In this weekly article series, our Writer, Zach Zander (@ZTwiceFF), will help you make those tough decisions through Start-Sit picks, DFS Fades & Sleepers, along with Weekly Rankings!
Starts
Devonta Smith @ ARI
Smith has been a boom/bust player so far this season having two games under 5 PPR points and two games with 15+ PPR points. Arizona is a bottom-10 pass defense so far through 4 games but has been surprisingly stout against their opponent's Top Wideout while letting the ancillary pieces run free. This includes limiting Cooper Kupp to 4 catches for 44 yards while the rest of the pass-catchers combined for over 200 yards. Similarly in the Week prior the Cardinals help Davante Adams to his season low of 2 receptions for 12 yards while the rest of the pass-catchers combined 240 yards. All in all, Arizona may focus on slowing AJ Brown, leaving room for Devonta Smith and company to have a big week.
Ryan Tannehill @ WAS
Without AJ Brown, Tannehill has been a surprisingly decent floor option this season outside of the Buffalo game. This week he faces the 24th-ranked pass defense per teamrankings.com. Robert Woods has looked better and although Treylon Burks is expected to miss, Tannehill should get enough from Henry, Phillips, and others to produce a solid fantasy output. I trust him as a higher-end QB2 with a great floor this week.
James Robinson vs HOU
Robinson had a tough week last week against a stout Philadelphia defense following 3 great games to start the year. I expect him to bounce back in Week 5 against Houston, a defense that may be the target of 2022 for runningbacks. The Texans are giving up 172 rushing yards per game and Robinson should have no problem taking advantage. I have him ranked inside my top 12 RBs this week.
Tyler Higbee
Averaging 6 targets per game has led to a great start to the 2022 season for Higbee and I expect that volume to stay the same. He is Stafford's safety line behind a surprisingly poor offensive line. This week against a solid Dallas pass rush, I don't expect anything to change for the Higbee and the large target share.
Sits
Antonio Gibson vs TEN
Having seen his snap share decrease every week, combined with the fact that Brian Robinson could return this week makes Gibson a scary flex play this week. Gibson struggles to break double-digit point totals due to McKissic being the main passing back and if he loses the goal line work to Robinson, he may not receive any touches of importance in the Washington Offense. If at all possible I'd look to get out from him, otherwise he is in the flex conversation with a low floor.
Matthew Stafford vs DAL
We've reached the point in the season where we have seen enough to draw some conclusions, one of those being that Stafford may not be the great fantasy option that he was last year. Having only scored above 10 points one time, he should be sat until we see some consistency going forward. As mentioned with Higbee above, the O-line has not been as good as advertised leaving him to dump off the ball more often for short throws rather than use his arm strength to go downfield.
Allen Robinson vs DAL
Unsurprisingly Allen Robinson is a sit-along with Stafford. He is receiving consistent red zone targets, but even if he pulled a few down it'd move his weekly finishes into flex territory. He is the type of player that needs time to get open down the field and on the outside, and with Stafford not having much time, there is no room for him in this limited offense. McVay will figure out a way to turn it around, but I need to see it for a couple of weeks before I could play him in a flex comfortably.
All TE's...
There are a number of TE's I could list here but frankly, outside of the top guys we're all just looking for a TD. Target TE's on good offenses with a chance at a TD and avoid those on bad offenses.
Streaming Options
QB: Ryan Tannehill @ WAS
TE: Will Dissly @ NO
K: Brett Maher @ LAR
D/ST: TEN @ WAS
Rankings
QB
RB
WR
TE
Thanks for reading! Follow @ZTwiceFF, on Twitter for more Fantasy Football content throughout the season, and hit him up with any of your Start/Sit or Waiver questions.
