Fantasy Football Week 3: Updated QB rankings show how to handle Joe Burrow's questionable status for Monday

Chris Towers walks you through his Week 3 QB rankings

Indianapolis Colts v Philadelphia Eagles

Michael Owens / Getty Images

Before we get to the Week 3 QB rankings for Fantasy Football, here are some thoughts on three of the biggest questions Fantasy players have about the position after the first two weeks of the season:

What's wrong with Joe Burrow?

Well, I suppose it depends on how you are framing the question. Currently, what's wrong is that he has a calf injury, an aggravation of a training camp issue that puts his status for Week 3 in doubt. He's questionable for the Bengals Monday night game against the Rams, though as of Sunday it sounds like he has a chance to play. I'm betting he won't, and you'll find Jake Browning at the bottom of my rankings for this week, but even if Burrow does play, I think I'd try to avoid him; it sounds like he's going to be playing through pain for a while if he doesn't shut it down, and the risk of diminished play and re-injury is too great to role the dice.

Especially because, even before that injury, Burrow hasn't looked right – he's completing 56.9% of his passes for 4.2 yards per attempt and just generally hasn't looked right, especially when trying to push the ball down the field. He's 0 for 12 on passes of at least 15 air yards, the worst mark in the league so far.

Now, it's worth noting that Burrow also struggled early on last season before figuring it out. Burrow's been pressured a bit less often so far then he did in the first two games last season, so even that excuse doesn't seem to carry over. I think the bigger issue is probably pretty simple – Burrow didn't really practice in the leadup to the season and his timing is probably just off right now.

Of course, that's where the aggravation of that calf injury comes in, because it potentially takes away even more practice reps, and possibly game reps, too. I think this Bengals offense will get it figured out in the long run, but with Burrow's injury, it may not come until October, now. I'm projecting Burrow will miss this week, but I'd be trying to buy low, because I still think he'll be a top-five QB at some point.

What's wrong with Trevor Lawrence?

Lawrence was efficient and effective in Week 1, tossing a couple of touchdowns en route to a solid, but not massive game. We expected fireworks in the Chiefs-Chargers game Sunday, but we really didn't get them, and Lawrence played a huge role in that – he was just 22 of 41 for 216 yards with no touchdowns, and he fumbled twice, losing one. Lawrence now has just two touchdowns on the season and just eight in his past seven games – four of which came during the first playoff game last season.

Now, it's worth noting that he had several almost-touchdowns Sunday, including at least three to Zay Jones where he got one foot down in the back of the end zone, so it could have been a much better game. Lawrence was 0 for 7 in the red zone Sunday, the most attempts without a completion in the red zone since NFL Next Gen stats began tracking, and that doesn't seem sustainable. However, I will note that I had my doubts about how Lawrence was being viewed coming into the season, and he hasn't done much to alleviate those concerns. I still believe he's an incredibly talented player with great weapons, but I'm not sure he's quite made the leap everyone gave him credit for at the end of last season. He's more like a low-end QB1 for me.

Is Jordan Love a viable starting option?

Credit to Love for making the plays that are there, and to the Packers coaching staff for scheming guys open the way they have, but I don't see much reason to view Love as a viable starting QB in 1QB leagues right now. He hasn't been bad, necessarily, but "six touchdowns to zero interceptions" definitely overstates how good he's been – he has a 55.8% completion percentage, and he's -10.8% on Completion Percentage Above Expected, per NFL Next Gen Stats, the third-lowest mark in the league.

I think Love has been fine, especially for not having Christian Watson in either game and Aaron Jones for Week 2. But I haven't seen much reason to think he's going to lead a high-volume, high-efficiency passing attack, and he's not showing a ton as a scrambler. He's getting what is there, and he's been especially good near the end zone, but I don't think there's much here for Fantasy. At least not yet.

Do you play in a deeper full-point PPR league? Over at Sportsline, Jacob Gibbs has you covered with full-point PPR position-by-position rankings for Week 1.

Here are my full QB rankings for Week 3: