The Denver Broncos will face the New Orleans Saints in Week 7 on Thursday Night Football. We have fantasy football start-sit advice for every fantasy-relevant player for the Broncos so you can make the best decisions for your lineups.
If you want more advice, head to our Week 7 Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every player in every game.
Bo Nix, QB | DEN (at NO)
Nix has been a top-12 quarterback in three of his past four games, scoring over six points with his legs on each occasion. Over the last two weeks, the rookie has four touchdown passes on 60 attempts after throwing just one on 138 passes to open the season.
There’s a very good chance that Nix is a better fantasy QB than a real QB for years to come, and that means I’ll have my eye on him, but there is simply too much stability at the position to roll the dice on a sporadic rookie facing a top-four defense in both passer rating and touchdown rate.
Jaleel McLaughlin, RB | DEN (at NO)
The second-year pro out of Youngstown appears to be a legitimate NFL talent, but we aren’t in the talent evaluation business as much as we are in the number accumulation business. A 5-10-touch role in a well-below-average offense isn’t going to get it done.
I don’t mind the strategy behind holding him, in fact, I actually endorse it. While I don’t think there’s a world in which you’re playing him right now, the man ahead of him on the depth chart is a flight risk and there are games against the Colts and Bengals looming during the fantasy postseason.
Javonte Williams, RB | DEN (at NO)
Williams may only have one finish better than RB25 on his résumé this season, but he’s earned 24 targets over the past month and is still atop Sean Payton’s running back depth chart.
This team appears committed to Bo Nix for 2024, and while that is a risk, there’s a world in which he improves down the stretch and the lead back in this offense offers weekly RB2 value.
We saw the Saints get torched last week by anyone the Bucs wanted to hand the ball to (Sean Tucker and Bucky Irving combined for 217 yards and two touchdowns on the ground), the continuation of a key weakness in New Orleans and its third-worst rush defense by EPA this season.
Much like Rhamondre Stevenson (at JAX), Williams isn’t a fun click in an offense led by a rookie, but I think you could do worse; in a Flex situation, I don’t mind the touch floor that he offers over a boom-or-bust receiver.
Courtland Sutton, WR | DEN (at NO)
Plenty of offenses in today’s game make moving the ball look easy and putting points on the board second nature. For the Broncos, it’s an outright war.
Sutton had to make what will be on the shortlist for catches of the year last week to save what would have been another underwhelming game. Despite being the clear alpha in town (he has 21 catches, and no other Denver receiver has 20 targets), he’s yet to reach 70 receiving yards, yet to have a 30-yard gain, and has twice as many games with two or fewer receptions as he does contests with 5+.
The Saints allowed a 20+ yard catch to four different Buccaneers in the first half of Week 6, but that’s not the norm. They are the best team in terms of opponent passer rating when defending the deep ball.
Neither of these teams, as currently constructed, wants a high-possession game where their offensive shortcomings are magnified. I’m looking at another 5-7-target game from Sutton where he will have to snatch production from the jaws of despair with a special effort to pay off starting him.
If counting on an outlier is his path to viability, I’m out. Sutton doesn’t crack my top 40 this week.