Keoni's Week 3 Starts and Sits

It’s Week 3 in the 2022 NFL season, and we're starting to get a better picture of who is playing well and who's playing not so well. A new week also means new possibilities for your fantasy team, so I am here to help you out with just that, making sure your fantasy team performs to the best of its abilities. I will help you make the tough decisions by giving you the starts and sits for week 3 of the fantasy football season. I came here to chew bubblegum and pick starts and sits and I am all out of bubblegum (Please send some if you have it but none of that Juicy Fruit stuff). On to the picks!

STARTS

QB

Jared Goff- DET Lions versus MIN Vikings

The easy pick here might be to go with Kirk Cousins because despite having a rough week against the really talented Philadelphia Eagles, he still has J Jetta, Justin Jefferson, but I'm here to make the hard pics for you. If you have Kirk Cousins, you're probably going to start him anyways, so I'm not picking him for this article, however, I'm staying in the same game by going with Jared Goff. Some of you may have already lost your quarterback to injury such as Trey Lance or are scared by how they're playing such as Russell Wilson (more on him later spoiler alert.)

As of right now, the Lions are a high-scoring offense, having scored an average of 35.5 points per game which has them tied for second most points per game in the league. He is coming off a week where he scored four touchdowns and has six total on the season to just one interception. On top of that, the Minnesota Vikings are the 21st ranked defense against the quarterback position. While Jared Goff is still going to “Jared Goff” at some point in the season, I don't think it is going to happen just yet. This matchup is going to force him to be in the game for the whole 60 minutes, if not more, increasing the possibility for big numbers this week.

RB

Tony Pollard- DAL Cowboys vs the NYG Giants

We got a glimpse of it last week, and this week it gets further cemented that Tony Pollard is starting to take over this back field. He showed it last week, getting nearly 100 yards from scrimmage, and he had a touchdown for nearly 20 fantasy points compared to Ezekiel Elliott's just over five. Elliot is still out rushing him on the ground, but the big separator between the two is Pollard is getting used in the passing game having been targeted nine times this season for six catches versus Ezekiel Elliott's two total catches.

They are playing a Monday night game where they have a chance to control the momentum against a New York Giants team that ranks 17th against the run and is allowing 23 points per game to the position. I'm a big believer in Tony Pollard, and he will have another big week in prime time on Monday night.

WR

Greg Dortch- ARI Cardinals vs LAR Rams

Through two weeks he has 11 catches on 13 targets for 118 yards and a touchdown. He seems to be a main guy for Murray and probably will be until Deandre Hopkins comes back. Marquise Brown is getting more targets than Dortch but Doing more with less.

They face a tough divisional opponent in the LA Rams this week, but Kyler Murray showed that they're never out of a game, coming back from 20 points down to win against the Raiders. On top of that, the Rams rank 31st against the wide receiver position having allowed five total touchdowns, at least 13 receptions per game and nearly 50 fantasy points to the position per game. This team gives up points to the receiver, and Dortch can be the beneficiary of that this week.

TE

Evan Engram- JAX Jaguars vs LAC Chargers

The Chargers rank 24th against the tight end and have allowed an average of 5.5 catches to the tight end position and an average of 71 yards per game to the position but have yet to allow a touchdown to the tight end. Granted they have played against Darren Waller and Travis Kelce, two of the best in the league, but the Jaguars can score if they make the effort and he was targeted 8 times last week. There is a possibility for him to get around that same average before which puts him around 12 fantasy points which is pretty good for a tight end you’re probably streaming this week.

SITS

QB

Russell Wilson- DEN Broncos vs SF 49ers

Let’s be honest, Russ is not cooking right now. He is in the alley taking an extended smoke break, and it isn't helping that his coaches spent all that money just to make bad play calls. It’s like that mom/dad joke where someone ahead of you is driving a fancy car and swerves into your lane really quick and they go “wow, they spent all that money for a car that doesn’t come with blinkers.” That’s what Wilson is this season so far.

He is averaging 280 yards, but in his last game, he got 219 against the Texans, and he only has 2 total touchdowns on the season. He should have had that in the first half last week, but the play calling is bad and the team looks off. They face San Francisco who is currently ranked 3rd against the position allowing just under 10 points per game to QBs. They will also go after the QB, so bad schemes and a bad matchup make we want to stay away from Russell Wilson this week and until I see much needed improvement.

RB

Travi Etienne- JAX Jaguars vs LAC Chargers

I'm picking Travis Etienne as my sit running back for the week because he's just not looking as good as James Robinson. It's almost as if they didn't need to draft a running back in the first round last year because Robinson is doing a fine enough job as is. Etienne is not really getting enough work or at least making enough of that work to make me want to start him at this point in the season

He is getting out touched by Robinson 37 to 18 and if my math checks out right, that is more than double the touches for Robinson over Etienne. He seems to mostly be used in third down capacity and has had no success in the red zone. Robinson is looking like the clear RB1 and the gap isn't really shortening between the two. Robinson's going to take advantage of this middle-of-the-road Chargers run defense and leave Etienne behind again this week.

WR

Jahan Dotson- WAS Commanders vs PHI Eagles

Even though this rookie is doing incredibly well, having three touchdowns on the season already, this is where the fairy tale hits a bump in the road. The Philadelphia Eagles look really really good, and their defense is getting to the quarterback. Their secondary is also doing very well, especially Darius Slay, and they will make it a hard time for this Commander's offense to move the ball down the field.They're going to get to Carson Wentz, and they're going to cover Dotson well, preventing him from getting in the end zone which has been really helping him in fantasy. He doesn't score a lot of points otherwise since in his two games so far, he's had only 40 yards and then 59 yards.

It's a bad matchup and this is going to be his first real introduction to a powerhouse team on the opposite side of the field. Look for him to bounce back though in the upcoming weeks, but just not this one.

TE

T.J. Hockenson- DET Lions vs MIN Vikings

The rest of his team has been doing very well this season between D'Andre Swift and Amon-Ra St. Brown both of whom are #3 at their respective positions while Hockenson is the TE 21 on the season. He has yet to score a touchdown, and although he's been targeted 7 times each game, he only has a total of 7 catches for 64 yards. Those are not numbers I want to see from a tight end I'm looking to get points out of each week. It's becoming hard to rely on him, and he's potentially dealing with a hip injury that may even make this worse.

It is a favorable matchup since the Minnesota Vikings are the 25th ranked defense against the tight end position. Both teams will score quite a bit in this game or at least have the potential to, but I'm not very optimistic on Hockenson’s abilities right now.

That’ll do it for the starts and sits for week 3 so hopefully they can help you to victory. Oh, guess what, I found some gum. Stay dreamin’!