Fantasy Football Week 3 Wide Receiver Start/Sit: Jauan Jennings, Travis Hunter and More

Welcome to Week 3's fantasy football wide receiver start/sit breakdown. As always, before getting into the upcoming week, I would like to take a look back at last week's results. Once again, they were mixed.

On the start side, Marquise Brown and Keon Coleman were both duds. Cedric Tillman had a respectable 9.1 points, but even he only got there thanks to a flukey tipped touchdown catch. Thankfully, results were better on the sit side. Josh Downs was okay at 8.1 points, but Stefon Diggs (5.2) and Jayden Reed (0, albeit because of an injury) both struggled. 

Hopefully, this week I can put it all together with strong picks in both categories for the first time this season. Let's get started!

For more help with your toughest Week 2 Start/Sit decisions, check out FantasySP's NFL Start/Sit tool!

Wide Receivers to Start Week 3

Jauan Jennings, San Francisco 49ers

Despite having missed a solid chunk of Week 1 with a shoulder injury, Jennings leads the 49ers in targets. In Week 2, he easily led the team with nine targets, three more than Ricky Pearsall. 

I know these numbers aren't massively convincing that Jennings is San Francisco's clear WR1 — in fact, Pearsall ran one more route and had a higher air yards share last week. However, once we include last season, in which Jennings dominated targets while Pearsall didn't do much at all, things get a bit clearer.

At the end of the day, even if he isn't the clear WR1 above Pearsall, Jennings is at worst the third target in this 49ers' offense while Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle remain sidelined. In a decent matchup with the Cardinals, he should provide a solid fantasy outing. That's especially if Brock Purdy is back healthy, but Mac Jones showed enough last week that he isn't a death sentence either. 

Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts

I was in on Pittman as a bounce-back candidate coming into the season. Prior to playing through a literal broken back last season, he had consistently been an excellent target earner and a solid fantasy asset. So far in 2025, he's fulfilling my expectations. Week 1 was obviously excellent, and six points in Week 2 against Pat Surtain II isn't the worst thing in the world. 

Overall, Pittman has earned a 21% target share and a 16% air yards share in the Colts' offense so far this season. He has an 82% route participation rate, second only to sacrificial X receiver Alec Pierce. 

Those numbers aren't elite, but they are good enough for him to be at least a flex play in an Indianapolis offense that suddenly looks excellent with Daniel Jones under center. Fire him up with confidence this week against the Titans, who have allowed the sixth-most points to opposing WRs so far this season. 

George Pickens, Dallas Cowboys

This one almost feels too obvious after Pickens bounced back from a mediocre Cowboys' debut with 15.3 points in Week 2. But he is a popular name in the Start/Sit Tool and is projected to be started in only about half of leagues, so I figured I would go ahead and say it: start Pickens this week.

It is true that Pickens has just a 14% target share through the first two weeks of the season. However, he has been seeing usage down the field, so that still converts to a solid 26% air yards share. More importantly, it simply isn't likely that he continues being outtargetted by Jake Ferguson for the rest of the season. With an absolutely elite 92.4% route participation rate so far (the same number as CeeDee Lamb), Pickens is on the field, and he is going to earn targets. 

Meanwhile, the Cowboys' offense as a whole is in a great spot this week. They face the Bears, whose defense was just absolutely decimated by the Lions and gave up three fourth-quarter touchdowns to J.J. McCarthy in Week 1 (I'm not sure which is more embarrassing). Dallas' 25.5-point team total is the highest in the entire NFL this week, so getting their talented every-down WR2 into your lineup is a no-brainer. 

Wide Receivers to Sit Week 3

Emeka Egbuka, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I feel as though I played it a bit too safe with last week's sit picks, so let's start this week off with a bang. Despite being the WR10 in half-PPR scoring, I'm not convinced the Buccaneers' first-round rookie is a must-start this week.

At the end of the day, the big issue is that a lot of Egbuka's scoring has come from touchdowns. He has accounted for three of Tampa Bay's five receiving TDs, and those three TDs have in turn provided 55% of his fantasy output. 

Aside from the touchdowns, Egbuka's usage has been just okay. He has seen 6.5 targets per game, a 19% target share. And his 18% target per route run rate and 1.33 yards per route run are frankly mediocre (to be fair, he does lead Tampa Bay in routes, which is objectively a good thing). 

This week against the Jets, the Buccaneers likely won't have to pass much, as they are huge favorites against Tyrod Taylor and Co. That doesn't bode well for Egbuka's already relatively low-volume role. Don't get me wrong, the rookie is still absolutely startable. But if you've got other good options in a shallow league, don't be afraid to bench him because of his hot start to the year.

Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos

Since Sean Payton first became the head coach of the Broncos, Sutton is the only player who has consistently been immune to his erratic deployment of offensive weapons. While the rest of the team's receivers would alternate between featured targets and benchwarmers seemingly at random (to say nothing of Payton's backfield shenanigans), Sutton was always out there running nearly every route and leading the team in targets.

Unfortunately, if Week 2 is anything to go by, that era might be over. Sutton caught only one of four targets for six yards against the Colts. But, even more concerning, he also posted just a 59% route participation rate. In 2024, his average route share was 79%, and he never once dipped below 69%. 

Of course, the thing about Payton's tendencies is that Sutton's usage could easily bounce right back in Week 3. With this in mind, he's not a must-bench if you have no other options. However, Week 2 was a warning sign that Sutton is officially on Mr. Payton's Wild Ride. Especially with Bo Nix struggling to start the season, I recommend leaving Sutton on your bench this week.

Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars

If you look at FantasySP's Week 3 wide receiver projections, Travis Hunter is all the way down at the WR68. Personally, I wouldn't have him quite that low. But he could jump up by 20 spots and still be far more widely rostered and started than all of the players around him.

Hunter is an extremely talented player, but he's started his career off slowly. Through two weeks, he has just five half-PPR points per game. He is being used as the Jaguars' third WR, with just a 65% route participation rate through two weeks. He has posted an elite 28% target per route run rate, but with his low number of routes, that is still good for just a 19% target share on a low 6.3-yard ADOT.

And a 19% target share on a low ADOT in this struggling Jacksonville offense simply doesn't sound like a startable fantasy option. This is doubly true in a tough matchup with the Texans' defense. 

In theory, Hunter has the game-breaking talent to have a huge game even as a part-time player. So far this season, though, that talent hasn't shown through. He ranks 93rd out of 99 qualifying receivers in PFF Receiving Grade. His 6.3 yards per reception ranks 92nd. At this point, he's a weekly sit in most leagues until his offensive usage trends up or he proves that his college playmaking ability will translate to the pros.