Week 3 Fantasy Football Start 'Em & Sit 'Em
I’m not sure how, but we’re already at Week 3 of the fantasy football season. I hope you're sitting at 2-0! I’ll save the preamble and get right to it in a second, but I have one housekeeping item before we move on.
In case you missed these last week, let’s revisit the ground rules on what we’re doing here:
- We’re not looking at whether or not we should start players who are obvious starts. I’m never going to tell you to start a healthy Stefon Diggs. I know you’re smarter than that.
- We’re not looking at whether or not we should sit players who are obvious sits. I’m never going to tell you to sit a scrub fifth-string receiver who only plays on special teams. Again, I know you’re smarter than that.
- We are looking at whether or not we should players who you may have never heard of until today who might have an increased opportunity and/or juicy matchup.
- We are looking at whether or not we should sit good players who might have a bad matchup, a recent string of bad games, and/or an injury risk.
And with that in mind, let’s dig into some Week 3 start/sit recommendations.
Quarterback
START: Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Jared Goff is a bad real-life quarterback, but that doesn’t really matter much for our purposes. Through two games, Goff has 43 fantasy points after a four-touchdown performance, and gets a great matchup this week. After getting roasted by Jalen Hurts and the Eagles, the Vikings could very well lead to another QB1 week from Goff in Week 3.
Bonus start: Daniel Jones
SIT: Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
I know he threw for an unGodly amount of touchdowns last week, but I’m still not on the Tua train. While he’s not a *bad* quarterback, one good quarter doesn’t make him a *great* quarterback either. My opinions aside, Tua has a horrible matchup against one of the best defenses in the league in the Bills, so there’s no reason to force a square peg in a round hole here if you have another top-15 quarterback option.
Bonus sit: Russell Wilson
Running Back
START: Raheem Mostert, Miami Dolphins
I’ll preface this by saying Mike McDaniel comes from the Kyle Shanahan school of riding the hot hand at running back (which means you never know what will happen), but Raheem Mostert seems to be the hot hand in Miami right now. Despite the tough matchup against the Bills, Mostert saw the majority of the Dolphins backfield touches against the Ravens last week (15 total) and should be started with confidence – at least for this week.
Bonus start: J.D. McKissic
SIT: Travis Etienne Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars
I just don’t know how you can feel good about starting Etienne right now. Etienne has taken a backseat to James Robinson and has only touched the ball 18 times (total!) through two games. This isn’t me telling you to bench him for Kenyon Drake, but I’d sit him until further notice if you have someone like Mostert as an option.
Bonus sit: Breece Hall
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Wide Receiver
START: Treylon Burks, Tennessee Titans
I’ll be honest in that I’ve been a little dubious about Burks since he was drafted (I think that’s the Patriots fan in me still processing his N’Keal Harry comparisons), but it looks like he’s legit. At least for fantasy purposes. Burks led the Titans in targets last week and seems to have jumped to the top of their depth chart. That’s not exactly a major feat considering his competition, but it’s still a good thing. Burks is worth a WR3/flex play against a mediocre Raiders defense this week.
Bonus start: Sterling Shepherd
SIT: Elijah Moore, New York Jets
I like Elijah Moore a lot. I have him on quite a few of my fantasy teams. And I’m also benching him on quite a few fantasy teams. Will that burn me? Maybe. But he’s also part of a three-headed monster where he’s battling for targets with Garrett Wilson and Corey Davis, and I just don’t want to roll the dice on him getting enough targets (from a bad quarterback to boot) to give me a productive fantasy week. I’m not saying to drop Moore, but I think he’s more in the WR50-60 range this week than he is the WR30-40 range.
Bonus sit: Marquez Valdes-Scantling
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Tight End
START: Logan Thomas, Washington Commanders
It wasn’t all that long ago that Thomas was being talked about in the same “he’s got upside” breath as Darren Waller and T.J. Hockenson. A couple of injury-plagued seasons popped that balloon, but Thomas has risen from the ashes (somewhat) and is fantasy-relevant again. Thomas has 11 targets through two games and is worth a start against the Eagles as the tight end landscape is essentially a wasteland right now.
Bonus start: Juwan Johnson
SIT: Robert Tonyan, Green Bay Packers
I want Robert Tonyan (rhymes with Funion) to be a thing. I really do. But I just don’t think it’s going to happen in an offense where Aaron Rodgers seems content to spread the ball around. Tonyan only saw two targets last week and has just seven through two games. While it’s always possible he forces himself into the TE1 conversation at some point in time, that time is not right now.
Bonus sit: Hunter Henry
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