Darnell Washington · Jonnu Smith · 2026 week 3

Darnell Washington or Jonnu Smith?

Wondering who you should start this week — Darnell Washington or Jonnu Smith? The start/sit call and the numbers behind it are below, plus who wins a straight-up trade. Rebuilt nightly.

Start Darnell Washington — barelyThis one is a coin flip — the projections are within 0.4 points. The matchup leans Darnell Washington (CIN allow the 7th-most TE points), but you can defend either call.
PlayerWk 3Proj (PPR)MatchupForm L3Trade valueStatus
Darnell Washington START vs CIN 3.7 7th · soft 2.8 – healthy
Jonnu Smith vs ATL 3.3 3rd · soft 7 – healthy

TEs vs CIN recently: Cade Otton 2.6 pts (W1) · Dalton Schultz 14 pts (W2).

TEs vs ATL recently: Pat Freiermuth 10.6 pts (W1) · Darren Waller 15.3 pts (W2).

Who wins a straight-up trade?

Their trade values are effectively even — a one-for-one is a fair swap on the numbers.

Open in Start/Sit (any scoring) Open in the Trade Analyzer

More TE decisions

Darnell Washington or Mason Taylor?Darnell Washington or Will Kacmarek?Darnell Washington or Noah Fant?Jonnu Smith or Theo Johnson?Jonnu Smith or Elijah Arroyo?
All numbers are the 2026 season, refreshed nightly.