The Fantasy Footballers’ Starts of the Week for Week 3 (Fantasy Football)
Drafted an unstartable Carnell Tate or Colston Loveland? Lost Jayden Daniels or Jordan Mason to injury? Fear not! The Fantasy Footballers have you covered with some names you can feel confident starting this week in their stead. Keep reading to see who the Fantasy Footballers picked as their renowned Starts of the Week for Week 3.
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Andy’s Starts of the Week
QB Brock Purdy vs ARI
Purdy enters the week with two top-12 finishes and an 80% completion rate to his name, and this matchup with Arizona presents another great opportunity for him to shine. The 49ers are 8.5-point home favorites against the Cardinals. In five career starts against Arizona, San Francisco is averaging 36 points per game. Purdy is looking like an every-week starter right now, but this week you should be especially eager to get him in your lineup.
RB David Montgomery vs IND
Montgomery is coming off a brutal week for fantasy with eight opportunities leading to just 3.4 fantasy points. Andy is recommending you flush that performance down the toilet and go right back to him this week in a plus matchup with Indianapolis. The Colts’ defense is in shambles to start the season, allowing 5.4 yards per carry and the third-most fantasy points to RBs through two games. Montgomery should continue to work ahead of Woody Marks and lead this backfield in touches, making him very startable this week.
WR Deebo Samuel vs ARI
For Purdy to succeed, he has got to throw the ball to somebody, and Deebo is looking like the last man standing right now. He’s been doing a little bit of everything in his return to San Francisco, lining up all over the formation and seeing a target on 31% of his routes. The snap shares have not been all that high yet, but that could change this week as he becomes a more essential part of the offense with all the injuries. The Cardinals secondary is as atrocious as usual, so Deebo can be flexed this week if you need a start with some upside.
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TE Travis Kelce @ MIA
Dare I say Kelce has looked pretty darn good through two weeks? He currently LEADS the NFL in YAC, a stat indicative of solid athleticism despite his advanced age. The Chiefs carry an implied team total of 28.5 into Miami, and I expect them to outperform that. You want pieces of this Chiefs passing offense right now, and Kelce appears to be the centerpiece. He’s got 30% of the team’s receiving yards through two weeks. If you grabbed him late in your draft, you should feel good about having a true positional advantage at TE right now.
Jason’s Starts of the Week
QB Jared Goff vs NYJ
Goff had a big game last week against Buffalo, throwing for 327 yards and four TDs. Now he heads home, where he always shines, for a matchup with the Jets. They do not call him the Dome-inator for nothing, as he has averaged 21 FPPG at Ford Field since 2022. The Lions’ implied team total of 27.0 bodes well for Goff’s chances at tossing a couple more TDs this week. Despite having a non-existent rushing floor, he is as safe a play as you will find at the QB position.
RB Cam Skattebo vs TEN
Skattebo appears to be a big part of the Giants’ game plan this year, seeing 34 opportunities through two games. This week, they will attempt to game plan around Jameis Winston, which should involve an even larger workload for Skattebo. The matchup with the Titans doesn’t exactly scream shootout, but volume alone should be enough to propel Skattebo into RB2 territory this week.
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WR Ladd McConkey @ BUF
The Chargers find themselves with their backs against the wall this week, sitting at 0-2 and heading into Buffalo as seven-point underdogs. Despite getting clobbered toward the end of week one, Ladd has been one of the lone bright spots for LA during their rough start, averaging over three yards per route run. He toughed it out last week and should only be getting healthier heading into this week’s matchup with Buffalo, whose defense has been rather porous through two weeks. The Bills rank 31st in points per drive allowed, and 30th in fantasy points allowed to the WR position. Ladd will look to get loose this week and return WR2 value for your fantasy team.
TE Dalton Schultz @ IND
The Doctor made his way into last week’s Starts of the Week episode, and boy did he pay off if you started him. He drew 14 targets, catching 12 of them for 140 yards against Cincinnati’s notoriously soft-against-TEs defense. With Nico Collins absent, Schultz stepped into a big role in Houston’s passing attack, and Collins appears to be on the doubtful side of questionable once again this week. The Colts’ defense is nothing to write home about either, so Schultz should have no trouble taking advantage of his increased workload again.
Mike’s Starts of the Week
QB Tyler Shough vs LVR
Shough leads the NFL in passing yards through two weeks, but he has been balling out for longer than that. Going back to last season, Shough is the first player in NFL history with 3,000+ passing yards on 67%+ through his first 13 career games. His matchup with the Raiders this week should allow him to operate at a high level once again. Mike likes him as a start over higher-drafted names like Drake Maye, Justin Herbert, and Matthew Stafford.
RB Blake Corum @ DEN
Corum is averaging 6.0 yards per carry this year, albeit on just 22 attempts as he continues to play second fiddle to Kyren Williams. The matchup with Denver this week is actually better than it appears on paper, with the Broncos ranking 29th in fantasy points allowed to RBs this year. Most of that came in a week one explosion by Kenneth Walker and the Chiefs, but the Rams’ ground game is no slouch either. You are obviously starting Kyren, but Mike thinks Corum can also be trusted as a solid FLEX option this week.
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WR Josh Downs @ HOU
With Alec Pierce re-injuring his ankle and Keenan Allen looking washed beyond measure, Downs finds himself as the de facto number one option for Daniel Jones and the Colts. He stepped up nicely last week in that role, catching seven of nine targets for 72 yards on Sunday Night Football. On top of that, Houston’s pass defense has been surprisingly beatable this year, ranking dead last against WR’s through two weeks. Downs can be started as a FLEX option against them this week.
TE Tucker Kraft vs ATL
If you have Kraft, make sure he is in your lineup tonight against Atlanta. The ramp-up happened quickly off the ACL injury, with Kraft’s snap involvement going from 66% in week one to 98% last week. The Packers’ offense struggled to get much of anything going last week, but the consensus seems to be that Kraft’s usage (or lack thereof) might have been the problem. Mike expects them to get Kraft more targets this week, rather than discussing putting him on the offensive line. Atlanta’s defense has already allowed three TDs to tight ends this year, and Kraft has a solid chance to add to that total tonight.