NFL Fantasy Starts and Sits: Bengals vs. Jaguars

This week has been pretty crazy. Several teams have had COVID-19 at least show up among their teams. That has caused a few games to get pushed to late in the week and even pushed to later in the season altogether.

The Bengals and Jaguars will be playing today though, and some fantasy players may be looking at this game more closely given the uncertainty of other games around the league. Here is who you should be playing from that game.

Must starts

James Robinson, RB, Jaguars: The safest bet this week is Robinson will have himself a game against the Bengals. Cincinnati’s defense will be without Geno Atkins and Mike Daniels again in the middle. The last time they were without those two the Browns ran all over them. Also the Jaguars have made it clear they intend to use him as their feature back. He has 53 touches in three games, and that volume will pay off against one of the best matchups for fantasy running backs.

Favorable matchups

Tyler Boyd, WR, Bengals: Boyd has had two solid weeks with rookie quarterback Joe Burrow in a row. Last week he caught 10 passes for over 100 yards after scoring a touchdown in Week 2. Burrow loves to spread the ball around, but it looks like Boyd is quickly becoming one of his favored targets. That will pay off against Jacksonville, who is struggling to stop teams from scoring.

D.J. Chark, WR, Jaguars: There is no way around it, this game will likely turn into a shootout quickly. Chark missed last week with a chest injury, but he was removed from the injury report this week. Even after missing last week, he is still third in receiving for the Jaguars, and he should be targeted early and often this week.

Keelan Cole, WR, Jaguars: Cole and Chark may as well both be listed as the No. 1 wide receivers. He leads the team with 15 catches and two touchdowns as well as over 150 receiving yards. The Bengals secondary looks like it will be without Mackensie Alexander this week as well, which only helps open up things for Cole this week. Again, this will be a shootout.

Joe Burrow, QB, Bengals: Burrow has thrown for over 300 yards the past two weeks. He has also tossed multiple touchdowns each week. If you need a guy to fill in for Ben Roethlisberger or Cam Newton, Burrow may be one of the best options on the waiver wire as he seems to be getting in the same page as a few of his wide receivers.

Gardner Minshew, QB, Jaguars: This isn’t going to be a great week for the Bengals’ defense. They already were struggling, and now the injuries are piling up a little bit. That should make things pretty easy for Minshew, who is looking to bounce back from a disappointing Week 3. No one should expect a repeat of those struggles against this defense.

Tyler Eifert, TE, Jaguars: Four words: Tyler Eifert revenge game. There probably is no bad blood between these two sides, but this marks the return of Eifert, who may be one of the most talented tight ends in the league, whose time in Cincinnati was stained by terrible luck with injuries. Not to mention Jay Gruden is the Jaguars offensive coordinator. It is hard to imagine that Gruden doesn’t draw something up to at least get Eifert in the endzone.

Good but not great

Joe Mixon (watch inactives) and Giovani Bernard: Mixon was a late addition to the injury report with a chest injury. There seems to be an expectation that he will still play. With all that in mind, it really hampers the ceiling of either player in fantasy. Bernard has had some really outstanding displays when given the chance to be the feature back over his career. Him splitting time with an injured Mixon really hurts his ceiling, though. I wouldn’t view either as more than a flex this week.

Tee Higgins and A.J. Green: These seems to be the other two reliable wide receivers as far as fantasy goes with this offense. Higgins had two touchdowns last week in his first start, and it is hard to imagine that he won’t continue to have that role. At some point Burrow and Green will click. It really just feels like a matter of time. This week he doesn’t go against Darius Slay, so that should help his cause in fantasy.

Just sit them

Drew Sample, TE, Bengals: After a fantastic Week 2 with a ton of catches and targets, Sample was largely unused in Week 3. He probably gets rolled into the same category as guys like Mike Thomas, Auden Tate and John Ross. Any of these guys could have the hot hand from Burrow just about any week, but the rookie is already so good at spreading the ball around that it is hard to predict.

Either defense: Do not stream a defense from this game. There won’t be much of it. The Jaguars have held a team below 30 points once, and that was when they allowed 28 points. The Bengals are also banged up on top of not being that great when close to full health. There are going to be fireworks in this game, and you may be better off just looking elsewhere.