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Fantasy Football Start Sit

FREE weekly fantasy football who to start & sit advice

Our weekly "Who to Start and Sit" column is part of FootballDocs In-season content. All of FootballDocs In-season content is 100% free and starts September 7, 2011.

After starting your studs (typically players ranked after week 5 in the top ~15 RBs, top ~ 10 WRs, top ~ 10 QBs, top ~3 TEs, top ~5 Defenses, and top...wait, no kicker is a fantasy football stud), the Docs will help you decide who to start and sit as we recommend players in our fantasy football start sit column that are not clear studs and can step in with a big game for your team this week. Consequently, we will not recommend who to start and sit with the top few players at each position in our weekly fantasy football start sit advice (given starts every week); however, we may occasionally recommend players ranked 15 - 25 overall due to some teams out there that will have multiple players at one position in this range but can only start one.  If we recommend such a player it does not mean we think they are not a stud, we are just trying to help those folks out there that may be in such a situation. We also recommend players to bench, so our fantasy football start sit column is sometimes referred to as fantasy football start bench column. Additionally, we offer Fantasy Football Weekly Rankings to help even further with some of those more difficult start sit decisions. Last, be sure to check us out every Tuesday as we do a Wrap-up on our advice - both good and bad.  In fact, every wrap-up is kept and posted as a permanent, public record of what we called and how good or bad the calls were. Why?

Three reasons: 
1.  Accountability.
2.  Confidence in our analysis and recommendations.
3.  Because the Docs take winning every bit as seriously as you do.

Thank you for visiting and welcome to FootballDocs Fantasy Football - "Where the geeks meet the gridiron."

With various NFL teams wrapping up playoff spots and not wanting to risk injury to key starters with the NFL playoffs on the line, Week 17 is always a weird week for fantasy football. Many fantasy start / sit decisions and fantasy starting line-ups are based largely on whether a particular NFL team has any real reason to play its starters rather than traditional studs that performed well throughout the year. As such, we always strongly recommend folks get their fantasy championship game moved from week 17 to week 16. For those of you having to battle through week 17, we've offered some comments in our fantasy football start / sit column to help you stack the fantasy odds in your favor. Enjoy and good luck!

START WITH SOMETHING ON THE LINE:
Denver can clinch a playoff spot, so use your Broncos if you have them. QB Tim Tebow, WR Demaryius Thomas, and RB Willis McGahee should have good weeks against KC.

Baltimore can clinch a first round bye with a win, so you can expect them to bring it to the Bengals. RB Ray Rice should deliver another solid game, and he will be one of the best starts of the week. As for the other side of that ball, WR A.J. Green has a tough game this week against the Ravens, but the Bengals can play themselves into the playoffs. Look for Green's elite talent to shine in this game. The Bengals will have a tough time winning, but that shouldn't slow Green's fantasy production.

The only NFC game of real note this week is the Giants and the Cowboys. Both of these teams will be loaded with WR and QB talent that you can start. QB Eli Manning, QB Tony Romo, WR Hakeem Nicks, WR Victor Cruz, WR Laurent Robinson, and WR Miles Austin all make excellent starts in this "playoff game."

START WITH NOTHING BUT PRIDE:
Buffalo has nothing to play for except a chance to take a little something away from the Patriots. Look for QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and RB C.J. Spiller to have nice weeks.

RB Maurice Jones-Drew is a good start with nothing to play for in Week 17. Jones-Drew has played almost his entire career with nothing to play for, so this week should be no exception. Look for a good week against the Colts.

Marshawn Lynch is another great RB that has been hot down the stretch. Lynch has nothing left to achieve, but he should still post nice fantasy numbers against the Cardinals. The only people watching that game this week will be Marshawn Lynch fantasy owners.

RB Reggie Bush has nothing to gain from this week's efforts, but he should continue to be explosive. Miami doesn't have much else, and they aren't afraid to use him. Bush will be a great start again this week.

RB's Ryan Mathews, DeAngelo Williams, and LeSean McCoy all make great starts this week as well.

Houston has nothing to play for, so we would be reluctant in to play any of the key players for Houston. They have clinched the No. 3 seed in the AFC, and they aren't going anywhere. Bench RB Arian Foster and WR Andre Johnson. Johnson is expected to return this week. This sounds like nothing more than a chance to let him test out his leg a little. It would be surprising to see him play any meaningful time this week, and it would be an even bigger surprise to see him have a big week.

When the 49ers are on the agenda, you should avoid the RB playing against them. This week, that unlucky RB is Steven Jackson. Jackson has been playing well, but you need to look another way this week.

For an expanded list of players to help with weekly fantasy football start sit line-up decisions, be sure to check our our Fantasy Football Weekly Rankings, which are released every Thursday during the regular season.