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StartEm SitEm Sunday Week 16 2023

By Brad Kruse
Brad Kruse

In this Start Em / Sit Em column each week, I'm looking to find some fringe players that you might consider starting each week and comment based on their matchups. Early on, I'll base my selection of candidates on where they were with respect to ADP.  I'm not going to try to pad my stats by suggesting your start Josh Allen each week, but instead trying to dig deep and find some nuggets for players to avoid or to go after.  These are coin flip guys and if I can finish the year at better than 60% I'll consider it a success.  My metrics to get the start decision are:  QB 20 pts or more,  RB, WR or TE need to score 12 pts or more for a successful endorsement.  Defense/Special Teams should put in 8 points or more to get those picks right.  I'll look at ~3 players on each Thursday night's game and ~ 6 players for the rest of the week to get you going.

Player Position Team Opponent Start/Sit Comments
Justin Fields QB CHI ARI START This is a great matchup for Fields. He's trying to win the trust of the Bears franchise to stick with him, despite likely having the top overall pick. Arizona has been decimated by multiple offenses of late. 
Trey McBride TE ARI CHI START McBride's been sizzling hot lately and the weak point of the improving Chicago defense is covering tight ends. A great matchup for him to go ballistic.
Bijan Robinson RB ATL IND START What a frustrating situation. Robinson had an ideal matchup last week, but was hardly used in a closs loss where he should have been the focal point of the offense. This is an extremely similar situation, and I'm hoping that Atlanta decides to finally leverage one of their best weapons.
Gus Edwards RB BAL SF START Edwards moves back into the lead role with Keaton Mitchell out for the rest of the season - he proved earlier in the year that he can be an RB1 if provided enough volume.
James Cook RB BUF LAC START Cook is finally getting the touches that he deserves from the Buffalo Bills, and he gets an ideal matchup. He should absolutely dominate this game.
Javonte Williams RB DEN NE SIT Williams doesn't get a big enough piece of the pie in Denver to overcome difficult matchups, with the Broncos rotating in Samaje Perine and Jaleel McLaughlin.