Week 3 of the NFL season is here and the Houston Texans already have a two-game lead over the rest of their division. That has nothing to do with fantasy football — I just love having an excuse to brag about the Texans.
Let’s keep your fantasy football season rolling by identifying some players who are set to post strong numbers this week. These are players who are must-start options if you have them on your season-long fantasy roster and who are great anchors for your DFS teams.
Below is one player at each skill position who is set to have a strong 2024 Week 3 performance for fantasy football.
Quarterback: Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow gets the coveted Washington Commanders matchup, a spot that’s been really good for opposing QBs so far this year.
In Week 1, Baker Mayfield threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns against this defense, with the former Browns washout looking like one of the league’s best passers.
Washington had a shot to improve its pass defense numbers in Week 2 against a hapless Giants offense, and they did, holding Daniel Jones to 178 yards. But Jones threw two touchdowns in the game and the Washington defense only sacked him once. Compare that to Week 1 against Minnesota, when Jones had more yards but had zero touchdowns, two interceptions and was sacked five times.
Burrow had a quiet Week 1, but he threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns in Week 2 against the Chiefs. Now, he’s got a shot to build on that against the scattered group of guys that the Commanders call a defense.
It’s still not clear if the Bengals will have Tee Higgins back from his hamstring injury or not, but for this matchup, I’m not sure that really matters. Adding Higgins to the fold might up Burrow’s upside to that of a top-three QB this week, but even without Higgins, he’s my QB5 this week.
Running Back: Jordan Mason, San Francisco 49ers
If you were concerned that the 49ers wouldn’t have a semblance of a run game with Christian McCaffrey out, then you must not have paid much attention to Kyle Shanahan’s career.
Alright, that last sentence might have just been a strawman argument. I think we all know what to expect from a Shanahan offense. The team has finished in the top seven in rushing yards in four of the last five years and top 10 in rushing touchdowns in all five of those seasons. It took a couple of seasons for things to click in San Fran, but Shanahan’s team led the league in rushing scores in 2019 with Tevin Coleman, Raheem Mostert, Matt Breida and Jeff Wilson Jr. all splitting time. He doesn’t need a star.
So of course Jordan Mason has 100 or more rushing yards and a touchdown in both of his starts this season. He’s essentially been a non-factor in the pass game, but it hasn’t mattered because this offensive line continues to open wide holes for him.
Up next is a meeting with the Rams, a defense that has really struggled against the run so far. It’s still early, but the Rams are one of just three teams to allow over 300 yards on the ground to opposing backs, with running backs scoring three rushing touchdowns against them, second only to the Cowboys.
Wide Receiver: Chris Olave, New Orleans Saints
The biggest story in New Orleans this season has been … well, either Rashid Shaheed being one of the best deep threats in the NFL or Alvin Kamara looking like vintage Alvin Kamara or quarterback Derek Carr suddenly playing like a star.
(Of course, the Carr stuff makes sense considering it’s an election year. In 2020, he threw 27 touchdowns and nine picks, and in 2016 he had 9 touchdowns and six picks. Arguably his two best seasons.)
It feels like Chris Olave has been lost a bit in New Orleans’s great start. In the dominant win over the Panthers, Olave was held to two catches for 11 yards, but he made a bigger impact against the Cowboys with four catches for 81 yards. It was that in a game where Kamara scored four touchdowns, Olave having a really strong day paled in comparison.
But make no mistake about it: Olave is still one of the NFL’s best wide receivers. He recorded over 1,000 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons and now appears to be playing in the best offense he’s played in yet, as long as what we’ve seen from the Saints through two games is for real.
Really, the main reason he hasn’t looked like a star so far this season is that the Saints offense has been too good down the field.
Look at the numbers from Week 1. Carr threw 23 passes in a game where his team scored 47 points. Nine of those came in the first quarter, and Carr threw a total of two passes in the fourth quarter. New Orleans was able to take its foot off the gas.
Shaheed can’t keep being a consistent deep threat forever. Some of those passes are going to fall incomplete, leading to closer games, more overall attempts and thus more opportunities for the team’s main chain-moving receiver, Olave.
This week, Olave gets a juicy matchup against the Eagles. Philly has been killed by wide receivers this season, allowing the second-most fantasy points to the position behind only Washington. But the Eagles offense should be able to do some damage against New Orleans, keeping the game closer and enabling more looks for Olave.
Tight End: Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons
This is the second week in a row I’m highlighting Kyle Pitts and, well … I’m taking the L on last week. The Falcons got a surprise victory over the Eagles, but Pitts was held to just three catches for 20 yards. Just another game where Kirk Cousins wasn’t really looking his way.
But you know what? Let’s run it back.
The Chiefs have really struggled against opposing tight ends through the first two games of the season, allowing a top-five fantasy tight end in both games so far, with Isaiah Likely finishing as the overall TE1 in Week 1 and Mike Gesicki as the overall TE4 in Week 2.
At a position where no player has really shown much consistency this season, I’m fine going all in on a guy who is facing the one defense that has really stunk it up against the position. The Chiefs have allowed 25 catches and 276 yards to tight ends so far, which is just…a lot. The Ravens are second in both categories after allowing 16 catches for 180 yards to tight ends.
So yeah, Pitts is risky because he hasn’t done much damage in 2024, but a meeting with a defense that has shown a weakness at stopping these bigger-bodied targets is a great bounce-back spot for him.