NFL Week 3 Starts, Sits: Fantasy Football Lineup Advice For Toughest Decisions

Surprise performances and injuries to key players sent fantasy football owners into frenzy after Week 2.

All of this craziness has made Week 3’s start/sit decisions even more difficult than normal. Luckily, we have some advice for you entering the weekend.

Here’s our Week 3 fantasy football start/sit advice.

START
Quarterback: Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens
Flacco probably is on your bench most weeks, but he has a very good Week 3 matchup against a Jacksonville Jaguars defense that’s allowed 65 points and seven passing touchdowns through two weeks. Flacco’s also coming off his first 300-yard game of the season.

Running Back: Fozzy Whittaker, Carolina Panthers
Whittaker ran for 100 yards on 16 carries and also caught three passes from Cam Newton in Carolina’s Week 2 win over the San Francisco 49ers. He faces a somewhat tough matchup against a good Minnesota Vikings defense Sunday but he’s likely to receive most of the workload at running back, with Jonathan Stewart injured and not expected to play. The Panthers are tied with two other teams for the most rushing attempts through two weeks. They are very committed to the run game, which makes their starting RB, which will be Whittaker in Week 3, a must-start.

Running Back: Theo Riddick, Detroit Lions
Riddick has 27 touches (18 carries, nine receptions) in two games, and that number probably will increase by a decent amount with Lions running back Ameer Abdullah out with an injury. The Lions throw about as often as any team in the league, and quarterback Matthew Stafford does look for Riddick out of the backfield quite a bit. Riddick’s very much worth a flex play in PPR leagues.

Wide Receiver: Marvin Jones, Detroit Lions
Jones has averaged more than 10 targets per game and has totaled 203 receiving yards through two contests. He’s going up against a Green Bay Packers defense that features a secondary without an elite cornerback.

Wide Receiver: Quincy Enunwa, New York Jets
Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker aren’t the only Jets receivers making fantasy owners happy. Enunwa has 13 catches for 146 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets in two games, making him an excellent flex option or a WR2 spot depending on your roster’s depth. Enunwa also has a pretty good matchup against a Kansas City Chiefs defense that hasn’t looked good through two weeks.

SIT
Quarterback: Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
Wilson was awful in the first two games, at least from a fantasy perspective. He didn’t throw for more than 260 yards in either game and he has tallied just one touchdown and one interception so far. His top wide receiver, Doug Baldwin, also is battling an injury. The safest option with Wilson is to bench him until the Seahawks prove their offense has returned to form.

Running Back: Carlos Hyde, San Francisco 49ers
The Seahawks defense has been very good this season, particularly against the run. Seattle has allowed the second-fewest yards per carry and third-fewest rushing yards in total, making this a bad matchup for Hyde.

Running Back: T.J. Yeldon, Jacksonville Jaguars
Yeldon is not worth starting if you’re in a standard scoring league. He ran for just 67 yards in the first two games combined. He does have 12 catches on the season, so he’s worth a flex play in PPR leagues. But he’s very touchdown dependent in non-PPR formats because his yardage totals are far from impressive.

Wide Receiver: Demaryius Thomas, Denver Broncos
Pittsburgh Steelers superstar wide receiver Antonio Brown, who tallied just 39 yards on four catches, was shut down by the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2. It wouldn’t be a surprise if this Bengals defense did a similar job on an inferior receiver like Thomas. Cincinnati also has a quality pass rush that should pressure Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian and force him into hurried throws.

Wide Receiver: Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett
Similar to Wilson, there’s no reason to start any Seahawks players until their offense proves its capable of being fantasy relevant. Baldwin and Lockett both are averaging less than 60 receiving yards per game with one total touchdown between them. They also were limited participants in Wednesday’s practice with knee issues, so it’s not worth starting them at this point.

Thumbnail photo via Tommy Gilligan/USA TODAY Sports Images