Fantasy Football: Starting Player, Place Player: Isiah Pacheco, Zay Flowers, Jayden Reed (2024)

Should they start or bench? Decisions about whether to start or bench in fantasy football can be agonizing. While it feels great to make the right decision and effortlessly ride to fantasy glory, it hurts just as much when someone on the bench freaks out. You can use our Who Should I Start? tool to get advice from fantasy football experts as you make your lineup decisions. And you can also sync your fantasy football league for free with our My Playbook tool to get customized advice, rankings, and analysis.

Let’s take a look at some polarizing players and the recommendations of the Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR).

Tips for starting and seating positions in fantasy football

Isiah Pacheco (RB – KC) RB15 for Week 1

Running backs with a higher ECR than Pacheco:

• Josh Jacobs (GB)
• James Cook (BUF)
• Kenneth Walker (SEA)

Running backs with a lower ECR than Pacheco:

• Alvin Kamara (NO)
• Joe Mixon (HOU)
• James Conner (ARI)

Some of the most popular “Who should I start?” searches of the week:

• Isiah Pacheco or Josh Jacobs: 55% of experts chose Pacheco
• Isiah Pacheco or James Cook: 73% of the experts chose Cook
• Isiah Pacheco or Alvin Kamara: 65% of the experts chose Pacheco
• Isiah Pacheco or Joe Mixon: 75% of the experts chose Pacheco

Zay Flowers (WR – BAL) WR31 for Week 1

The ECR is higher for wide receivers than for Flowers:

• Terry McLaurin (WAS)
• Steve Diggs (HOU)
• Chris Godwin (TB)

The ECR for wide receivers is lower than for Flowers:

• Tank Dell (HOU)
• Diontae Johnson (CAR)
• Christian Kirk (JAX)

Some of the most popular “Who should I start?” searches of the week:

• Zay Flowers or Terry McLaurin: 81% of the experts chose McLaurin
• Zay Flowers or Stefon Diggs: 71% of experts chose Diggs
• Zay Flowers or Tank Dell: 67% of experts chose Flowers
• Zay Flowers or Christian Kirk: 69% of experts chose Flowers

Jayden Reed (WR – GB) WR37 for week 1

The ECR is higher among wide receivers than Reed:

• Diontae Johnson (CAR)
• Calvin Ridley (TEN)
• Keenan Allen (CHI)

The ECR for wide receivers is lower than for Reed:

• Christian Watson (UK)
• Xavier Worthy (KC)
• Courtland Sutton (DEN)

Some of the most popular “Who should I start?” searches of the week:

• Jayden Reed or Diontae Johnson: 84% of the experts chose Johnson
• Jayden Reed or Calvin Ridley: 76% of the experts chose Ridley
• Jayden Reed or Christian Watson: 71% of experts chose Jayden Reed
• Jayden Reed or Xavier Worthy: 70% of the experts chose Reed

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If you want to delve deeper into Fantasy Football, check out our award-winning list Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/seat assistant – which offers you the optimal positioning based on precise consensus forecasts – to our Waiver Wire Assistantwhich allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and by how much – we have you covered this fantasy football season.