Fantasy Football Start or Sit Week 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick

Week 1 of fantasy football is upon on us and now the pressure is on to back up all of the trash talking between family, friends, and co-workers.

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For the New York Jets in Week 1, they will be hosting the Cleveland Browns. This offseason saw a lot of change in New York, as they have a new coach in Todd Bowles, and a new general manager in Mike Maccagnan.

In his first offseason as the general manager, Maccagnan spent a lot of the money that John Idzik didn’t in the 2014 offseason to improve the team. After a much-needed overhaul to their secondary, the Jets should have one of the best defenses in football in 2015.

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The Jets also made a few upgrades on offense with the most notable one being the acquisition of wide receiver Brandon Marshall from the Chicago Bears. Marshall has been a great wide receiver in the NFL for many years, and along with Eric Decker, Marshall should be able to help Jets quarterbacks.

In one of the strangest offseason stories of the year, Jets’ quarterback Geno Smith was punched in the face by his now former teammate IK Enemkpali. The punch that was landed broke Smith’s jaw and required surgery. With Smith unable to play, the Jets have turned to veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick to be their starting quarterback in Week 1.

Last season, Fitzpatrick was the starting quarterback for the run-heavy Houston Texans. As a bit of a game manager, Fitzpatrick had a nice season but didn’t do much to excite fantasy football owners. In 2014, Fitzpatrick totaled 2,483 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, eight interceptions, and two rushing touchdowns in basically 11 games with him barely playing against the Indianapolis Colts in December.

Fitzpatrick is reunited with his former head coach Chan Gailey from some of his best statistical seasons in his career with the Buffalo Bills. Fitzpatrick may be asked to do more in 2015 as the Jets’ starting quarterback, but he would be an extremely risky play in all fantasy football formats in Week 1.

The Week 1 matchup isn’t the most desirable for Fitzpatrick either, as the Browns were the fifth-best team in fantasy football in points allowed to the opposing teams starting quarterback last season.

Even with a good supporting cast around him, the best way to go about Fitzpatrick’s fantasy football value in 2015 will be to take the wait and see approach. Las Vegas has the over/under total between the Jets and the Browns at 40.5 combined points which is the lowest of any game in Week 1. Fitzpatrick may be valuable later in the season when normal starting quarterbacks are on bye-weeks, but he should be sat in Week 1, and also not on the radar for daily fantasy sports players with his matchup against the Browns.

Next: Who are the Top-10 first-round picks in Jets history

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