Fantasy Football WR Start/Sit Week 3: Insights on Amari Cooper, Michael Pitman Jr., Christian Kirk, and Courtland Sutton

Pressure makes diamonds. There is no pressure quite trying to plug in the right fantasy football options from a roster full of similar options. I’m happy to help you make those final decisions when it comes to your WR start/sit calls.

Data from TruMedia, unless stated.

Which Wide Receivers Should Fantasy Managers Start in Week 3?

Amari Cooper, Cleveland Browns (vs. NYG)

The Giants are the only defense in the league that has allowed at least four deep completions in both games this season. While the Watson/Cooper tandem has yet to bear much fruit (five catches on 17 targets), this lines up as a get-right spot.

Opponents have completed 87% of passes (20 of 23) when throwing to the perimeter against the G-men, a rate that is borderline hard to comprehend, That is where Cooper lives as he has seen 70.8% of his targets when split out wide this season (72.2% since joining Cleveland).

WR88 Amari Cooper is just a few inches away from having a very different start to his season pic.twitter.com/RFanatodFc

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) September 17, 2024

It’s been a mess up to this point, but Watson did look a little better last week; that, along with this matchup, is enough for Cooper to hold onto my trust for one more week. With a month of strong matchups ahead, one big game on Sunday could lead to him assuming lineup-lock status for an extended stretch – he’s on my list for the five players with the most to prove in Week 3.

Christian Kirk, Jacksonville Jaguars (at BUF)

It’s been a brutal start for Kirk (two catches on seven targets for 29 yards, negative points last week against the Browns for you non-PPR players out there), but the profile doesn’t look too dissimilar from what we’ve seen in the past.

• 2023: 66.5% slot usage and 11.7 expected PPR fantasy points per game
• 2024: 74.7% slot usage and 11.1 expected PPR fantasy points per game

I expect a return to basics in this spot against a Bills team that rarely blitzes. Kirk’s few targets have come deep downfield (aDOT: 17.7), something that Buffalo aims to take away (just ask those who started Marvin Harrison Jr. in Week 1).

Kirk’s splits, 2023:

• Yards per route run when the defense blitzes: 1.81
• Yards per route run when the defense doesn’t blitz: 2.15

That may not seem like a huge difference, but it works opposite the trend of the other Jaguars receivers last year – Brian Thomas Jr. gives this offense a different look, but still. I’m sticking it out with Kirk and plugging him in over struggling bigger names like Terry McLaurin and Amari Cooper.

Which Wide Receivers Should Fantasy Managers Sit in Week 3?

Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts (vs. CHI)

Of all my preseason takes, Pittman thriving in this offense is the one I am most worried about. With just 52 yards to show for himself, it’s become very clear that we are looking at a mismatch of skill sets.

Pittman wants to win quickly and earn lots of volume in the short pass game without much touchdown equity to show for his time in the NFL.

Richardson wants to extend plays and shorten drives via the chunk play.

See what I mean? I like peanut butter, and I like chicken, but together they are no good. It’s beginning to feel like that could be the situation for Pittman – he’s fine by himself, but in this specific situation, his one-time high-floor skill set isn’t of much value to us.

I’m stubborn and not yet tossing in the towel from a season-long perspective, hoping that Richardson’s game develops with time, but I have no choice but to tank Pittman in my rankings until we see signs of that.

Instead of pushing for a WR1 ranking as I had hoped less than a month ago, Pittman (with a return of Josh Downs only further complicating this projection) is hanging on for dear life to WR2 status, ranking behind Xavier Worthy’s upside and in the same range as receivers like Jaylen Waddle and Amari Cooper who also need their talent to overcome their situations.

Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos (at TB)

I find quarterbacks like Bryce Young (when he was starting) much easier to deal with than the Bo Nixes and Will Levises of the world. With Young, it became obvious in a hurry that he wasn’t going to support much in the way of fantasy production, making pulling the plug on Diontae Johnson rather painless.

In the cases of Nix and Levis, we see a few plays weekly that draw us in. They are the personification of golf – you hit one good shot and you sign up for 18 more holes next weekend. Nix and Levis make just enough plays and flash just enough potential for us to hold out hope. For every game where their receivers do nothing, there is a Calvin Ridley performance from Week 2 that sucks you back in.

Sutton is going to have one of those moments, maybe multiple, and I could not be more sure that I will miss it. This season, he’s turned 16 targets into just five catches and 64 yards. Nothing about what we have seen through eight quarters suggests that this passing game is close to clicking; yet, there will be a game sometime soon that features a Sutton bomb and a top-20 finish.

Maybe that happens against the pass-funnel Buccaneers. But wouldn’t that be far too logical? I never hit a good iron shot from the fairway, it always seems to be from the woods, under a tree, and through the rough. So maybe next week in New York against the Jets?

Sutton isn’t a top-35 receiver for me this week, and I don’t think he ever will be. He’s ranked right alongside Ridley, both profiling as teasing DFS options at their cost that have potential.