Fantasy Football Must Starts Week 3

By James Collier

Thanksgiving week and no byes means we don’t have to scramble around the waiver wire to find plug and play starters. While that sounds great, it does mean we have to actually think about our start/sit decisions. 

Read on for four Must Start players who we think should be nowhere near your benches in Week 13! 

Review of Last Week

We didn’t have any hits or misses last week really. With Ja’Tavion Sanders, Alec Pierce and Bo Nix all finishing around their consensus rankings. Nix being the overall QB7 would not have been on many peoples bingo cards a month into the season. But if he keeps up his post Week 4 form with plays like this, he’s going to win some fantasy championships. 

CJ Stroud & Tank Dell vs Jacksonville Jaguars

It’s been tough sledding if you roster Stroud in fantasy this season. He’s averaging just 14.6 points per game which is below the likes of Derek Carr and Aaron Rodgers, yikes. But the good news is his only 20+ point outing of the season came against this week’s opponents, the Jaguars. The Jags defense has been awful all season and it’s not a surprise that they allow the most total fantasy points to quarterbacks.

With the Texans struggles on offense, Stroud is playing like a shadow of the confident, record breaking rookie we saw last season. But he should be a safe QB1 this week. 

When it comes to Stroud’s pass catchers, no one needs to be told to start Nico Collins. But it’s not been so easy for Tank Dell owners in 2024 with just two finishes inside the top 30 fantasy Wide Receivers. Unfortunately for Dell, he missed the Week 4 matchup with the Jaguars, or it would probably have been three.

But given that Dell is pretty much locked in for five or six targets against a Jaguars defense allowing the league high in yards per pass attempt and top two in completion percentage, I feel comfortable plugging him in as a top end WR3 this week. 

ECR Rankings: Stroud QB10, Dell (PPR) WR31 

Brian Thomas vs Houston Texans (Lewis Wood)

Lewis (@ff_pancake) is looking at the other side of the Jaguars matchup with the Texans and rookie receiver Brian Thomas Jr. 

“It’s been a weird season for BTJ. He’s currently WR16, but that’s split between three top 10 finishes through the first 6 weeks, then outside the top 24 for the next four. He’s struggled with fitness and with Lawrence missing time. Now, it seems like Lawrence is back, but even if he isn’t fit, Mac Jones should be enough to get good yardage against a Texans defense that’s allowed 267 passing yards a game for the last three weeks, 5th highest in the league. This game has tru shootout potential and I want to start the star rookie in it.”

ECR Ranking (PPR): WR24

Calvin Ridley @ Washington Commanders (Tom Strachan)

And for Tom (@NFL_TStrack) it’s another AFC South Wide Receiver…

“Since DeAndre Hopkins departed Tennessee in Week 7, Calvin Ridley has been on an absolute tear totaling 454 receiving yards in five games, which ranks third among all receivers and he leads all receivers in air yard market share (49.1%). It would have been fair to assume a fall-off could have been coming for Ridley after the way he and Will Levis seemed unable to connect early on in the year, but when Levis returned to the starting lineup Ridley continued to still thrive and there’s no reason he can’t again in Week 13. The Commanders rank 25th against the pass in DVOA and have given up six top-eight PPR performances this year.”

ECR Ranking (PPR): WR21

JAMES COLLIER

Lead Fantasy Football Analyst

A Washington fan since the early 2010’s, James had no choice but to turn to fantasy football in search of happiness – and it wasn’t long until it became an obsession. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesc294.

5/5