Making lineup decisions can be the most frustrating or rewarding part of fantasy football. Here to help you make those decisions are our positional start ’em and sit ’em picks.
Fantasy decisions will only get more difficult from here on out, so let’s look at our Week 7 start/sit plays for the QB position.
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Which QBs Should You Start in Fantasy This Week?
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers (at MIN)
It seems no matter how well Brock Purdy plays, there are those out there waiting for the “real Purdy” to reveal himself. By that, I mean the guy who fell to the last pick of the NFL Draft and isn’t actually an NFL-caliber starting quarterback.
Last week, Purdy had the worst game of his young career. He threw for 125 yards and one touchdown while also throwing his first interception of the season. After scoring at least 14 fantasy points in every game this year, he posted just 8.7 against the Cleveland Browns. So, I guess that’s it. Purdy is terrible now.
MORE: Week 7 Start/Sit Options — TE | WR | RB
Of course, that’s not true. Purdy had just one bad game. He is in a great spot to bounce back this week against a Minnesota Vikings defense allowing the 10th-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks.
It remains to be seen if Purdy will have Christian McCaffrey or Deebo Samuel. I am tentatively expecting the latter to play and the former to sit. As long he has one of them, Purdy should return to his usual 200-yard, two-touchdown performances, which is good enough this week.
Which QBs Should You Sit in Fantasy This Week?
Desmond Ridder, Atlanta Falcons (at TB)
If you’ve been reading this column all season, you know I make a concerted effort to populate these lists with guys who are actually in question. You may look at some of the names on the sit side of things and think they’re obvious sits. I beg of you to go check this week’s Consensus Rankings.
The point at which the lists go from obvious starters to “Really, that guy is ranked in the top 24?” is very early. As a result, Desmond Ridder, who is coming off games of 19 and 26 fantasy points, is a legitimate streaming candidate this week.
Somehow, Ridder has thrown for 300 yards in back-to-back games. He’s also accounted for two scores in each of his past two. However, those games came against the Houston Texans and Washington Commanders at home.
This week, Ridder travels to face a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that is middle of the pack against QBs. Ridder has also produced far better at home than on the road.
Given his penchant for throwing the ball to the wrong team at inopportune times, combined with the below-average matchup, look elsewhere at QB for a Week 7 streamer.
Trending Searches for QB Start/Sit
Did you know that we have a Start/Sit Optimizer here at Pro Football Network?! It’s completely free to use, allowing you to enter up to six players to find the best option to plug into your starting lineup!
It also allows us to see the most popular trending searches, which we’ve jotted some of them down here to help provide some clarity on!
Should You Start Brock Purdy or Sam Howell?
This is a very difficult week between all the injuries, byes, and bad matchups. Fortunately, both Brock Purdy and Sam Howell are great starts.
Purdy is poised for a nice bounce-back game against a weaker defense in what could be a high-scoring contest. Meanwhile, Howell has just been really strong all season. He is in a great spot against a middling Giants defense that is coming off an incredibly demoralizing loss to the Bills.
The Start/Sit Optimizer has this in favor of Purdy, but not by a ton. If you have both of these guys as options, things are going better for you this week than most. You can really go either way with this one, but I lean Purdy as well.
Should You Start Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins?
Despite not playing well in real life, Russell Wilson has been pretty good for fantasy managers. Since the Broncos have both the worst pass defense and worst run defense, Wilson often has to throw to play catch up.
MORE: Fantasy News Tracker
With that said, Wilson has also benefited from some extreme touchdown variance. The Broncos have scored 13 touchdowns on the season — 12 of them have come via the air. That is going to regress.
On paper, Kirk Cousins has an awful matchup against the 49ers’ elite defense. But here’s the thing with Cousins — the opponent doesn’t matter. Cousins is capable of throwing for 300 yards and four touchdowns against anyone … or 180 yards and no touchdowns.
If you roster Cousins, you start him every week. You know there will be a couple of colossal stinkers in there. You accepted that when you drafted him.
The 49ers are allowing the fourth-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. They are also coming off a game in which they lost to P.J. Walker. They’re going to be angry and motivated. Yet, the Start/Sit Optimizer says to start Cousins. And I agree. He’s the more talented passer with the better offensive weapons and a better coach.