score?

With a matchup against a Colts team floundering without their franchise QB, Carson Palmer and Co. shouldn’t have much trouble running over this Colts D. I expect Arizona to get out to an early lead here, and that is going to translate in to plenty of touches for Williams.

In very limited action against Detroit last week, Williams showed he doesn’t go down easy, has a good burst and decent speed. I believe Williams will have a better chance at getting a short TD, and that pushes this tough call in his favor.

Russel Wilson or Marcus Mariota

This is a great call to have to make! We’ve got two excellent, young, mobile quarterbacks on decent teams. The matchup is the deciding factor in this one.

Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans are taking on a Jaguars defense that handed in 10 sacks against the Texans last week. The Titans offensive line is night-and-day better than the Texans O-line, but the Jags showed me enough to think they’ll at least be a middle of the road unit this year. Both teams here want to run the ball, too, and so I think this game will end up a low-scoring slugfest.

The pick here is Russel Wilson. He and the Seahawks will be hosting a San Francisco 49’ers team that couldn’t do anything offensively or defensively against the Panthers last week. Seattle’s leaky offensive line may look a little better against this bad Niner’s pass rush, giving Russ more time to throw and better lanes to run in.

PS: Really like Wilson in DFS this week.

Pick 2 RBs – Isaiah Crowell, Tarik Cohen, Theo Riddick

Tarik Cohen is the easy #1 pick for me here. Get on the bandwagon folks, Tarik is going to be fun to own this year. You’ve either spent big or gotten lucky on the waiver wire to pick him up, so play him!

For #2, Isaiah Crowell. Crowell and the Browns are taking on a Ravens team that blanked the Bengals (the same Bengals we just saw score 9 points against a Texans side who looked completely inept week 1). Taking Crow here is a bet on volume. DeShone Kizer handed it to Crowell 17 times (33 yards, I know, gross) and threw it to him twice for (wait for it), 33 yards. Even though the Browns couldn’t really get anything going on the ground, you know they want to run to protect their rookie QB. The Browns will continue to feed it to Crowell, and with that great opportunity, I think we’ll see a bigger game this week from Isaiah.

Theo Riddick is a fun watch, and he’s going to give you a very reliable floor for your deep PPR leagues. I rank him #3 in this group thanks to a tough matchup against a Giants defense that looks good again so far this year. We know Riddick will be limited to getting his points through the passing game, and it’s too hard to cross your fingers and hope for another TD, a TD you’d have to get to make Riddick worth the start here.

Flex Question – Sammy Watkins, Jonathan Stewart, or Rishard Matthews?

(This is a 10 team, PPR league)

In a 10-team league I’ll assume you’re shooting for upside, and so I’d go with Watkins here. I’m not worried about his matchup against Josh Norman, the only thing that gives me pause with Sammy is, I wonder if the Colts D is just that bad, or have the Jared Goff and the Rams offense as a whole simply taken a big step forward?

I’m betting Goff continues to look for Watkins (5 targets for 58 yards last week), and the Washington secondary continues to let receivers get behind everyone. Watkins could be in for a big, big day.

Hit me up with any of your other start/sit questions @NFLClark on Twitter. Good luck out there!