Fantasy football managers know that every lineup decision can make or break a week, and choosing the right players to start or sit is where championships are won. With the 2026 NFL season underway, matchups, stats, and trends are more important than ever. From favorable matchups and scoring trends to players you should avoid in tough spots, my weekly positional start and sit guide is built to give you an edge.
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Quarterbacks to Start
Patrick Mahomes KC
Patrick Mahomes’ return from last year’s knee injury wasn’t perfect, but I saw enough against Denver to feel considerably better about starting him in Week 2. Mahomes completed only 15-of-27 passes for 184 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, but he added 23 rushing yards and another touchdown to finish with 22.7 fantasy points. The rushing production was probably the most encouraging part considering this was his first regular-season game back from the torn ACL and LCL. He looked comfortable escaping the pocket and extending plays rather than playing like a quarterback trying to protect his knee. The passing efficiency still has room to improve, as PFF gave Mahomes just a 56.2 passing grade with zero big-time throws, but he also didn’t record a turnover-worthy play. Against a Denver defense that I expected to be one of the toughest matchups he’ll see all season, I’ll take that for his first game back.
I’m much more interested in Mahomes against Indianapolis. The Colts allowed Baltimore to score 41 points in Week 1 and had very few answers for Lamar Jackson, especially once he extended plays and attacked them outside of structure. That’s encouraging after we immediately saw Mahomes willing to use his legs again against Denver. Indianapolis also has to find a way to deal with Kansas City’s passing attack without being overly aggressive and giving Mahomes opportunities to punish the blitz. Mahomes obviously doesn’t give us the same rushing ceiling as Jackson, but he doesn’t need to. After surviving Denver and still producing more than 20 fantasy points, he gets a significant matchup upgrade against a Colts defense that gave us very little reason to fear it in Week 1. I’m comfortable putting Mahomes right back into my lineup as a QB1.
Jaxson Dart NYG
Jaxson Dart looked considerably better in Week 1 than I expected against Dallas, completing 23-of-29 passes for 230 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions while adding 11 carries for 54 yards. That rushing workload is what really pushes Dart into my starting lineup. He doesn’t need to throw for 300 yards every week when he’s capable of giving us 50-plus yards on the ground, and we’ve consistently seen that rushing ability translate to fantasy production when he’s been healthy. His passing efficiency against Dallas was impressive as well, finishing with a 79.3% completion rate, 7.9 yards per attempt, and a 134.2 passer rating. PFF was a little less impressed with the performance, giving Dart a 68.5 passing grade, but he still avoided the major mistakes that can destroy a fantasy performance while producing three touchdowns through the air.
The Rams are a much different defense than Dallas, but this matchup became considerably more appealing with Myles Garrett expected to miss multiple weeks following knee surgery. Los Angeles played Week 1 without Aaron Donald and will now be without Garrett, the centerpiece of its pass rush. That’s significant against Dart because pressure is probably the easiest way to disrupt a young quarterback before he can create outside structure. I’m not expecting another three passing touchdowns, and playing the Rams on the road is certainly a tougher environment than facing Dallas at home. What keeps Dart inside my QB1 range is the rushing. Eleven carries give him access to fantasy production even if his passing efficiency takes a step backward, and that’s a floor most quarterbacks simply don’t have. After seeing the Giants immediately unleash him as both a passer and runner, I’m starting Dart again in Week 2.
Brock Purdy SF
Brock Purdy didn’t play a perfect game against the Rams, but he gave fantasy managers exactly what we needed. Purdy completed 25-of-34 passes for 205 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, and added five carries for 29 yards, finishing as a top-10 fantasy quarterback in Week 1. His underlying passing metrics weren’t nearly as dominant as the three touchdowns suggest. PFF gave him a 58.4 passing grade; he averaged only 4.9 air yards per attempt and recorded two turnover-worthy plays. What I liked considerably more was how San Francisco handled pressure. According to Fantasy Points Data, Purdy posted the lowest pressure-to-sack rate among qualified quarterbacks last season at just 9.0%, and he wasn’t sacked on any of his 36 dropbacks in Week 1. Even when everything isn’t clicking downfield, Purdy has become extremely good at preventing pressure from completely destroying drives.
Now he gets one of my favorite quarterback matchups of Week 2 against Miami. The Dolphins generated very little pressure in their opener and don’t present anything close to the same challenge Purdy just dealt with against the Rams. Miami also allowed Las Vegas to score 27 points, and now it has to travel across the country to San Francisco. The 49ers should be able to dictate this game offensively, and Purdy has more than enough talent around him to take advantage. My only concern is that San Francisco could build a significant lead and lean heavily on the running game, limiting Purdy’s second-half volume. That’s a game-script concern rather than a matchup concern. After producing three touchdowns in a much more difficult environment, Purdy gets a significant downgrade in defensive difficulty and is one of my favorite quarterback starts of Week 2.
Quarterbacks to Sit
Justin Herbert LAC
Justin Herbert’s Week 1 performance was disappointing for fantasy, but I don’t think he played nearly as poorly as the box score suggests. Herbert completed 17-of-27 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while adding five carries for 29 yards, finishing outside the top 20 quarterbacks. According to Fantasy Points Data, Herbert ranked third among qualifying quarterbacks in highly accurate throw rate and seventh in catchable-target rate, so accuracy wasn’t the primary issue. The bigger problem was that Los Angeles couldn’t consistently finish drives, and Herbert was sacked three times in a 26-14 loss. This isn’t me suddenly questioning Herbert’s talent after one game. I’m questioning whether the situation around him gives us enough ceiling to start him over the other quarterbacks available this week.
The biggest variable is Ladd McConkey’s health. McConkey left Week 1 with a rib injury and opened the week without practicing, and Herbert’s efficiency changed dramatically without him. NFL’s Week 2 matchup analysis had Herbert averaging 10.3 yards per attempt with McConkey on the field compared with only 5.4 after he exited. That’s especially concerning against a Raiders defense that just generated five sacks against Miami. If McConkey is cleared and looks close to full strength, I’m much more willing to move Herbert back toward the QB1 conversation. If McConkey is out or clearly limited, Herbert loses his best separator and most reliable target against a defense capable of creating pressure. With several quarterbacks drawing much better situations this week, I’m comfortable leaving Herbert on the bench unless we get encouraging news on McConkey before Sunday.
Joe Burrow CIN
Joe Burrow wasn’t terrible in Cincinnati’s Week 1 win over Tampa Bay, but it wasn’t the type of performance that makes me excited to start him in a significantly tougher matchup. Burrow completed 25-of-35 passes for 254 yards with one touchdown and one interception, finishing with 7.3 yards per attempt. Cincinnati scored 33 points, but Burrow wasn’t responsible for the type of fantasy production we’d normally expect when this offense reaches that number. There were some encouraging signs: he completed more than 70% of his passes and was sacked only once, but nothing from Week 1 makes me want to ignore what Houston can do defensively.
The matchup is already enough to make me cautious, and Burrow’s back tightness adds another variable. He was limited Wednesday and didn’t throw during the portion of practice open to reporters, although Burrow has downplayed the issue as normal soreness and said he expects to play. I’m treating that as something to monitor rather than the reason to bench him. My bigger concern is facing Houston on the road. The Texans gave up 36 points to Buffalo in Week 1, so they’re certainly not invincible, but this remains a defense built around creating pressure and making quarterbacks uncomfortable. Unlike Josh Allen, Burrow isn’t going to give us a massive rushing floor if the passing game struggles. Between the road matchup, Houston’s pass rush, and a merely decent Week 1 passing performance, I’d rather look elsewhere at quarterback in Week 2, with the back tightness giving me one additional reason to be cautious.
Matthew Stafford LAR
Matthew Stafford is the easiest quarterback sit for me this week because there was almost nothing encouraging about the opener. Stafford completed just 15-of-25 passes for 155 yards with zero touchdowns and an interception as the Rams scored only seven points against San Francisco. He finished as the QB32 for the week, but the advanced numbers were arguably even worse than the fantasy result. Stafford ranked near the bottom of the league in several passing-efficiency and accuracy metrics while averaging only 6.2 yards per attempt. The Rams did leave points on the field, Stafford threw an interception in scoring range, and was stopped on a quarterback sneak at the goal line, but that doesn’t change how disjointed the passing offense looked for most of the game.
I’m not expecting Stafford to suddenly be finished after the season he had last year, but the Giants gave me enough in Week 1 to make this an easy wait-and-see situation. New York held Dak Prescott to 175 passing yards on 34 attempts, limited CeeDee Lamb to 44 yards and George Pickens to 28, and didn’t allow Dallas to complete a pass longer than 17 yards. The interesting part is that the Giants did all of that without recording a sack, so this wasn’t simply a pass rush overwhelming Dallas. Their secondary held up throughout the game and forced Prescott to consistently work underneath. Stafford also gives us essentially zero rushing production, meaning he needs passing yards and touchdowns to deliver a useful fantasy score. I expect Sean McVay to get this offense playing considerably better eventually, but after what we saw in Week 1, I need Stafford to prove it before I’m putting him back into my fantasy lineup.
