Fantasy football week one is in the books, and we had a lot of our questions answered… or did we? You can’t make a pattern with one data point, and so far that’s all we have. That doesn’t mean that we can’t dive into what happened in week one to answer some start or sit questions for week two, though! Let’s start off by answering whether or not we should start three quarterbacks who had differing levels of success in week one: should you start or sit Gardner Minshew, Carson Wentz, or Jared Goff?
Start or Sit Gardner Minshew at Tennessee?
Minshew Mania gripped week one, as the waiver wire wonder finished week one with three touchdowns and 20.82 fantasy points. While that only ranked him as the QB13 on the week, it was enough to get everyone hyped up about the second-year phenom. He’s literally playing for his job, as every loss brings the Jaguars closer to the #1 pick and Trevor Lawrence, so he should settle in around QB10. That shouldn’t be hard, Minshew was top-ten in the span that the Jaguars went without Nick Foles. That’s the good news, and much like The Rock in Fast Five, I know you all like your dessert first.
Now, it’s time for the veggies. Gardner Minshew has a bad matchup this week and is not a great start this week. Most people don’t believe in him yet, as he’s gone from 25% rostered to 30%. We already saw the Titans shut down an upstart marginally-fantasy relevant second-year run/pass threat with a bunch of weapons. They limited Drew Lock to 216 yards passing on 33 pass attempts. Lock also kicked in just one touchdown; the saving grace was zero sacks on the sophomore signal-caller.
I don’t expect Minshew to light up the Titans this week, and given his rostered percentages, a lot of people agree with me. Don’t get hot and bothered over the three touchdowns, Minshew only threw for 173 yards and needed a 95% completion percentage to even pull that off. Don’t get too far over your skis; sit Gardner Minshew this week.
Start or Sit Carson Wentz versus L.A. Rams?
If you read my Who to Drop article this week, you already know the answer to this question. I’m moving on from Carson Wentz wherever I have him. That would be… *checks notes* …nowhere. Wentz managed to go for 270 yards and two touchdowns with two dreadful interceptions in his first start, turning in just 15 fantasy points. Washington sacked him eight times and was hit or sacked on six of his first seven dropbacks, which means Wentz likely wakes up screaming “Football Team!” this week. The Eagles’ depleted offensive line versus the suddenly very good Washington defensive line was the biggest mismatch I saw this week.
While he won’t get Chase Young and the other Football Teams again in week two, he does get the Rams. That means Aaron Donald. That means Wentz is likely running for his life again, because the Eagles need to quintuple team Donald (and maybe throw a chip block in for good measure) to stop him this weekend.
Wentz shouldn’t hit your lineups anytime soon. After this week, he gets Cincinnati (and Geno Atkins), San Francisco (and Nick Bosa & Dee Ford) and Pittsburgh (hello Cam Hayward and T.J. Watt). He then gets Baltimore (the hits keep coming, literally) before facing the Giants in week seven. It’ll be nearly Halloween before you want to think about sticking Carson Wentz back into your lineup. Given his injury history, it will probably be Jalen Hurts against the Giants, anyway.
The smart play here is to sit Carson Wentz. That is, unless you have incredible faith in marginal backups behind shoddy offensive lines going against the best defensive lineman in the league.
Start or Sit Jared Goff at Philadelphia?
Originally, I thought fantasy football managers knew better than to roster Jared Goff, and waved myself off of this Unfortunately, managers in nearly two-thirds of leagues clicked the little plus arrow next to Jared Goff’s name, removed a player from their roster, and welcomed a positional suck for the next few weeks. Do not start Jared Goff. The Rams matriculated the ball up the field through the running game, passing the ball 43.5% of the time (third-lowest) compared to 61.2% last season (seventh-highest).
The Eagles looked rough in numerous aspects last week, but stopping the QB wasn’t one of them. It’s not exactly front-page news when someone slows down Dwayne Haskins, but the thorough disruption of the passing game is notable. Haskins mustered just 178 passing yards and one touchdown while getting sacked three times. The Cowboys only sacked Goff once, likely due to the Rams moving to swings and screens to Robert Woods to move their passing game forward.
I am not trusting a marginal QB like Jared Goff this week. Sit him against the Eagles.
The Takeaway
Don’t start any of these jokers this week. They all are on the fringes of startability to begin with and do not have good situations in week two. If I had to choose one, I would go with Minshew Mania, as he went for 204 and two touchdowns last year against the Titans.
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