The Dolphins and Jaguars have provided many of fantasy football's early surprises in the 2020 NFL season. Both teams have showed some good production in the receiving corps, and two unexpected young backs have become very valuable with their respective volume. The combination of surprise offensive players and two mediocre defenses is undoubtedly creating plenty of early-week start 'em, sit 'em drama for fantasy owners, and SN's Vinnie Iyer is here to help with the first bit of lineup advice for Week 3.
To the casual fan, Miami at Jacksonville doesn't sound like the most inspiring kickoff to Week 3 of fantasy football (8:20 p.m. ET, NFL Network), but fantasy owners know there could be some fun boom-or-bust performances. Let's get to it.
MORE TNF: FD single-game lineup | DK Showdown lineup | Chark injury update | Betting guide
Dolphins: Who to start or sit in fantasy football on Thursday night
Start: TE Mike Gesicki
Gesicki busted out in Week 2, catching eight-of-11 targets against the Bills for 130 yards and a TD. He steps into another terrific matchup, as the Jaguars also cannot cover him in the middle of the field consistently. As expected, he's been treated like the slot wideout hybrid in Chan Gailey's offense and is locked in with his quarterback.
Start: WR DeVante Parker
Parker shook off his hamstring issue to catch five-of-eight targets against the Bills for 53 yards and a TD. The Jaguars' secondary is nothing scary, inexperienced and far removed from Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye.
Start: RB Myles Gaskin
Gaskin has seen 13 and 14 touches, respectively, in the first two games, as the unexpected lead back in the committee over acquired veterans Matt Breida and Jordan Howard, with the latter being solely the short-yardage, goal-line back. He has a low ceiling in standard leagues with limited scoring potential, but he can do OK as a deep flex for half- and full-point PPR.
Sit: RB Matt Breida and RB Jordan Howard
The Dolphins fooled us all by making the second-year Gaskin their main-touch guy, didn't they? You can roll the dice on Howard scoring again, but you probably don't want to. Gaskin has rendered Breida pretty much value-less and downright droppable in standard-size leagues.
WEEK 3 PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker
Start: QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
The ceiling isn't all that high, but once again Gesicki and Parker can help him put up good digits. If you're trying to scratch out 250 yards and two touchdowns in a superflex or two-QB league, that's fine. Or maybe you were streaming with guys such as Jimmy Garoppolo, Drew Lock, and Daniel Jones and couldn't get Justin Herbert in deep leagues. You shouldn't stretch in 12-team leagues, however.
Sit: WR Preston Williams
Williams hasn't done much in his return from knee injury, but he's a talented outside player. Take more of a wait-and-see approach with him in seasonal leagues, but don't be surprised if he has his best numbers after catching only three-of-12 total targets for 67 yards in the first two games.
Sit: Dolphins defense/special teams
With the way the Jaguars' offense is humming, you cannot stream the Dolphins defense. Also, they're not good.
Start: K Jason Sanders
Whoa. A kicker recommendation indeed. Sanders has a big leg and might be busy after Stephen Gostkowski rebounded well on the Jaguars.
WEEK 3 FANTASY: Sleepers | Busts | Start 'em, sit 'em
Jaguars: Who to start or sit in fantasy football on Thursday night
Start: QB Gardner Minshew
Minshew has come out on fire for another September to remember. He's totally locked into Jay Gruden's offense, spreading the ball around well with deeper weapons. He's doing a little running, too. The Dolphins gave up a solid fantasy game to the Patriots' Cam Newton and a spectacular one to the Bills' Josh Allen. Minshew should fall somewhere in between with his moxie, magic, mania, and mustache at home against a bad defense. Go-to wideout D.J. Chark (back/chest) has been ruled out, but Minshew can still get the QB1 digits with others.
Start: RB James Robinson
Robinson has proved exactly why the team was able to release Leonard Fournette. The undrafted rookie from Illinois State is getting a feature workload and also getting more of the key receiving work over Chris Thompson. He's looking like a RB2 with upside all season in a better-than-expected offense.
Start: WR Keelan Cole
While Chark isn't playing for the Jaguars, the Dolphins are down cornerback Byron Jones. Cole might be the one drawing Xavien Howard, but then again, both Stefon Diggs and John Brown torched Miami downfield last week. Cole has matched Chark's targets from Minshew so far, scoring in each game and looking like he did for his best career stretch as a rookie in 2017.
WEEK 3 DFS: Best stacks | Best values | Lineup Builder
Start: WR Laviska Shenault Jr.
With no Chark, Shenault, the rookie from Colorado, is the one best equipped to fill his big-play void working opposite Cole, and not fantasy irrelevant Chris Conley. Shenault has clicked well with Minshew and will see a natural bump in targets.
Sit: TE Tyler Eifert
Eifert scored last week, but it was a reminder that in this offense, he's simply touchdown-dependent to produce.
Sit: Jaguars defense/special teams
They might be tempting for that emotional prime-time bump at home against an interception-prone QB in Fitzpatrick, but this feels like more bust than boom.
Sit: K Brandon Wright
It would be just wrong — and not at all Wright — to use this undrafted late fill-in for injured Josh Lambo.
WEEK 3 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker
Dolphins-Jaguars DraftKings Showdown lineup for Thursday night
Captain: RB James Robinson ($11,700)
FLEX: QB Gardner Minshew ($11,000)
FLEX: TE Mike Gesicki ($7,400)
FLEX: RB Myles Gaskin ($7,200)
FLEX: WR Keelan Cole ($5,400)
FLEX: WR Preston Williams ($6,800)
We start with our stack of the Jaguars principals and put Cole with them based on his matchup and price with no Chark. We also dropped a few Gs on Gesicki and Gaskin to represent the best of the Dolphins' matchups and usage. Again, it's hard to trust Williams in seasonal, but he was worth a shot as an affordable pivot play.
