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Should I start Jauan Jennings, Deebo Samuel, Terry McLaurin for Week 3? Fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks and recommendations for the 2025 NFL season.
There is a tier of receivers, thankfully, that you often don't have to think twice about and should lock into your starting lineups. On a week-to-week basis, though, that doesn't mean they'll always smash.
That can present challenges, at least in more shallow leagues. On rare occasions, it can be possible to predict when a WR that's usually good has a higher chance of having a bad game.
Additionally, if you are in leagues with 10 or fewer teams, the rules are a bit different, and the lines get blurred. Solid players who are regularly started in leagues of 12 or more teams are often left on the bench. So let's dive into some start-sit dilemmas for three "solid" receivers!
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Should I Start Jauan Jennings for Fantasy Football?
Jennings' (ankle/shoulder) Week 1 wasn't anything to write home about, but he racked up 19.9 PPR fantasy points in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints defense. There was a time when he was the hottest waiver add in all of football last season, after a 46.5 PPR point game against the Los Angeles Rams.
But he scored 11.8, 2.3, and 5.7 points in his next three games. Then he missed two contests due to injury. Then he scored 16.3 and 25.1 points, followed by 9.0 and 8.6 points, then 28.0, and finally 5.1 and 9.1 points. Anyway, the point is it's tough to predict how he'll perform.
#49ers notables practicing to some extent early in Thursday session: QB Brock Purdy, DE Yetur Gross-Matos, FB Kyle Juszczyk, DB Siran Neal.
RB Christian McCaffrey and DE Nick Bosa back from rest. LT Trent Williams, WR Jauan Jennings on the side. No sign of T Spencer Burford.
— Noah Furtado (@_noahfurtado) September 18, 2025
Unfortunately, Jennings was actually not practicing with the team on Thursday. He was working off to the side with trainers, probably because of the ankle and shoulder injuries he has. That's not great news, as he only has one more opportunity to practice on Friday.
Perhaps that's what's happening with Jennings right now. If I were forced to speculate, I'd say Jennings is a very skilled receiver at creating quick separation and getting open, but doesn't have the raw athleticism to run away from defenders, and schematic matchups play a significant role in his inconsistency.
Playing through injuries could be a big part of that, too. We'll need more clarity on Jennings' situation, but for now, I'd leave him on the bench for fear of the dreaded San Francisco decoy games, where players are started and hardly used due to their ailments.
Should I Start Deebo Samuel Sr. for Fantasy Football?
Washington Commanders wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. has had a very nice start to his fantasy season. His production was disappointing last season with the 49ers. Still, there's an explanation for that -- he caught pneumonia early in the season, and that's a disease with a recovery period of several months.
Playing NFL football while recovering from pneumonia is an incredibly difficult thing to do, and there was a clear and stark drop-off in Samuel's production when comparing before and after his infection. It seems that the 29-year-old Swiss army-knife style wideout is back on track this year.
Deebo Samuel through 2 weeks:
-18 Targets (T-12th in NFL)
-40.0 PPR fantasy points
-WR8 in PPRhttps://t.co/Ecu44v0ejh— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 18, 2025
Samuel appears to have slotted in as the clear WR1B, at worst, for the Commanders. It's unclear yet how No. 1 wideout from 2024, Terry McLaurin, will perform moving forward, as he seems to have yet to catch his stride this year. Receivers who hold out for better contracts during training camp, which McLaurin did, tend to get off to slow starts.
Samuel shouldn't be taken out of any lineups, but it's notable that starting quarterback Jayden Daniels (knee) appears to be set to miss at least one week of action with a knee sprain. In his place, QB Marcus Mariota would start. Samuel should be fine, though. He gets a lot of short targets and is even used on run plays.
His usage should insulate him from losing too much fantasy value with Daniels out of the lineup.
Should I Start Terry McLaurin for Fantasy Football?
Yes. You drafted him in the third or fourth round of most fantasy leagues. That means you should start him. Even if Daniels doesn't play, McLaurin is the WR1 of the Commanders and is getting paid like it, too. He was targeted nine times last game and was missed on a deep touchdown attempt in which he was wide open in Week 1.
Jayden Daniels misses a WIDE OPEN Terry McLaurin for a TD 😬 pic.twitter.com/A7x7BFoRVp
— Kalshi Sports (@KalshiSports) September 7, 2025
Daniels and McLaurin will still need time to build chemistry, but Mariota, Daniels' backup, played solid football in Week 7 of 2024, in relief of an injured Daniels. Scary Terry will be fine.
Who Should I Start Tool
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Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 3 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Deebo Samuel Sr., Jauan Jennings, and Terry McLaurin. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 3. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 3 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Week 3 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Deebo Samuel Sr., Jauan Jennings, and Terry McLaurin. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 3.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool, but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player's name. In the second box, search for the second player's name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our Who Should I Start? tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, enhanced search results with data to compare, and a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circles), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
Popular Week 3 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 3 (2025)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.
Popular Week 3 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons
Below are some popular Week 3 searches and comparisons from our 'Who To Start' tool for Deebo Samuel Sr., Jauan Jennings, and Terry McLaurin compared to others:
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