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Thursday, September 24, 2026
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CBS Sports·United States·Thursday, September 24, 2026 at 05:04 PM

Fantasy football rankings Week 3: Dave Richard makes tough decisions who to start, sit and flex

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Dave Richard

Fantasy Football is all about the matchups. Even though you drafted your team with certain hopes and intentions, your weekly lineup decisions shouldn't be determined by the order you picked your players in. You need to check who your players play and make sure you've got the right guys in -- and the wrong guys on the bench.

It's too early to be absolutely sure which matchups will be easy and which will be tough, but we can make some educated guesses based on healthy personnel, defensive schemes, track records and key details of offenses. The things we know can help us minimize the impact of the things we don't know. This should lead to better decision-making.

Let's go through every game and highlight the players who aren't obvious starts and sits (because you don't need to be told to start Bijan Robinson). You should feel more comfortable starting or sitting players based on the information given, and feeling comfortable with your Fantasy lineup before the games start is the best feeling in the world.

Dave Richard's Week 2 rankings: Top 150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | K | DST

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

The track record of Drake London (17-plus PPR in 7 of 12 games together) with Michael Penix Jr. is reason enough to start him. Kyle Pitts is a different story -- he's seen more than five targets from Penix just three times in 12 games, and has 12-plus PPR points in four of those 12. Maybe it's been because of the quarterback issues, but the Falcons have deployed Pitts further downfield than your average tight end and certainly farther than other tight ends in iterations of this specific style of offense, and it's also similar to how Pitts was used with the Falcons in 2024 when he had a not-so-great year. While the downfield routes might be more appealing to Penix, it just haven't worked out consistently in the past for Pitts. The zone-coverage-based Packers have generated good pressure thanks to a higher blitz rate through their first two games, notching seven sacks against solid offensive lines. That's problematic for Penix, who already has a tendency to throw short when facing zone coverage. That also works against Pitts, who is at best a borderline starter. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

The Chargers have allowed a pass rush pressure on 45.5% of Justin Herbert's dropbacks, most in the league, and they're allowing pressure in 2.49 seconds on average. Not surprisingly, Herbert has completed just half of his throws when pressured with a 61.8 QB rating. He's arguably worse when pressured this year compared to last year -- similar completion rate, similar catchable throw rate, worse QB rating this year, worse yards per attempt this year (5.4 in two games, 6.8 in 2025). Herbert had some good moments -- his third quarter was really good -- but by the fourth quarter, what was mostly a one-score game felt like a three-score game because the Raiders pass rush was too much. Here's the twist: Last week Jared Goff played on a short week on the road against these Bills and despite getting pressured a bunch he still had a very good stat line after three quarters before spamming the box score with two fourth-quarter touchdowns. It's reasonable for Herbert to have a shot at doing something similar, particularly since the Bills offense should rack up points on the Chargers disappointing defense and force the Chargers into a pass-heavy plan. If my other options were Kyler Murray, Bo Nix, Baker Mayfield or Drake Maye, I'd stick with Herbert. Lastly, Quentin Johnston's target-per-route-run rate has been demonstrably higher against two-high safety coverage, as the Bills have leaned into this year, but the results have stunk (two catches on eight targets for 17 yards). The Chargers will eventually find other options beyond Ladd McConkey to attack the middle of the field -- Oronde Gadsden would make some sense. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

You'd know it just by looking at the box score, but Bryce Young truly is playing at another level so far. Against a better-than-expected Falcons pass rush last week, Young made a slew of reads and throws with anticipation and accuracy. He seems like he's far more confident in where to attack and has done so with mostly excellent accuracy. Hence why the Panthers are trusting him with the offense -- the Panthers are fifth in pass rate at 64% through two weeks with at least a 63% pass rate in each game. If there's a worry here it's that Young's metrics against pass rush pressure are pretty weak so far this season: 37.9% completion rate, a 55.2% catchable ball rate (that's really ugly) and 6.1 yards per attempt despite a similar average depth of target to what he does when not pressured. The Browns defense flipped the script from Week 1 to Week 2, going into heavy man-to-man coverage with single-high safeties and getting home with blitzes against a beleaguered Buccaneers offensive line. The Panthers' biggest weaknesses right now are their tackles in pass protection, which the Browns are sure to attack. Given how Young has played, I'd bet against the Browns front being the unit to totally disrupt him, but I do worry about him hitting 30-point upside. He's a top-10 quarterback who I'd start ahead of Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert and Drake Maye, but not Tyler Shough or Jared Goff. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

Aaron Glenn gets a crack against Jared Goff and his old pals in Detroit. It's fair to say Glenn has practiced enough against Goff to know what he's sensitive to, the question is whether or not his defense can implement it. The Jets pass rush has three sacks and an impressive 2.3 second time-to-pressure rate in each of its first two games (David Bailey's made a difference), but they'll face a healthier version of the Lions O-line this week with two starters returning. The secondary looked great against the Titans in Week 1, not as good against the Packers in Week 2. I'd bank on Goff leaning heavily into Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta, especially on early downs and in the red zone, occasionally taking downfield shots to Jameson Williams when he draws a one-on-one. The Jets were penalized for defensive pass interference twice in the second half last week on deep targets but otherwise held Packers receivers to 38 yards on two catches over eight throws of 10-plus air yards. That suggests a not-so-rosy outlook for Williams. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

Colts defensive playcaller Lou Anarumo has faced two quarterbacks he's long been familiar with and gameplanned against them the same way he had previously, even if that meant different things for the Colts defense to do. If he follows suit this week and mimics how he's played against C.J. Stroud previously, it should mean weak numbers for the Houston passing game. Last year the Colts played more single-high coverage against the Texans, mixed man and zone on third downs, blitzed a bunch, held C.J. Stroud to mediocre numbers, and lost both games anyway. The single-high coverage is one of two Achilles heels for Dalton Schultz's target per route run rate numbers through two weeks (he's gotten more targets against two-high), but he found consistency against Anarumo's Colts last year, scoring between 11 and 12.5 PPR points in each game. Schultz specifically had eight targets in their Week 13 matchup with Nico Collins, four targets in Week 18 without Nico Collins. I don't think Collins' availability makes a big difference for this week's matchup, nor do I think Travis Kelce's monster Week 2 has a lot to do with how Schultz will fare. The Texans big tight end is an easy short-area target for Stroud whom the Colts won't try to take away unless near the goal line. Volume should carry him to another top-10 PPR finish. 

Josh Downs had a good game last week and could have had an even better game had Daniel Jones thrown with better accuracy and timing. Downs' ability to speed away from defenders stood out, as did a higher rate of snaps lined up wide instead of in the slot like he was for 64% of the time in Week 1. With Texans-killer Alec Pierce out, there's no doubt who the Colts' top receiver is, and his chances to be fed short- and intermediate-level targets are high. Interestingly enough, the Texans have really struggled with outside receivers through two weeks, giving up a second-most 17.9 yards per catch (compared to 7.2 yards per catch against slot guys). So not only should Downs test the Texans in the middle of the field, but it's his speed that could help him win when going up against Houston's top cornerbacks, especially since Houston plays a lot of single-high coverage. He's an easy PPR flex who would be ranked even higher if Jones were throwing the ball better. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

Rhamondre Stevenson fumbled on the fourth play of the game last week. After that, TreVeyon Henderson played 32 of 49 snaps and had 16 touches compared to Stevenson's 15 of 49 snaps and five touches. This was the fifth-most touches in a game for Henderson, but the third-most in a game Stevenson also played four quarters in. It's also noteworthy that Stevenson handled far more passing down snaps than Henderson including 9 of 13 third downs, but Henderson also had a number of excellent pass pro reps to help keep Drake Maye clean. There's no way of knowing whether or not Henderson has cracked Stevenson's grip on the rushing workload, but it's certainly reasonable to expect more of Henderson on rushing downs. It waters down the workload for both backs and makes them both tough to trust beyond the flex range. It's also notable that Jacksonville's run defense has been really good through two weeks (second-lowest rate of 5-plus yard runs allowed), but it really hasn't been tested against the Browns and Broncos run games. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

There's no doubt that Rashee Rice's role has changed in the Chiefs offense. He's being targeted a little further downfield so far this year (6.38 average depth of target, 8.19 average route depth) compared to 2025 (4.33 adot, 5.33 route depth) and 2024 (5.21 adot, 4.38 route depth), which is potentially nice for his efficiency but bad for his volume. In fact he's had two designed targets through two games, a far cry from what he had in years prior. This was a possible outcome given the Chiefs' improvements to their run game. But it might be more likely Rice isn't as getting as much work because he's simply not as explosive as other Chiefs. Kenneth Walker III has seen more designed targets, and even Travis Kelce is moving better than he did a year ago and as such warrants looks from Patrick Mahomes. The Dolphins have used a bunch of zone coverage on early downs and more man-to-man on third downs, but it almost doesn't matter because they can't get anything going against opposing quarterbacks, registering a second-worst pass rush pressure rate of 25% despite being top-10 in blitz rate. They have zero sacks. It should make for an easy game for Mahomes to throw to whomever he wants, but he might not need 30-plus attempts to clinch the win. And, as bad as Miami is, they should have enough in the secondary to at least keep up with Rice. Expect a modest, flex-worthy game, but if Rice doesn't deliver here then I'm not sure he'll ever get back to where he once was. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

In his last nine starts (seven with the Browns in 2024, two with the Giants last year), Jameis Winston completed 60.7% of his throws for 7.5 yards per attempt and a 4.0% TD rate -- and a 4.0% INT rate. That's about par for the course for Winston, who is known for being too aggressive with his downfield passing while minimally throwing at or behind the line of scrimmage. That's helped boost receivers' numbers for Fantasy: 12 Browns receivers had at least 12 PPR points in seven of Winston's 2024 starts, and three Giants receivers had at least 10 PPR points in Winston's two 2025 starts. Tight end production wasn't too bad either -- at least nine PPR points to six tight ends over the nine games total (David Njoku had 17-plus four times). Through two weeks the Titans have played in zone coverage roughly 85% of their snaps with plenty of two-high safety looks. They've registered three sacks total with two of them coming by Jalen Hurts running out of bounds short of the line of scrimmage. It's not a pass rush to fear even if Andrew Thomas is hobbled or misses the game. If there was ever a week to feel good about Malik Nabers and Isaiah Likely -- and frankly Winston himself -- this is it. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

Before he left early in the fourth quarter last week, Jadarian Price had played 48% of the Seahawks' snaps and had 14 touches, but had just two carries inside the 10 (one inside the 5) and zero third down snaps. Emanuel Wilson took more work away from Price, recording 11 touches himself with just as good of a rushing average as Price. That's troubling when considering Price for Fantasy use -- very few of the high-value touches we want him to have are going his way, even if he looks good on the field. This is just how the Seahawks coaches like it -- multiple backs splitting work was successful for them last year and it's in the plans this year. If that wasn't bad enough, know that the Commanders have been nails against the run, allowing one explosive run and zero rushing touchdowns through two weeks. Saquon Barkley and Javonte Williams each scored fewer than 10 PPR points against the Commanders, and both had at least 15 touches. 

It's really hard to feel good about starting Terry McLaurin this week against the Seahawks, who have yet to yield more than 9.1 PPR points to a wideout through two weeks and held all but nine wide receivers to under 15 PPR points in 20 games in 2025. Seattle is among the zone-heaviest defenses in the league, forcing quarterbacks to take short underneath throws. Mariota won't have a problem with that, but it might be Stefon Diggs and Antonio Williams who see the majority of those targets, not McLaurin, who lines up outside predominantly. Mariota threw deep to McLaurin on three of his four passes of 10-plus air yards, and on one of his six short throws (inside of 10 air yards). The good news is that McLaurin looked far more explosive in Week 2, and Mariota has a good history with McLaurin, but the offense is a little different now, not to mention deeper, and forcing the ball to McLaurin against zone-heavy coverages isn't ideal. Diggs has more appeal since he has worked the middle of the field and especially the underneath edges more than McLaurin has this year. I'd try to bench McLaurin this week; he and Diggs are both flex plays at best. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

Joe Burrow's facing a zone-heavy defense with a challenging pass rush for the second consecutive Sunday. While he has experience against many of these Steelers players, it's a new coverage scheme that he'll have to deal with. These Steelers tend to lean into zone coverage on early downs and then split man-to-man and zone coverage on third downs. It also appears the Steelers will blitz heavy when needed, just as they did last week while trailing at Foxboro (48% blitz rate, 52% pass rush pressure rate). The zone heavy coverage should help Tee Higgins have a shot at a stat line similar to what we saw last week, though I wish he had a little more quickness to his game. And with Andrei Iosivas sidelined, figure the Bengals feature more two-TE formations, putting Mike Gesicki back in play as a desperation Fantasy tight end.  

Cincinnati's defense has come out hot, but they're doing it blitzing at the lowest rate in the league. That hasn't slowed down their sack production -- four sacks in each of two games -- with a strong 42% pass rush pressure rate last week against the Texans and their depleted O-line. Pittsburgh is slightly above league average in pass rush pressure rate allowed, so it wouldn't be surprising to see the Bengals rattle Aaron Rodgers quite a bit. As for run defense, the Bengals are way better than they were last year, holding opponents to 2.9 yards per rush and a super-low 22.2% five-yard rush rate with zero explosive runs allowed (they are better against gap runs than zone runs, which favors the Steelers a little bit). Hard to feel good about any Steelers players given the way this matchup looks but Jaylen Warren would be the best start of the bunch assuming Rico Dowdle is sidelined, even if he grinds his way to numbers. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

A week after going sackless against a real good Rams O-line, the 49ers dialed up the blitz and got to Malik Willis four times in the last three quarters. It was the first non-divisional game and third overall since last year where they called blitzes on more than 33.3% of their opponents dropbacks. It would be interesting if the 49ers did the same thing in Week 3, but the Cardinals had a hard time throwing into the teeth of the Seahawks zone-heavy defense last week without dealing much with the blitz, and the 49ers didn't need to blitz to beat Arizona twice last year, nor did the Falcons against the Cardinals when Raheem Morris, now the 49ers defensive boss, was coaching them in 2025. Making things harder on Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur is that his style of offense was essentially molded by Kyle Shahanan many years ago, so it's going to take some serious wrinkles for the Cardinals to put up big production. It should lead to a familiar outcome: lots of short throws from Jacoby Brissett with Trey McBride the primary benefactor. Michael Wilson has seen a 20.8% target per route rate against zone so far this year, Kendrick Bourne right behind him at 19%.  

STARTS: Brock Purdy, Mike Evans, George Kittle, 49ers DST

FLEX: Deebo Samuel, Jeremiyah Love

SITS: Jacoby Brissett, Michael Wilson (desperation WR), Kendrick Bourne, Marvin Harrison Jr., Tyler Allgeier, Kaelon Black, Cardinals DST

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

It is crystal clear that, through two weeks, the Vikings are intentionally blitz-crazy, leading the league with a 79.3% blitz rate, more than 25 percentage points higher than the second-most blitz defense, the Panthers (which is surprising). Don't expect that to change -- the numbers say Baker Mayfield was pressured on 37.5% of his dropbacks last week but it felt like much more, especially in the fourth quarter when he'd dodge a defender in the backfield and still try to make a play downfield. It was crazy that Ted Hurst led all Bucs receivers in targets against the Browns with seven (Emeka Egbuka and Cade Otton had six each), and Hurst was the one who had a shot at a game-winning catch in the end zone but couldn't quite corral the ball after really good placement by Mayfield. A pressured Mayfield is problematic -- this year his catchable throw rate collapsed to 66.7%, he's thrown further downfield (10.4 average depth of throw versus 8.8 when not pressured) and his completion rate has tanked. He had these exact same problems in 2025, and both then and now Emeka Egbuka has had a poor target per route rate when Mayfield's been pressured (no higher than 15.8%). I'd be nervous to start any Bucs outside of Bucky Irving, who frankly should be the centerpiece of their offense in Week 3.  

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

There's a definite pass protection issue for Lamar Jackson. Last week the Saints pressured him on 40.5% of his dropbacks, which was actually an improvement after a 48.3% pressure rate allowed against the Colts in Week 1. Dallas' defense has underwhelmed to start the year: a bottom-five pass rush pressure rat (31.6%) with two sacks in two games. They also have a pathetic 28.8% defensive success rate when they don't blitz, easily the worst mark in the league. That should make the matchup a lot easier for Jackson versus a zone-leaning unit. Zay Flowers will go off if he plays, but if he doesn't then there was enough great stuff on film last week from Rashod Bateman to trust him as a borderline No. 2 receiver (he's a borderline No. 3 receiver if Flowers plays). Mark Andrews also stays in play as a security blanket on short throws for Jackson. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

I don't quite fear the Raiders run defense as a tough unit, but I do fear what I've seen from the Saints as a problem for Travis Etienne this week. You already knew that Etienne split snaps three ways last week, getting 53% of the snaps overall but landing just eight carries to Alvin Kamara's nine. You may not know that the Saints offensive line was knocked around pretty good by the Ravens, making it tougher for any of the Saints running backs to find consistent space. There's nothing on film to suggest Etienne is suddenly a worse football player -- the film is far more an indictment on Kamara's talent at this stage of his career. But until we know for sure that the Saints will put more on Etienne's plate, he's no better than a low-end No. 2 RB, and that's especially helped by Etienne seemingly entrenched as the Saints goal-line RB; he had a score taken off the board due to a penalty last week. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

The Rams looked like world-beaters against Jameis Winston and a tattered Giants offense on Monday, but that was also the case early in the game before Jaxson Dart got hurt, before Malik Nabers' shoulder popped out and before left tackle Andrew Thomas left with an injury. Truth is, Aaron Donald still has it, his supporting cast up front is good, and Trent McDuffie is a willing shut-down corner who does have playing into the slot on his resume, so shadowing Jaylen Waddle wouldn't be a big surprise. It'll be a challenge for the Broncos offensive line to match its play from Week 2 and protect Bo Nix like it did last Sunday, which is why it's tough to envision Denver's offense being prolific. 

Start 'em

10.0-7.00

6.99 - 5.01

5.00 - 0

Sit 'em

Going from Caleb Williams to Case Keenum is like going from an NHRA Funny Car to a used family sedan: The hot rod might be more fun and a little out of control, but the sedan is at least somewhat dependable. Lost in the shock of how the Bears pass-catchers began the year was Williams playing with too much frenetic energy, always looking for the kill shot and seldomly throwing to who the play was designed for. Keenum will do the opposite of that -- he'll look for who the play is designed for and seldomly look for the kill shot. I'd expect Keenum to throw quickly in the short-area outside the numbers and over the middle of the field and hope to get his receivers in favorable matchups to make plays after the catch. That's pretty much the only way for the 38-year-old Keenum to make things happen given he doesn't exactly have a powerful arm anymore. The matchup is especially bad for Rome Odunze since he may see the most of Quinyon Mitchell in heavy zone coverage along the sideline and be limited in his opportunities. 

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