Start Jaylen Waddle or Matthew Golden? Week 3

Our Week 3 call

Start Matthew Golden over Jaylen Waddle in Week 3.

De-vigged player props project Matthew Golden at 12.3 points and Jaylen Waddle at 12.5, a gap of 0.2. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip.

What the books imply

Player prop markets imply 12.5 fantasy points for Jaylen Waddle, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The books have Jaylen Waddle at 57.5 receiving yards and 4.5 receptions, with a 31% chance to score a touchdown (12, 12 and 15 books).

Player prop markets imply 12.3 fantasy points for Matthew Golden, with 100 percent of the markets a WR needs posted.

The books have Matthew Golden at 55.5 receiving yards and 4.5 receptions, with a 32% chance to score a touchdown (16, 14 and 18 books).

That puts Jaylen Waddle 0.2 points ahead of Matthew Golden on the books.

Week 3 matchups

Jaylen Waddle and DEN host LAR on Sunday at 8:20 PM ET.

LAR allowed 30.4 fantasy points a game to WRs this season over 2 games, the 15th most in the league.

Receivers caught passes for 113 yards and 1.5 touchdowns a game against LAR.

Injury status

Jaylen Waddle is not on the injury report.

Matthew Golden is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 3

Through Week 2, Jaylen Waddle played 67 percent of DEN snaps, drew 23 percent of the targets, earned 46 percent of the air yards and had 7 percent of the red zone chances.

Jaylen Waddle, Week 1 against KC: 38 of 51 snaps, 3 targets and 1 catch for 2 yards.

Jaylen Waddle, Week 2 against JAX: 38 of 62 snaps, 10 targets and 8 catches for 138 yards.

Through Week 2, Matthew Golden played 84 percent of GB snaps, drew 26 percent of the targets, earned 32 percent of the air yards and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

Matthew Golden, Week 1 against MIN: 56 of 68 snaps, 12 targets and 6 catches for 95 yards.

Matthew Golden, Week 2 against NYJ: 51 of 59 snaps, 6 targets and 4 catches for 58 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Jaylen Waddle played 16 games for MIA and scored 194.1 PPR points, 12.1 a game, finishing WR24.

He caught 64 of 100 targets for 910 yards and 6 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets and 682 air yards.

He was on the field for 78 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Jaylen Waddle, Week 17 of 2025 against TB: 14 of 55 snaps, 1 carry for 7 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards, 0.7 PPR points.

In 2025, Matthew Golden played 14 games for GB and scored 70.0 PPR points, 5.0 a game, finishing WR89.

He caught 29 of 44 targets for 361 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 2 red zone targets and 260 air yards.

He was on the field for 50 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Matthew Golden, Week 18 of 2025 against MIN: 3 targets and 1 catch for 8 yards, 1.8 PPR points.

Their other Week 3 calls

• Start Jaylen Waddle over Christian Watson.
• Start Dalton Kincaid over Jaylen Waddle.
• Start Dalton Schultz over Jaylen Waddle.
• Start Dalton Kincaid over Matthew Golden.
• Start Dalton Schultz over Matthew Golden.
• Start DK Metcalf over Matthew Golden.