Start or Sit DeSean Jackson
It’s week three of the NFL season, and as crazy as it seems, we will already be a major chunk of the way through the 2018 fantasy football regular season when the Steelers and Buccaneers wind down on Monday Night Football. So far, we’ve had some spectacular ups-and-downs in terms of out-of-nowhere players suddenly playing amazing, and amazing players suddenly playing like they’ve never seen a football field before. We now have two samples of data for the NFL season, and it’s a mess to try to make heads or tails of this so early in the year. However, we at Football Absurdity are here to help you think through some of your tough weekly lineup decisions. For example, should you start or sit DeSean Jackson as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football?
Ah, D-Jax. The hardest fantasy football player to analyze, maybe ever. He is so dependent on the deep ball that it makes it extraordinarily difficult to determine if he will have a great game or a dud. After all, when your targets are thirty yards downfield, the margin for error is minuscule, and the standard deviation is huge. However, there’s plenty to like about Jackson’s 2018 campaign thus far. He sits just eleven air yards behind Mike Evans for the team lead and is third in targets (by one target) behind Evans and Chris Godwin. While he cannot possibly keep up his efficiency (100% catch rate, 33% touchdown rate), whether to start or sit DeSean Jackson this weekend against a terrible Pittsburgh secondary is one of the easiest decisions to make with this polarizing player.
The Steelers are a mess right now. Le’Veon Bell is holding out, Antonio Brown is subtweeting the organization (or just one ex-PR guy), and their defense gave up six touchdowns to Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs last weekend. This came on the heels of a dismissable week one, where the Browns still had three scores in the rain. The Chiefs and Browns chewed up the Steelers defense deep, as their average depth of target against is third-highest in the league. That’s a match made in heaven for Fitzmagic and D-Jax’s deep bombs.
It’s understandable to not feel good about starting DeSean Jackson. The matchup is too much to ignore, and the deep balls will fly free, allowing D-Jax to traipse into the end zone at least once this weekend. If you’re wondering if you should start or sit DeSean Jackson on MNF, you should go for it. Start him, reap the rewards.
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