Fantasy Football Week 9: Start or Sit Nick Chubb, Latavius Murray, or Kerryon Johnson?
It’s fantasy football week nine, and the difficulty level matches the week. This week is one of two times this year that six teams are on a Bye. With Indianapolis, Cincinnati, the New York Giants, Philadelphia, Arizona and Jacksonville all on Byes, we are left searching for temporary replacement players. We at Football Absurdity want to help you decide who you can start or sit each week, with this week probably being the most difficult so far. Each week we take a look at six players at each position (across two articles), and give you a break down as to why you should start or sit them. In this article, we hope to answer your questions about whether you should start or sit Nick Chubb, Latavius Murray, or Kerryon Johnson?
Start or Sit Nick Chubb versus Kansas City
You know those silly hype videos that they sometimes show on TV? You know the ones; the player in a dark tunnel (or alone in the locker room), shrouded in darkness. He’s holding his head down to signal the seriousness of the situation and holding a football. Ominous bells ring. He does a voiceover that doesn’t even really mean anything. Something like, “they always told me that I would never make anything of myself, that I would never make it out, and to stop just talking gibberish to create a persecution complex.” It ends on the 25th take of him lifting his head to meet his eyes to the camera and look Very Serious. Maybe he lets out a silent scream. You know the ones.
When I thought about Nick Chubb going up against Kansas City, I couldn’t help but run my own personal version of one of those in my head starring Chubb. He now has two games as capital T, capital G, The Guy in Cleveland. In those two games, he has 145 rushing yards and a score, and he’s ripping off runs at a 4.02 yard per carry clip. I am not scared of the new coaching staff if only because putting the ball in your RB’s belly is one of the surefire things a coach can call for. He’ll get the ball into his belly against the #1 worst fantasy defense against running backs. The short way to explain their ineptitude: thirteen running backs have double-digit fantasy days against them in eight weeks. Only Joe Mixon carried a full load and walked away unsatisfied. It soon won’t be a question as to whether you should start or sit Nick Chubb. Start him with confidence this weekend against the Chiefs in what will prove to be a shootout.
Start or Sit Latavius Murray versus Detroit
It’s looking increasingly unlikely that Dalvin Cook will be back this weekend, with most reports trickling about thinking he will be back after Minnesota’s week ten bye. Cook treated the Vikings to his presence on Halloween, but tricked his fantasy owners into thinking this is any sort of short-term good news. For Murray, that means another weekend as the bellcow. This week he takes on a Lions team that shored up the middle of their defensive line that had previously allowed the highest yards per carry in the league with Snacks Harrison. Snacks will gum up the middle for Murray (who already has his worst rush average up the gut), but the rest of the field will remain all the way wide open for him. Snacks didn’t seem to do much to stop Chris Carson last week, and Murray will chew up one of the worst run defenses in the league, as he is on a hot streak: Murray’s topped 18 fantasy points in each of his last three games. It’s looking likely that the weeks of wondering if we should start or sit Latavius Murray are coming to a close. He has a bye next week, and Dalvin Cook is likely back after that. Enjoy, and start, Latavius Murray, while you can.
Start or Sit Kerryon Johnson at Minnesota
This article was Lamar Miller, but I decided that I could not get enough of talking about Kerryon Johnson. Theo Riddick returned on a limited basis Wednesday, but likely won’t steal enough away from Kerryon for it to significantly factor into your evaluation of Johnson. I’m all-in on Johnson this weekend, and it’s mostly for soft reasons. Golden Tate worked as a de facto extension of the run game, now he is out catching balls from Carson Wentz in Philly. The Vikings allow the twelfth-fewest fantasy points to running backs this year, but have allowed six double-digit fantasy days to the position in the last six weeks. Kerryon spent last week catching a ton of passes, as the Lions barely ran the ball. He was better at that than Riddick, just like he’s better at running the ball than LeGarrette Blount. It’s a good week to have to decide whether to start or sit Kerryon to help sidestep the pain of all the teams on bye. Start him this week.
These guys are all good options this week. If I was trying to decide who to start or sit among these guys, I would go with:
- Nick Chubb
- Kerryon Johnson
- Latavius Murray
If you need more start or sit advice, we offer plenty every week! Check out some of our week nine start or sit articles below (this list gets upgraded as it grows every week):
Fantasy Football Week 9: Start or Sit Baker Mayfield, Mitchell Trubisky, or Joe Flacco?
Fantasy Football Week 9: Start or Sit Dak Prescott, Case Keenum, or Ben Roethlisberger?
Fantasy Football Week 9: Start or Sit Devin Funchess, DeVante Parker, or John Brown?
Fantasy Football Week 9: Start or Sit Doug Baldwin, Courtland Sutton, or Corey Davis?
Fantasy Football Week 9: Start or Sit Alex Collins, Tevin Coleman, or Peyton Barber?
Fantasy Football Week 9: Start or Sit Greg Olsen, David Njoku, or Chris Herndon?
Fantasy Football Week 9: Start or Sit Rob Gronkowski, Trey Burton, or Austin Hooper?
Or, if you need a break from setting your fantasy football lineups, might I suggest checking out this week’s edition of Hot Takes From Crazy People?
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