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

Fantasy football owners have been left to frantically search through the waiver wire, or elevate a late-round pick that was drafted to fill a bye-week void, after an extensive number of Week 2 injuries.

First-round picks like Saquon Barkley (out for year) and Christian McCaffrey (injured reserve) won’t be much help this week while receivers like Kenny Golladay, Michael Thomas and Davante Adams all have their availability in doubt.

With that said, here are a few players you should start, and a few others you may want to sit entering Week 3:

STARTS:
Garner Minshew, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Minshew Mania is back in full force. The Jaguars quarterback has thrown three touchdowns in each of his first two games while completing 75 percent of his passes. He should continue to have success on “Thursday Night Football” against the Miami Dolphins, who are without arguably their best cornerback in Byron Jones.

Jerick McKinnon, RB, San Francisco 49ers
With both starter Raheem Mostert (knee) and second-string Tevin Coleman (knee) injured, McKinnon should see a much larger role for the 49ers offense, which likely will be without QB Jimmy Garoppolo. McKinnon has six carries for 101 yards and a touchdown in two games.

Keenan Allen, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
Allen got back to balling in a Week 2 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, perhaps benefitting from an early connection with rookie Justin Herbert. The Chargers veteran tallied seven catches for 96 yards Sunday and could take that momentum into a contest against the Carolina Panthers.

Noah Fant, TE, Denver Broncos
The second-year tight end is off to a strong start, catching nine passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in just two games. With receiver Courtland Sutton out for the season, the Broncos could look to Fant to pick up an even heavier workload as the season continues.

SITS:
Derek Carr, QB, Las Vegas Raiders
Did you see the recent photo of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick on Wednesday? The guy hasn’t slept in days, which is bad news for Carr. The veteran QB will play the Patriots after a loss and in their own building, which we wouldn’t put on anyone.

Emmanuel Sanders, WR, New Orleans Saints
Many fantasy owners probably went with Sanders last week with fellow receiver Michael Thomas out, and the first-year Saint did nothing. Sanders had one catch for 18 yards on just three targets. While the Saints could get into a shootout with Green Bay this week, don’t expect Sanders to be a major factor.

David Johnson, RB, Houston Texans
Johnson was impressive during his season debut, but we’re thinking his production against the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 3 will be much closer to Week 2 vs. the Baltimore Ravens (11 carries, 34 yards; two catches for 16 yards).

Rob Gronkowski, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tom Brady’s expected security blanket hasn’t done anything for the Buccaneers offense through two weeks. He has four total targets for 11 yards on the season, and if it weren’t for his name probably wouldn’t even be rostered as much as he is (75 percent of Yahoo! leagues). Even Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians threw a jab at him this week.