Fantasy Football Outlook: Tony Pollard, Mark Andrews, Puka Nacua (Week 3)

After Week 1, everyone tells you not to overreact. It’s only one week, but by the time Week 2 is finished, we’re 11% of the way through the fantasy season, and it’s time to start being reactionary and noticing what the league is telling us.

Each week, we look at the safest and riskiest starts to help you get ready for all the action. Here are all of our risky and safe picks for the week. And below we dive into a few start/sit decisions on notable players.

Risky & Safe Fantasy Football Starts: Week 3

Tony Pollard (RB – DAL) vs Cardinals

Through two weeks, Tony Pollard ranks third among running backs in rush attempts (39), joint second in targets (10), and is the running back four in PPR and half PPR formats. The Cardinals have been friskier than we might have expected coming into the season, but they’re unlikely to be able to deal with a dominant Cowboys defense, which will likely mean more plays on offense for the Cowboys, allowing Tony Pollard to have another big week. With injuries to other running backs in the second round, Tony Pollard could turn out to be one of the best picks of the second round this year.

Mark Andrews (TE – BAL) vs Colts

There were some whispers around fantasy football that Mark Andrews might see a diminished role in 2023, with the Ravens adding a better arsenal of pass-catchers for Lamar Jackson than at any other time in Jackson’s career. After one game back on the field, what became clear is that Andrews will continue to be Jackson’s favorite target, seeing a 24% target share against the Bengals, with 50% of those targets coming on third or fourth downs. The Colts might struggle to keep up with the Ravens this weekend, but Lamar will likely be plenty productive early on, and Andrews can have another big week.

Here are the top five tight ends in % of routes run from a WR spot through two weeks

?Mike Gesicki – 96.9%
?Kyle Pitts – 88.1%
?Mark Andrews – 86.6%
?Dalton Kincaid – 81.0%
?Evan Engram – 76.4%

— Andrew Cooper (@CoopAFiasco) September 19, 2023

Puka Nacua (WR – LAR) vs Bengals

What more do you need to see? Puka Nacua has proven he’s not a flash in the pan with a league-leading 39.3% target share and 52.0 PPR points, despite playing one of the tougher defenses in Week 2, the San Francisco 49ers. Nacua is an auto-start until we see otherwise.