Week 3 of the NFL season has arrived! Thursday Night Football is always hit-or-miss from a fantasy perspective, you can either make or break your week in the first game of the slate.
Let’s highlight my start/sit fantasy football picks for Jets vs. Patriots on TNF.
TNF Must-Starts
- Breece Hall
- Rhamondre Stevenson
- Garrett Wilson
Start ‘Em: Hunter Henry
I cannot stress this enough… if you currently roster a Patriots pass-catcher not named Hunter Henry in a non-dynasty league, re-evaluate your life choices.
Alright, that may be a slight overreaction. Regardless, Henry has been a proven fantasy commodity since joining the Patriots in 2021. After an underwhelming Week 1 performance — which really was just Henry shaking the rust off after missing a few weeks of practice — he exploded against the Seahawks for eight catches and 109 yards.
New England’s offensive line is atrocious, which gives Jacoby Brissett — who already has limited arm strength — no time to look downfield. As a result, the veteran often pivots to his safety valve in Henry. That will likely be the case again on Thursday, which means the 29-year-old is a solid fantasy option among a weak field at his position.
Sit ‘Em: Any Patriot Besides Stevenson & Henry
Writing this, I couldn’t help but laugh. Then I remembered I’m a Patriots fan.
While I actually believe New England boasts an improved receiving corps compared to recent years, it doesn’t matter due to the factors I laid out in the section above. Until Drake Maye takes over or the offensive line drastically improves, guys like Pop Douglas and Ja’Lynn Polk aren’t going to be involved consistently.
You can trust superstar back Rhamondre Stevenson — who breaks tackles like it’s nothing — and Brissett’s go-to guy in Henry. That’s about it.
Check out my full Week 3 start/sit article with picks at each position here!
Start ‘Em: Jets D/ST
Notice how I spent the first two picks in this article laying out how limited New England’s offense is?
Well, here’s the correlation. The Jets struggled in Week 1 against a formidable Niners offense before bouncing back nicely against the Titans with 11 points. The Patriots have proven they’re not capable of hurting teams in the red zone. They seem to be capped at one touchdown per contest, with a majority of their drives fizzling out near the goal line.
Brissett also hasn’t been picked off yet, but he’s thrown a few very dangerous balls. At some point, that’s going to cost him, and I wouldn’t be shocked if it happens on Thursday. The Jets are a safe D/ST play this week.
Sit ‘Em: Aaron Rodgers
I’m expecting this game to be an uneventful, grind-it-out affair.
While Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson are still appealing on New York’s side from a fantasy perspective — and are must-starts regardless — the same can’t be said about their quarterback.
At 40 years old, Rodgers clearly doesn’t fully trust his achilles yet. The former MVP has failed to score more than 16 fantasy points in each of his two games, and now he’s dealing with limited rest on a short week. While I’ve written extensively about how porous the Patriots’ offense is, they’re actually quite formidable on the other side of the ball. Losing Christian Barmore and Ja’Whaun Bentley hurts, but their secondary of Christian Gonzalez, Jon Jones, Marcus Jones, Jabrill Peppers and Kyle Dugger is one of the strongest in the league.
Until Rodgers flashes consistent production, it’s best to keep him on your bench.
Fantasy Advice Twitter Takeover
On Sunday from 11-1 ET, Jeff Pratt will be taking over the DraftKings Network X account to answer all of your start/sit questions. Don’t miss out!
Those are my start ’em, sit ’em fantasy football picks for Thursday Night Football! Stay tuned for more fantasy advice later this week.
All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
