DK Metcalf has 19 targets through two games. Only a handful of receivers in the league have seen more, and he has turned them into eight catches for 67 yards and no touchdowns. That is 3.5 yards per target, and it is the kind of split between opportunity and output that decides fantasy weeks. Cincinnati visits Pittsburgh in Week 3, and the Bengals have been unusually good at creating exactly this outcome. Find out whether you should start or sit DK Metcalf in Week 3.
DK Metcalf Start or Sit Advice for Week 3
The volume is real and it is the reason to keep him in your lineup. Metcalf holds 25.7% of Pittsburgh’s targets and 29.9% of the team’s air yards, at 9.5 looks per game. Aaron Rodgers is throwing 40.5 times per game, which is a large number of chances to distribute, and Metcalf is first in line for them. His frame and contested-catch ability still make him the player this offense wants near the goal line.
Everything after the volume is a problem. He has caught eight of 19 for a 42.1% rate and has zero red zone targets on the season. Pittsburgh is scoring 6.0 points per game, converting 33.3% of its red zone trips, and Rodgers is at a 70.4 rating having taken six sacks. Throwing 40.5 times per game while producing 175.0 passing yards per game is volume without function.
Cincinnati is the wrong opponent for a receiver who needs efficiency to arrive. The Bengals concede plenty of traffic at 20.0 targets per game against a league mark of 17.5, but they have allowed a 52.5% catch rate where the league sits at 63.2%, and no touchdowns to receivers in two games. They have eight sacks, and their 93.5 air yards allowed per game sits below the league mark of 103.0. Their two opponents have thrown about 10% above the league average, so the numbers are not being flattered by a soft schedule.
The Biggest Fantasy Risk for DK Metcalf in Week 3
The risk is that the target volume keeps producing nothing. Cincinnati has already done this to bigger names than the Steelers have on the roster. Xavier Hutchinson drew nine targets against them and caught three for 37 yards. Jaylin Noel caught one of five. Emeka Egbuka’s 63 yards on six targets was the ceiling anybody had reached.
Metcalf’s own two weeks read the same way. He went for 10 targets for 40 yards against Atlanta, then nine targets for 27 yards in New England while Rodgers posted a 59.1 rating and was sacked four times. The looks are stable and the production is heading the wrong way. Pat Freiermuth has both of Pittsburgh’s receiver-adjacent red zone touchdowns, and Jaylen Warren has two red zone targets, so the scoring chances in this offense are not reaching the outside.
One item that could help: Michael Pittman Jr. is TBD with a foot issue after a limited Wednesday. If he sits, Metcalf’s share of a thin room grows further. That is more targets in an offense that has not converted them.
Fantasy Outlook for DK Metcalf in Week 3
Metcalf is a Borderline Start in Week 3. Five catches for 55 yards is the projection, and the case for playing him rests on the target count alone plus the touchdown equity his size gives him in any single game. A defense allowing a 52.5% catch rate and no scores to receivers is not where that equity cashes.
If you have a better option, use it. If Metcalf is in your starting lineup because of where you drafted him, leaving him there is defensible and you should expect a floor outcome. The week to get excited is the week Pittsburgh’s offense starts scoring.
Find more Week 3 fantasy football start/sit coverage here!