Thursday Night Football Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit' Em for Steelers vs Browns

Thursday Night Football games aren't always the most well-played NFL contests, since both teams are on short weeks, but that doesn't reduce their importance when it comes to fantasy football. With only a couple of days to think about start em, sit 'em options, they are often some of the toughest decisions of the week.

With that in mind, here's some start 'em, sit 'em advice for Thursday's Week 11 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.

Who Should I Start Fantasy Football 2019

Start Kareem Hunt, RB, Cleveland Browns: In addition to the obvious play, that Nick Chubb is a must-start, the Browns' backfield may be able to support a second fantasy-relevant option here. Kareem Hunt played 54 percent of the team's offensive snaps in his season debut, and while he didn't get involved much in the rushing game (four carries), he did rack up nine targets in the passing game. Seeing 15 opportunities in his debut is a terrific sign for his fantasy outlook the rest of the way.

Start Vance McDonald, TE, Pittsburgh Steelers: The tight end position is especially thin this week, and Vance McDonald's value is trending up at just the right time. He has seen seven targets in each of the last two games, and he set a season-high with a 97 percent snap rate in Week 10. The Browns rank 19th against the pass in Football Outsiders' pass defense DVOA rankings, and we have McDonald at TE10 in our Week 11 PPR fantasy football rankings.

Who Do I Start Fantasy Football

Sit Jaylen Samuels, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers: With James Conner back in action, Jaylen Samuels' fantasy value is set to plummet. The two played five games together to start the season, and while Samuels did play at least 30 percent of the Steelers' offensive snaps in three of the five, he averaged just 3.6 carries and 3.0 targets per game — not nearly enough volume to offer much fantasy value.

Sit JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers: The WR position is a ton deeper than TE, so while this matchup is enough to put McDonald in play, it doesn't have the same effect on JuJu Smith-Schuster. The third-year wideout has seen his fantasy value collapse this season, and while he's still shown some big upside (most recently with 103 yards and one TD against Miami), his floor is all but non-existent. He has caught three or fewer passes in three of the last four games, and excluding the massive game against Miami has averaged 4.6 PPR points per contest in that stretch.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.