NFL Week 3 Start/Sit
NFL Week 3 Start/Sit
By: Andrew Ferguson
Alright, who’s still with me after week 1? I know week 2 was a complete 180 from week 1 so bare with us! But, we were right more times than we were wrong for our start/sit list so there is still reason to celebrate. And if I was wrong, guess what, I do fantasy leagues too and still lost with you! It’s like something I saw recently that made me feel a lot better: imagine you put a lot of money on a UFC fighter to win, but he lost. At least he still got his ass beat. Makes you feel a little better, right? Well let’s get into these week 2 fantasy matchups!
QBs to Start
Brock Purdy- Purdy has 5 passing TDs and 1 rushing TD on the year and this 49ers offense is clicking even with the offensive injuries. He gets another game at home against a Cardinals defense that just allowed Drew Lock to look like Sam Darnold and throw 3 TDs against them. Is that even a compliment? The momentum should carry over and the 49ers should put up a lot of points once again.
Jordan Love- Without a run game, this offense comes down to Jordan Love chucking it around. The Packers have a short week at home so nothing in 4 days has changed. The Falcons just lost their top cornerback in AJ Terrell so Golden, Kraft and Watson should all eat.
Drew Lock/Sam Darnold- Whoever starts, should have a field day. The Commanders haven’t been able to stop anyone this year and I fully trust Mike McDonald to get the most out of Lock or Darnold (even with an injury). Getting JSN the ball is a priority and this run game hasn’t quite gotten up to speed so I think the passing game will be more trusted for quite a while.
Dak Prescott- Baltimore let Tyler Shough just have a day against them. Dak already has 6 TDs through 2 games and the momentum will continue in Brazil. Dak has a chance to lead the league in both passing TDs and passing yards.
QBs to Sit
Deshaun Watson- I hope nobody is this desperate this early, but there have already been a lot of QB injuries so I know there are people scrambling. I wouldn’t get excited over one game with Watson. If I’m wrong here, I’ll take one to the chin but I need to see more before I’m starting him as my fantasy QB. Go pick up Kirk Cousins before Watson.
Baker Mayfield- What’s going on with Baker and what’s going on with the Bucs? It doesn’t get any easier for them against a Vikings defense that just shut out the Bears. The Bucs are going into a must win game but I hate this matchup. I think they can get the job done at home but I don’t see Baker having a huge fantasy friendly day.
Justin Herbert- Here’s another 0-2 surprise. I’m torn on this one but I’m looking at it in two ways. The Bills defense has been pretty friendly to opposing QBs to start the season. However, the Chargers offense has looked lost. Maybe Mike McDaniel and the playcalling will take some time. But Ladd McConkey is the key receiver in this offense and he ran as a decoy last week. I don’t think he’s fully healthy and if anything positive happens with this offense, it’ll be the fact that they get their run game going the way Harbaugh wants it to.
Drake Maye- Drake Maye has been a huge fantasy disappointment so far. 1 total TD. Are you kidding me? Without AJ Brown, I can’t trust him. TreVeyon Henderson is back and I think this team is going to run a lot this week. The Jaguars defense is legit so not a great matchup to get right.
RBs to Start
Kyren Williams- I know people are slowly getting more concerned with the presence of Blake Corum. However, Kyren Williams has scored in back to back games with 15 touches per game. He’s a safe play in a good offense. And without Puka, he may earn some extra targets in the passing game for one more week.
Aaron Jones Jr.- Homeboy is not washed! He ran well against the Bears and he goes into week 3 as the clear starter against the Bucs who are struggling. Kyler is back and this will open up even more run lanes as the offense will play better.
Jaylen Warren- With no Rico Dowdle to get in his way, he’ll get the volume and plenty of checkdowns from Aaron Rodgers. I don’t like this offense and Warren is the person to benefit from my hatred of it.
TreVeyon Henderson- TreVeyon is a home run waiting to happen and we saw it last week. Rhamondre fumbled…again. Henderson was on a snap count last week and still dominated the backfield. Big things to come for those who were patient.
RBs to Sit
Bucky Irving- I pretty much hate all the Bucs players right now especially against the Vikings solid defense. They bottle up the run well and haven’t allowed a rushing TD this season. If the Bucs and Irving continue to get stuffed, I can see Gainwell getting in and catching balls out of the backfield this week to steal from Irving’s value.
Cam Skattebo- Without Dart, this offense and run game especially is going to struggle. If Jameis Winston comes in and starts slinging the ball all over the place, I don’t really see it benefiting Skattebo unfortunately. I need to see what it looks like for one week before I’m rolling out any Giants players.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt- This offense was already looking iffy with Daniels. Rachaad White just tied Croskey-Merritt in touches and now Daniels is gone for the foreseeable future. The offensive line wasn’t playing well so he’s fading fast in anything fantasy related for me.
Travis Etienne- Why did Alvin Kamara out touch Etienne? Please explain that to me. Until I see anything else, Etienne is unstartable for me. Even with this team is playing catchup, he’s not involved. He’s also limited with a hamstring this week in practice so I’m not playing with fire here.
WRs to Start
Josh Downs- I’m still not 100% sold on the Colts’ pass game, but with Alec Pierce now set to miss time, Downs becomes the number 1 WR on this team. He’s going to get his volume and targets enough to be at least a flex play this weekend and a TD would be very nice on top of that. And for some reason, Houston has let up the most points to WRs in the early part of this season.
Jalen Coker- Coker has 18 targets on the season and is clearly Bryce Young’s favorite target. In back to back games, he’s had 9 targets and 8 catches so the consistency is there for him to put up WR2 numbers if this continues. McMillan owners are having nightmares thinking about this. The Panthers go into Cleveland who’s secondary is very beatable and Bryce Young is playing at a high level. Enjoy it for now.
Denzel Boston- Boston is the only bright spot of this offense so far. He’s making big plays and if Deshaun Watson can at least be somewhat relevant, Boston will continue to put up flex-worthy WR numbers. Carolina’s defense let up 59 to the Bears but only 3 to the Falcons. I think their defense trends towards more of the Bears game for their true identity.
Dontayvion Wicks- Wicks has officially stamped his way onto the depth chart was the WR2 for the Eagles over Lemon. The offense was able to support both Smith and AJ Brown last year, and it can definitely do the same for Smith and Wicks for now. The Bears secondary is very beatable. Wicks is a good play if you’re already dealing with injuries and need a waiver pickup.
WRs to Sit
All Bears- Yep all of them. Including Colston Loveland. Without Caleb Williams, I don’t trust anyone on this offense. It’s like seeing all of the Atlanta Falcons talent but with Cooper Rush. That’s as good of an analogy there is. Be patient, Caleb will be back. No need to completely dump or trade Odunze, Burden or Loveland quite yet.
Ladd McConkey- When healthy, people thought he would be this year’s JSN. However, he was a straight up decoy last week with his rib injury. I think it’s going to be the same for at least one more week so I’m not ready to put him back in my lineup. This offense has also been struggling so a road trip to the Bills isn’t the easiest get right matchup either.
Stefon Diggs (And Terry McLaurin)- Diggs has been a touchdown machine in the first 3 weeks. Without Daniels, that magic is gone and he’s not even playable. But he’s also playing against Seattle’s elite secondary so this is just a bad matchup overall. Bench, bench, bench.
Brian Thomas Jr.- It’s official… Parker Washington is the WR1 in Jacksonville. Brian Thomas Jr. has clearly taken a backseat in volume, targets and just overall talent. His matchup this week doesn’t get any better against the Patriots either. He’s the odd man out right now in this WR room.
TEs to Start
Juwan Johnson- Johnson is putting up very respectable numbers right now for a couple of reasons. They’re playing catch up and passing the ball, Shough is playing great and outside of Olave, he and Vele are eating up targets. This Raiders/Saints game is all of a sudden an interesting matchup and I expect Johnson to keep his momentum going.
Darren Waller- A deeper sleeper pick for the week here but he just scored twice last week. He also found the endzone in week 1 but the TD was called back. He’s Bryce’s favorite redzone target and he should have another scoring chance this week against the Browns. He’s touchdown dependent, but if you’re looking for a TE to stream, you could do a lot worse.
Dalton Schultz- Without any WRs for Stroud to throw to, Schultz took advantage of this opportunity and the numbers aren’t going away this week. He had 14 targets for 12 catches and 140 yards. Massive volume will continue for Schultz in week 3 as he plays a very beatable Colts defense that let old man Kelce torch them.
Oronde Gadsden- The Chargers have no other tight ends to rely on other than Gadsden. He’s going to have a bigger role as a pass catcher with more targets. Buffalo isn’t elite against tight ends so there’s a chance he squeezes into the end zone for a score this week.
TEs to Sit
Isaiah Likely- Losing Jaxson Dart is really going to hurt this offense. I just don’t know what type of Jameis Winston we’re going to get quite yet. Until then, I’m benching him and even Nabers. Tennessee actually plays the tight ends quite well on defense so not a matchup I’m crazy about either. Time will tell with this one so I’m willing to wait a week.
Terrance Ferguson- There are too many tight ends to feed in LA and it’s impossible to predict which one will score on a week-to-week basis. Denver still has an elite defense that we haven’t quite seen this season yet so it’s only a matter of time before they blank some of their opponents. I think the tight ends suffer this week for the Rams.
Evan Engram- On the other side, I don’t like this tight end matchup either. Bo Nix was favoring Waddle week 2 so I think this is the chemistry we’re going to start seeing more of. Also, Sutton has been abnormally quiet in the first two games so there’s a chance we see him breakout. The Rams defense and secondary is good so I don’t see Engram being a big part of the plan for this week.
Brenton Strange- Lawrence struggled heavily against the Broncos and didn’t even throw for one TD. The Patriots secondary is solid and Strange is in for a tough matchup. Lawrence has a lot of mouths to feed and Strange is a TD dependent TE that I don’t see it happening this week.
