Fantasy Football Start/Sit: Brock Purdy, Deebo Samuel, De’Zhaun Stribling – FantasyPros
Start em or sit em? Fantasy football start or sit decisions can be excruciating. While it feels great to make the right call and cruise to fantasy glory, it hurts just as much when you have someone erupt while on your bench. You can use our Who Should I Start? tool to gauge advice from fantasy football experts as you make your lineup decisions. And you can also sync your fantasy football league for free using our My Playbook tool for custom advice, rankings and analysis.
Let’s take a look at a few polarizing players and what fantasy football expert Derek Brown advises. And you can find all of DBro’s fantasy football outlook in this week’s fantasy football primer.
Fantasy Football Start’em, Sit’em Lineup Advice
Here’s Derek Brown’s fantasy football Week 1 outlook for a few players to help with lineup decisions.
Brock Purdy (QB – SF)
Over the last three seasons, Brock Purdy has finished as the QB5, QB10, and QB6 in fantasy points per game. In his four years in the NFL, he has only once finished with a passing touchdown rate lower than 7.0%. Last year, among 38 qualifying quarterbacks, Purdy was sixth in passing yards per game, ninth in yards per attempt, 12th in highly accurate throw rate, and third in fantasy points per dropback. Last year, he didn’t face the Rams as he missed time with injuries. This year, he’ll have a tough matchup facing this defense. Last year, the Rams were a solid pass defense, and that’s before they added Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, Myles Garrett, and Aaron Donald unretired. Last year, Los Angeles allowed the 11th-fewest yards per attempt, the ninth-lowest passer rating, and the 14th-fewest fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. Purdy could still post QB1 numbers this week, but it won’t be easy.
Deebo Samuel Sr. (WR – SF)
Deebo Samuel rejoins the San Francisco 49ers on a one-year deal after a one-year dalliance with the Commanders. Last year, Samuel was the WR29 in fantasy points per game while putting up a varied stat line. Last year, among 109 qualifying receivers, Samuel was 18th in target share (22.4%), ninth in yards after the catch per reception (6.6), 21st in first-read share (27.3%), and ninth-best in missed tackles forced per reception. Unfortunately, though, among the same sample of receivers, he was also 38th in yards per route run and 53rd in first downs per route run (0.076) while seeing his usual bevy of underneath targets (5.3 aDOT, 103rd out of 109 qualifying receivers). Last year, the Rams utilized zone coverage at the seventh-highest rate (76.4%). Over the last three seasons, against zone, Samuel has had a 23% target-per-route run rate and 2.06 yards per route run. Samuel is a viable PPR flex for Week 1, but the matchup is tough. Last year, the Rams allowed the 14th-fewest yards per target and fantasy points per opportunity to receivers.
De’Zhaun Stribling (WR – SF)
De’Zhaun Stribling should operate as the third or fourth option in the 49ers’ passing attack in Week 1 with Mike Evans and George Kittle playing. I love Stribling’s season-long outlook for 2026 because I worry about the rest of the pass catchers on this team, not named Stribling, staying healthy for the entire season, but that doesn’t mean that I love Stribling’s Week 1 outlook. Stribling had a solid collegiate career, with his skill set fitting what the 49ers want from their receivers. During his final two collegiate seasons, he posted 2.15 and 2.44 yards per route run with 7.3 and 6.7 yards after the catch per reception (17 missed tackles forced across both seasons, per PFF). I’m sitting him in Week 1. I need to see what his role is with all of the other talent around him.
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If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.