Fantasy Football Week 3 Starting and Sitting Decisions: Carson Steele and Cam Akers Play

Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson apparently used his running game in Week 1 to hide Kirk Cousins. Cousins ​​failed the eye test, giving Robinson a reason to deflate the ball. Cousins ​​played much better in Week 2, and the Falcons still posted a PROE of minus-nine percent. Without significant yardage, Cousins ​​needs plenty of passing volume to reach his fantasy ceiling. He hasn't come close to that yet.

Run back

Start: Cam Akers, Texans

Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce are unlikely to play this week. Neither back has practiced as of Friday morning. Akers, who is next in line if both backs are out, seemed to fit Bobby Slowik's scheme well during the preseason. In tryouts, he received PFF's 9th rushing grade and 2nd overall grade among running backs. If Akers sees all the work in a Houston offense that has a team total score of 24.25 this week, he's clearly an RB2.

Start: Carson Steele, Chiefs

The Chiefs were without Isiah Pacheco for an extended period of time, who broke his fibula. They will also be without Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who was placed on the NFI list before the start of the season. That leaves them with Steele and Samaje Perine. Steele was considered a fullback at times in the offseason, but he was used primarily as a running back in the preseason. He ran for 87 yards on 11 attempts and scored two touchdowns. Steele led all backs with 7.4 yards after contact per run. Steele is more of a hurdler this week, but that's enough to put him on the RB2/3 border.

Sitting: Chuba Hubbard, Panthers

Andy Dalton's return to the lineup will help all of the Panthers players put up better numbers, but the offense hasn't been Hubbard's only problem. He's splitting workloads with Miles Sanders much more evenly than we expected at the start of the season. Hubbard has 16 runs so far, Sanders has 12. Sanders has also limited him to a minimum, with four runs per pair. His use in 1A isn't enough to get by, even if Dalton improves the offense's overall outlook.

Sitting: D'Andre Swift, Bears

Good matchup or not, Swift is a failure until he shows us some efficiency. He currently ranks last in the NFL in Next Gen success rate. Only 18 percent of his runs have produced more yards than expected. He averages 2.4 more yards than expected per attempt. Now his team is an underdog on the road. It's not clear if Swift can even benefit from an exciting matchup at this point in his career.

Wide receiver

Start: Diontae Johnson, Panthers

For Diontae, Dalton's acquisition should be enough to put him back on the fantasy radar. Johnson leads the Panthers in target share and target rate, both of which are at 23 percent. He also saw over half of the team's air yards in Week 2. Dalton averaged a disappointing 6.2 yards per attempt in two starts last year. With the Saints, he fared better in 2022, averaging 7.6 YPA. Even if we only get the Panthers' number from Darnold, that would be a notable improvement over Young's 4.4 YPA through two games.

Start: Chris Olave, Saints

One day Olave will have a big game. In Week 2, he accounted for 46 percent of the Saints' targets and 50 percent of their air yards. Olave was also the first to catch Derek Carr's team-high five throws. PFF gave him the best receiving grade last week. The result was just 81 yards, even though the Saints again scored over 40 points. Olave can't continue to play football well and run an incredible offense without scoring fantasy points. Something has to happen, and I'm betting that will come in the form of an explosive third week for Olave.

Sitting: Michael Pittman, Colts

Pittman is still frequently targeted in the Colts' passing attack, but the passes he catches aren't the ones Anthony Richardson can consistently catch. Of Pittman's 14 passes, six came from between zero and nine yards. Another six came from between ten and 19 yards. He has caught a pass at every depth. Richardson is PFF's 30th-best passer on intermediate throws and 24th in passer rating on short throws. With no connection between the two, Pittman plummets into the WR3 ranks.

Sitting: Jakobi Meyers, Raiders

It's Brock Bowers' world and we all live in it. Bowers is the third-best tight end in target share and fourth-best in air yards share. The rookie tight end, who is stepping into a high-usage role from the start, has all but ended Meyers' run as a fantasy WR3. Meyers has a target share of 12 percent and has been targeted on 11 percent of his routes. Gardner Minshew's third pass catcher isn't worth much.

Close opponent

Start: Mark Andrews, Ravens

The Chiefs devoted every resource on defense to stopping Andrews in Week 1, and it worked. He was targeted on five percent of his routes and completed a paltry six percent. Those numbers increased to 19 percent and 17 percent in Week 2. The Ravens made him a bigger part of the game plan against Las Vegas with a 19 percent first-read share compared to just 10 percent against Kansas City. Andrews may no longer be the top-notch tight end he was in previous seasons, but last week he showed he can still get low TE1 volume.

Start: Brenton Strange, Jaguars

Strange is a desperate player who went unnoticed on most waivers lists. Despite finishing Week 2 as a PPR TE9, he's only on the roster in two percent of Yahoo leagues. He took over for Evan Engram after Engram suffered a hamstring injury in warmups. Strange ran a route on 75 percent of Trevor Lawrence's dropbacks. He earned a 25 percent target share and saw 32 percent of the team's air yards. He's no more than a TE2 in his second start this year, but Strange is one of the best new recruits at the tight end position right now.

Sitting: Dalton Kincaid, Bills

In Week 1, Kincaid was targeted just once and had five air yards. In Week 2, he drastically improved his target percentage with four attempts in the passing game. Surely he saw more air yards too… right? No. He had a minus-two aDOT. Kincaid doesn't see the ball often, and when he does, it's on attempts that contain nothing but empty calories.

Sitting: Dallas Goedert, Eagles

The Eagles simply aren't interested in using Goedert even if AJ Brown is out. Last year, Goedert had 21 percent of Philly's first-read targets and was targeted on 19 percent of his routes. This season, he has a 16 percent first-read target share and a 12 percent target rate. It looks like Devonta Smith could seamlessly slide into the WR1 role until Brown returns, and Goedert remains in the TE2 ranks.