Week 3: Start Em' and Sit Em'

Start Em’ and Sit Em’ is back!

Week 2 was great to us as we hit on all but 2 players in the article (Thanks for nothing Kirk Cousins). Week 3 is a much different beast, featuring some really great players in tough matchups. If you have those star players and you are looking for a replacement make sure to continue reading. If you still have a question after this you can find us on Twitter @TheUpsidePlay

Let’s go take our friends' money with the league winners below. Good luck this week!

QB Starts

Marcus Mariota @ Seattle

Mariota has been playing great as the Falcons starter so far and has Atlanta’s offense looking much better than we’ve seen in recent years. He has scored 19 Fantasy Points in back to back weeks and the Seahawks defense have given up the 7th most Passing yards per game at 257 and have given up just over 20 Fantasy Points to QB’s. Typically when I stream QB’s I try to find the player who has the best chance for 250 yards and 2 touchdowns and with Mariota’s rushing upside he’s a clear choice this week for you QB streamers out there.

Jared Goff at Minnesota

Like Mariota, Jared Goff has taken an offense that has been terrible recently and has shown some real promise so far. Goff has 471 passing yards, 6 touchdowns and only 1 interception and faces a defense who has given up 275 passing yards per game and a league worst 75% completion percentage. With D’Andre Swift and Amon-Ra St. Brown on his side, Goff has legitimate star power that can take any play to the house.

QB Sits

Aaron Rodgers at Tampa Bay

It’s not too often that a player makes the QB sit section twice in three weeks and it's definitely not often that a 3 time MVP makes it, but here we are. Tampa Bay’s defense is the best in the league giving up only 55% completion percentage, 1 passing TD, and have given up only 13 total points this season. The lack of weapons and a terrible matchup makes Rodgers a sit.

RB Starts

Leonard Fournette vs Green Bay

Fournette took to twitter this week to tell his fantasy football managers that the touchdowns are coming. Even without the touchdown production he’s still been a very good option early on. He is 5th in the NFL in rushing yards and only has 4 catches so far but we’ve seen Fournette be a major part of the passing game and with Evans suspended and 4 other receivers Questionable for this game, Todd Bowles could lean on Fournette to help the offense move the ball.

Dameon Pierce at Chicago

Chicago’s defense has been bad against the run giving up over 189 rushing yards per game through 2 weeks. Pierce saw 16 touches in week 2 and turned them into 77 yards (4.8 yards per touch). After week 1 Head Coach Lovie Smith told reporters that he wants to get Pierce more work and he delivered as Pierce was the only Texans RB to run the ball. Pierce has shown great promise against two pretty good defenses and now gets a much easier matchup. I expect the workload to grow from here as the 4th round rookie is clearly the best runner Houston has.

RB Sits

Devin Singletary at Miami

Singletary is in a tough backfield in Buffalo and even though he’s seeing 56% of the snaps (Moss is at 27%, Cook is at 16%) he’s just not getting enough work to make him a solid starter. He’s only rushed the ball 14 times so far for 67 scoreless yards. Even though it’s a small sample size, Miami has been very good vs RBs this season only allowing 15.8 points per game (best in the NFL). Singletary is nothing more than a mid RB3 and desperate flex play for me this week.

WR Starts

Drake London at Seattle

I already talked about how good Mariota has looked this season and part of the reason is because Drake London is quickly showing why he was the first receiver taken in April's Draft. The 6’4 rookie already has a 33% target share (5th among WR’s) while nearly doubling Kyle Pitts total targets. London is the clear top target for Mariota and with Seattle struggling to stop the pass London should be in for another big week.

Jakobi Meyers vs Baltimore

Meyers doesn’t get the respect he deserves in the fantasy community. He’s seeing a 29% target share and is coming off a good game against a good Steelers defense. The Baltimore defense is hurting badly and the secondary can’t stop anyone right now. Belicheck will look to beat the Ravens through the air in this one and Meyers is the Patriots receiver you want in this matchup.

WR Sits

DK Metcalf vs Atlanta

DK signed a big extension in the offseason and pretty much became a decoy shortly after. He is in on 88% of plays and has a 100% route participation but has only 11 catches (71 yards) with zero Deep Targets, zero red zone targets and zero TD’s so far. Potentially going up against a young stud in AJ Terrell doesn't bode well for him.

TE Start

Tyler Higbee at Arizona

The Tight-End landscape has been pretty bad this year but Tyler Higbee has been as consistent as anyone so far with Higbee’s 20 Targets (11 in week 1, 9 in week 2) actually leading all TE’s. Higbee will look to score his first TD against a Cardinals defense who has already given up 3 TDs to the position. Having such a high floor, due to the volume, makes Higbee a borderline must start TD every week.

TE Sits

Albert Okwuegbunam vs San Francisco

Albert Okwuegbunam has turned only 8 targets into 5 catches for 33 scoreless yards. The offseason hype hasn't quite worked out for Albert O just yet and It’s not going to start this week. SF has only allowed 4 catches for 11 Yards to TE’s so far and with their Defense playing as great as it is, Albert O could quickly become an afterthought in week 3.

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Photo cred: (Mark LoMoglio/AP)