Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Week 16: Advice for Fringe Flex Fantasy Football Starters

We’ve officially reached the doorstep of Week 16 in the 2016 NFL season. If you’re still alive in a season-long fantasy league, you’re probably in the championship game or on the doorstep of that, too.

First of all, congratulations are in order for those of you who have made it this far. Feel free to pat yourselves on the back—just don’t go showering yourself with sports drinks. (Fantasy isn’t a real sport, after all.)

Now that you’re done celebrating, it’s time to face the reality that this point in the fantasy season brings with it an incredible amount of pressure to make the right decisions. You know which of your fantasy studs are must-starts, but what about those players who look just as right on the bench as they do in your starting lineup?

Well, we’re going to help you with some of those fringe starters. We’ll examine players we think are worth a start in Week 16 and some we think belong on the bench or the waiver pile. All of our choices are based on points-per-reception scoring formats and factors like past performances, matchups and health.

Good luck!

Start ‘Em: Matt Barkley, QB, Chicago Bears

Yes, we’re actually going to say it: Matt Barkley, a guy who was the third option for the Chicago Bears this season, is a player we think can be worth a start in Week 16. Is he going to be a top-10 fantasy quarterback? Maybe not. Yet, he showed last week that he does know how to properly utilize the weapons around him. 

Against the Green Bay Packers, Barkley passed for 362 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, he also tossed three interceptions and lost a fumble.

If Barkley can cut down on those turnovers, though, being a top-10 fantasy quarterback isn’t out of the question. He and the Bears host the Washington Redskins this week, a team that may allow Barkley to produce some notable fantasy numbers.

As a team, the Redskins allow an average of 260.1 yards passing per game—seventh-most in the league. Pro Football Focus rates the Redskins 23rd in pass coverage for the season.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see Barkley pass for 350 yards and a couple of touchdowns again this week. Let’s just hope he refrains from turning the ball over.

Sit ‘Em: Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia

Despite playing at a respectable level recently, no one is likely to suggest that Barkley is a future franchise quarterback at this point in time. For Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, it’s a different story.

“When it mattered most, Wentz stepped up and showed why he can be a franchise quarterback,” Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com wrote of Wentz after Sunday’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens. (See, we’re not just making stuff up.)

While Wentz has shown some signs of being a future franchise …

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