Fantasy football managers know that every lineup decision can make or break a week, and choosing the right players to start or sit is where championships are won. With the 2026 NFL season underway, matchups, stats, and trends are more important than ever. From favorable matchups and scoring trends to players you should avoid in tough spots, my weekly positional start and sit guide is built to give you an edge.
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Wide Receivers to Start
Luther Burden CHI
Luther Burden’s role has finally started matching the talent, and I’m going right back to him in Week 4. Burden caught seven of 11 targets for 61 yards and a touchdown against Philadelphia last week and now owns a 23.5% target share with a team-high 32.8% first-read share. He’s also drawn six red-zone targets while producing 1.95 yards per route run. The biggest thing for me is that Chicago is no longer treating Burden like a rotational piece. He’s becoming one of the focal points of the passing game, and 11 targets last week showed us what that role can look like.
The Jets aren’t an easy matchup, but Burden’s usage gives him a path around some of their strengths. New York plays two-high coverage at a 65.4% rate, and Burden was targeted on 36% of his routes against two-high last week. The Jets have also been considerably tougher against perimeter receivers than the slot, which works in Burden’s favor with Chicago moving him around the formation. I’m betting on the role more than the matchup here. If Burden stays anywhere near the target volume we saw last week, his first-read and red-zone involvement give him enough upside to remain in my lineup as a WR2/flex.
Stefon Diggs WAS
Stefon Diggs is starting to look considerably more trustworthy as his role in Washington’s passing game develops. He’s commanding roughly a 24% target share with a 25.4% first-read share and has already drawn four red-zone targets. The route participation still isn’t ideal at 65.2%, but Diggs has been targeted on 29.3% of the routes he actually runs. That’s what keeps me interested. Washington doesn’t need to suddenly give him a 90% route share if he’s going to command the football at this rate whenever he’s on the field.
The matchup with Indianapolis makes that usage even more appealing. Diggs has played 62.7% of his snaps from the slot, while the Colts have allowed slot receivers to catch 18 of 21 targets for 315 yards through three games. Indianapolis slot corner Justin Walley has also struggled, allowing a 154.3 passer rating when targeted with a 42.4 PFF coverage grade. Diggs has been particularly productive against man coverage as well, drawing a target on 37.5% of those routes while producing 2.25 yards per route run. The role is trending in the right direction, and now his alignment puts him directly against one of the weaker areas of this Colts defense. Diggs is firmly back in my lineup for Week 4.
Keenan Allen IND
Keenan Allen finally gave us the type of workload I needed to see last week, catching six of nine targets for 63 yards and a touchdown against Houston. He now has 13 receptions on 20 targets through three games, but the Week 3 usage is what really gets my attention. Allen ran a route on 75.6% of Daniel Jones’ dropbacks and commanded a season-high 25.7% target share with a 26% first-read share. He’s never going to need huge downfield volume to produce for fantasy if Indianapolis continues giving him that many short-area opportunities.
Washington is a great matchup for that role. The Commanders have allowed a 74.2% catch rate, 9.2 yards per target and six touchdowns to opposing wide receivers through three games. Allen also played 53.8% of his snaps out wide last week, where Washington has allowed the fifth-most yards per target to perimeter receivers. Another eight-to-nine targets could easily turn into six or seven catches with legitimate touchdown upside. Allen was limited in practice this week, so his status needs to be monitored, but assuming he’s active without significant restrictions, I’m comfortable going right back to him as a WR2/flex.
Wide Receivers to Sit
Emeka Egbuka TB
Emeka Egbuka has been usable through three weeks, but I’m still waiting for the ceiling to show up. He’s caught 13 passes for 141 yards and one touchdown, with weekly lines of 5/63, 3/16/1 and 5/62. Egbuka hasn’t topped 63 receiving yards in a game and has produced only one reception of 20-plus yards. He does lead Tampa Bay in receptions and receiving yards, so the role itself isn’t my concern. The problem is that we’ve needed steady volume or a touchdown to turn that role into meaningful fantasy production.
Now Baker Mayfield is out, which makes me even less interested in chasing Egbuka against Green Bay. The Packers aren’t a defense I’m treating as an automatic fade for wide receivers, but asking Egbuka to create more upside with a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start is a completely different situation. His passing environment was already limiting the explosive plays, and now the quarterback change lowers my expectations for the entire offense. Egbuka can still produce underneath, but in standard 10- or 12-team leagues, I’d rather use a receiver with a more stable path to volume and scoring opportunities this week.
Deebo Samuel Sr. SF
Deebo Samuel’s raw efficiency looks excellent through three weeks, but the underlying volume makes this a dangerous week to chase it. He’s caught nine of 11 targets for 159 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 17.7 yards per reception despite an average depth of target of only 3.6 yards. PFF has credited him with 124 yards after the catch, meaning nearly 78% of his receiving production has come after the ball reached his hands. That’s classic Deebo, and it’s also why I’m never going to call him a talent-based sit. The concern is that 11 targets through three games gives him almost no margin for error. His fantasy production has depended on extreme efficiency, touchdowns, and explosive yards after the catch rather than stable weekly receiving volume.
Denver is exactly the defense where I’m less willing to bet on that efficiency continuing. The Broncos have been one of the stingier defenses against wide receivers through three weeks, with Patrick Surtain II anchoring a secondary capable of matching physical receivers without dramatically altering its coverage structure. Deebo’s manufactured touches can help him avoid a pure shadow matchup, but his 3.6-yard aDOT means we’re asking him to repeatedly create after the catch against a defense built to limit those opportunities. With only 11 targets through three games, I’m not comfortable depending on another touchdown or huge YAC play to save the fantasy line. He’s still capable of breaking a play that makes this look wrong, but the combination of limited receiving volume and a difficult matchup makes him someone I’m willing to sit when I have another legitimate starting option.
Rome Odunze CHI
Rome Odunze is becoming increasingly difficult to trust because this is no longer just a one-game production problem. Through three weeks, he’s caught only eight passes for 139 yards and has yet to score a touchdown. He finished with three catches for 44 yards on six targets against Philadelphia, but even that modest target total placed him behind other Chicago pass catchers. The underlying role is more concerning than the box score: Odunze owns only a 13.3% target share and 13.1% first-read share while producing 1.72 yards per route run. Even though he’s remained heavily involved from a route standpoint, running a route on roughly 89% of Chicago’s dropbacks over the past two games, he’s averaging barely more than four targets per game. That’s exactly the profile I don’t want to chase simply because a player is technically on the field for almost every passing play.
The Jets make that volume problem even more concerning. New York uses two-high coverage at a 65.4% rate, fifth-highest in the NFL, and Odunze’s target rate falls from 18% overall to 14% against two-high while his yards per route run drops from 2.00 to 1.38. He’s also primarily operating on the perimeter, where the Jets have allowed the seventh-fewest yards per target through three weeks. That contrasts directly with Burden, whose role gives Chicago a better way to attack inside and underneath. The matchup therefore compounds a problem that already exists in Odunze’s underlying usage: he isn’t commanding enough targets or first reads to give us much margin for error against a secondary that has been particularly difficult on perimeter receivers. Until those shares start moving back toward the top of this offense, he’s a player I’m comfortable sitting in Week 4.
