Fantasy Football Week 3 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em: 10 Players You Need to Bench

Looking for fantasy football sleepers who you should bench for Week 3? Look no further.

The first two weeks of fantasy football are in the books and have been good windows into which players are poised for great years and which players are poised for not-so-great ones.

At this point in the season, fantasy owners should be pruning their rosters and figuring out which players are keepers and which need to be let loose or benched.

This week's matchups give pretty clear insight into which players should not be played this week.

Here are 10 fantasy guys who you should keep out of the game.

Tony Romo

People are pretty high on Romo right now and for good reason; it's a pretty special thing to lead your team to a comeback victory with broken ribs.

However, the likelihood of him being able to lead this team to another victory in the same condition is very unlikely. Ribs are one of the most painful areas of the body to injure. I know he can just get "shot up" and numbed before the game, but it still isn't the same as having a healthy, alert 100 percent Tony Romo.

Plus, a good chunk of the offensive skill players around him are also out with injuries. Miles Austin may play but has been hurt. Dez Bryant is questionable, and Felix Jones will also more than likely be out.

Am I writing that you should bench him because he definitely won't play? No.

I'm writing that you should bench him because, even if he does play, he won't be able to be the player you drafted him to be.

Cam Newton

Say what you want about this guy, he sweats talent.

He's thrown for over 800 yards in his first two professional football games ever. He's playing his guts out and showing everybody why he was a good choice for Carolina's No. 1 pick. He's playing on cloud nine right now.

But he's got to fall back to Earth at some point. It will be this week.

Jacksonville isn't a good team, but neither is Carolina. There is a reason the Panthers, despite Cam Newton's gaudy stats, are 0-2.

They aren't a good team, and that's going to catch up to Newton this week, along with the fact that he's a rookie.

Don't start him. He'll have great games again, but this week won't be one of them.

Eli Manning

Eli Manning might be the easiest Super Bowl-winning quarterback to criticize right now in the NFL.

Everyone seems to always doubt him, and no one seems to understand just how good he really is.

But he won't be this week.

Manning has to face one of the best secondaries of all time in the Eagles this week, and it will show. He's too prone to mistakes and mishaps to be able to overcome this kind of adversity.

He's still a very good fantasy QB if you have him, but, for your sake, I hope this week you have a good option at backup.

Shonn Greene

A few years ago, Shonn Greene appeared to be on the verge of becoming one of the next great running backs in the NFL. Fast forward to the present, and he's been all right.

He's on a very good team, so just being a decent back has served him well so far in his career.

However, he's off to a pretty poor start this season. He's rushed for a mere 75 yards in two games.

To be fair, he hasn't gotten enough carries to have huge yardage numbers, but that just supports my assertion that you shouldn't start him.

Even if he does get more carries, Oakland is a solid team defensively and will limit his production.

Darren McFadden

Darren McFadden has become one of the best young backs in the NFL.

He's a big back at 6'2" and 210 pounds and is averaging 5.3 yards per carry so far this season.

However, even more so than his counterpart in this week's contest, Shonn Greene, McFadden will struggle this week against a great defense that is allowing just 88 yards rushing per game and will continue to allow less as the season goes on.

McFadden is also injured but expected to play. Much like I wrote about Tony Romo, McFadden will not be able to be himself with an injured shoulder.

Bench him.

Sam Bradford

Sam Bradford is a very capable young quarterback.

The keyword there is young.

The Ravens have had one of the most talented defenses for years, and that hasn't changed.

Baltimore has given up more yards than usual so far this season (ranked 28th passing defense), but they won't against the Rams.They'll stuff up the run-and-blitz Bradford, getting him on the ground at least three times.

Bradford is going to be a really great fantasy QB, but he's not there yet. And he definitely isn't going to be against Baltimore.

Ryan Mathews

Ryan Mathews doesn't get a lot of carries. Playing on a team with Philip Rivers, one of the best passers in the game, will do that to you. This week he'll touch the ball even less.

Mathews is averaging just 12 carries per game. That's not much for a starting NFL running back.

He is averaging 4.5 yards per carry, so he does appear to be utilizing his chances as well as possible. But that doesn't help you as a fantasy owner.

When you factor in the fact that the Chargers' opponent this week (Kansas CIty) is much better against the run than the pass, that equals a huge day for Rivers, with Mathews getting even less carries.

He's a promising young back, but he's not a huge part of that offense yet.

Josesph Addai

No running back looks forward to running against the PIttsburgh Steelers without his starting quarterback. That is the exact situation Joseph Addai finds himself in.

It's bad enough playing against the Steeler defense at all, but without Peyton Manning to help take some of the pressure off him, it will be near impossible to have a good game.

The Steelers will bottle up Addai and will Kerry Collins from doing much of anything through the air.

Keep Addai on your team, but keep him on the bench this week.

Jay Cutler

Jay Cutler is catching Green Bay at the wrong time.

The Packers have given up 800 passing yards, and most of those came from a rookie quarterback in his second game ever.

The defense will rebound this week and play a great game against Cutler.

Cutler has a big, strong arm and maybe as much natural throwing talent as anyone in the league. But he is notorious for making bad decisions and will do so in this game.

Green Bay will pick him off at least twice and maybe three times. Leave him on the bench, and let him play another day.

Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson is in a funk, evidenced by his 2.4 yards per carry average this season, and he won’t get out of it this week, even against this bad Denver defense.

Whether it was brought on by his lengthy holdout, the lockout, something else or a combination of all of the above, Johnson has not played well thus far this season.

He's averaging 2.3 yards per carry and has accumulated just 77 yards total.

Denver has a bad defense, and one would think this is Johnson's opportunity to get back into his groove.

But it won't happen this week. It's just not time yet. Bench him this week.