Fantasy Football: Waiver Wire for Week 3

We’re just about ready to move into Week 3 fo the NFL season so it’s that time of the week to decide who to target on the waiver wire to make your team better!

This week’s waiver wire might not be quite as deep as some other weeks because we seemingly have escaped any major injuries from Week 2 outside of Joe Mixon and his knee injury. Even in his case, the early reports suggest it won’t be a lengthy absence so owners are breathing a little easier right now. That also doesn’t mean that there aren’t players out there who aren’t going to be useful pieces of a fantasy team moving forward so let’s dive into who can help your squad keep charging towards winning your league or help you climb out of an 0-2 hole!

Quarterback

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Vs Pittsburgh Steelers 

Yahoo – 22 percent      ESPN 31.3 percent 

I didn’t really take FitzMagic seriously last week as he’s had a tendency through his career to have big games and then ruin you shortly after. However, you can’t ignore two straight weeks of 400+ passing yards and four touchdowns. He’s the highest scoring player in fantasy through two weeks and now he welcomes in the Pittsburgh defense on Monday night, which just got shredded by the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. The Steelers have given up 63 points already through two games, continuing their trend of being horrible without Ryan Shazier from 2017. They’ve also given up nine passing plays of 20+ yards and a passer rating of 108.9 even though they played one game in terrible conditions. I can’t see how they contain the receivers of Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson and Chris Godwin this Monday and Fitzpatrick is playing to keep the starting gig. He should pay off for at least one more week.

Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars – Vs Tennessee Titans 

Yahoo – 28 percent       ESPN – 10.1 percent 

My Blake Bortles love will continue unabated in the waiver wire column and I apologize for nothing. On Yahoo, he’s the QB6, ahead of such names like Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton and Matt Ryan. He continues to bring big upside on the ground with 77 rushing yards and a touchdown, which is adding around six points a game to his core right now. The only three quarterbacks with more rushing yards are Tyrod Taylor, Deshaun Watson and Cam Newton which isn’t a surprise. Tennessee isn’t a glaringly good matchup for Bortles but this defense did just give up 300 yards passing and 40+ yards rushing to Watson in this past game. Bortles is a nice streaming option every single week and he’s got a chance to finish as a QB1 despite the depth of the position this year.

Also Consider – Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins – Vs Oakland Raiders

Running Back

*Note – Some of the ownership percentages are higher than normal but these players need to be 100% owned right now 

Gio Bernard, Cincinnati Bengals – at Carolina Panthers 

Yahoo – 28 percent    ESPN – 39.4 percent 

With the injury to Joe Mixon, Gio Bernard is in line for basically all of the work for the Bengals until he gets back. Bernard has some talent and once you combine that with a significant workload, he’s basically an auto start as long as Mixon is out.

Yes, the Bengals have rookie Mark Walton but he’s also been inactive for the first two games of the season. Bernard is going to be a top 24 back as long as he has the work to himself and I thought he would be a little higher owned than he ended up being. Over his career, Bernard has a 4.2 yards per carry and an 8.9 yards per reception. He’s my number one priority this week.

Phillip Lindsay, Denver Broncos – at Baltimore Ravens 

Yahoo – 61 percent     ESPN – 61.6 percent 

As I mentioned in the What we Learned article, I may have whiffed on my first chance to get Lindsay on my roster but I’m not missing again if he’s still out there. I may not have been the only person who approached Lindsay with some skepticism and I can’t say I’d be terribly excited to start him in Baltimore, but he needs to be a 100 percent player. He’s the lead dog in a competent offense(pour one out for the Royce Freeman as a workhorse takes) and has earned the touches he’s getting.

He’s third in rushing yards across the league through two weeks and only six yards off the league lead. Do I think that’s going to be the case come Week 17? Not particularly but it means he’s going to keep getting plenty of touches. Freeman will likely have a role a will Devontae Booker but Lindsay and Freeman are tied with three red zone rushing attempts each. Get this player on your roster this week, regardless of what your plans are with him.

Matt Breida, San Francisco 49ers – At Kansas City Chiefs 

Yahoo – 61 percent      ESPN – 61.9 percent 

The rushing leader through two weeks is Matt Breida. We all had that coming into the season right? I was on the side of Alfred Morris after Jerick McKinnon tore his ACL and I don’t believe Breida is going to be a player that gets a monster workload and it shows in the carry split. Morris has 26 while Breida has 22. However, Breida has been wildly more efficient and is involved in the passing game, garnering a 10.5 percent target share. After getting all five of the red zone rushes in Week 1, Morris got the script flipped and Breida got a 4-2 share in Week 2. If Breida is more efficient, involved in the passing game and he’s getting more red zone work, it’s basically a wrap on which back is playable and which one isn’t.

Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers – At Washington Redskins 

Yahoo – 61 percent     ESPN – 45.6 percent 

This one could be summed up in one tweet from Scott Barrett and I hope you beat your league to pick him up last week –

Provided Jones can be trusted on the field with Rodgers, he seemingly has the door wide open to seize this job. Even if he can’t take over the passing downs, a sizable role in an offense with Aaron Rodgers is all you can ask for when a player is this low owned. I’d likely prefer to take the wait and see approach this week to figure out how Jones will be treated by the Packers coaching staff but Jones could be a huge asset the rest of the season. In limited action last year, he averaged a whopping 5.5 yards per carry.

Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers – at Los Angeles Rams 

Yahoo – 44 percent     ESPN – 42.9 

What more does Ekeler have to do gain some ownership around here?? He’s still under 50 percent despite ninth in PPR scoring right now. He’s going to be involved, averaging 12 touches a game. He’s over seven yards a carry and 13 yards per reception. Every time he touches the ball, he’s a threat to score. The offense around him is excellent and the Chargers seem set on using both he and Melvin Gordon, which makes a lot of sense. Ekeler has stand alone value even playing in the same backfield as Gordon, who is second in fantasy points at the position.

Also Consider – Corey Clement, Philadelphia Eagles     Bilal Powell, New York Jets      Corey Grant, Jacksonville Jaguars     Buck Allen, Baltimore Ravens 

Wide Receiver

John Brown, Baltimore Ravens – Vs Denver Broncos

Yahoo – 25 percent     ESPN – 23.9 percent 

I’m pretty excited to write about John Brown as a viable fantasy asset again because I loved him when he was in Arizona and health derailed him to an unfair extent. Now it appears that he’s back and ready to go and is a vital part of the Baltimore offense. Just the raw targets might not seem all that encouraging since he’s just a tick behind both Willie Snead and Michael Crabtree but the air yards tell a more exciting story. Brown has 14 targets and has seen a 19.1 aDOT, which has accounted for 35.8 percent of the total air yards for the Ravens. One of the more surprising metrics is he has a 20 percent share of the red zone targets. Brown has the talent, is seeing high value targets and is a red zone option. I’m all the way in on him and he should be a flex option at worst the rest of the season.

Geronimo Allison, Green Bay Packers – At Washington Redskins 

Yahoo – 31 percent     ESPN – 25.8 percent 

I t would be silly to suggest that anyone other than Davante Adams is the number one receiver for the Packers but the number two role seems to be shared duties between Randall Cobb and Allison. They’re close in targets by a 16/14 split and Allison has caught 11 of those 14 targets, which only helps Aaron Rodgers feel more comfortable. Allison has the highest aDOT of any receiver on the Packers and sit at WR26 in .5 PPR leagues. He also has gotten some looks in the red zone compared to zero for Cobb. Even in a tough matchup against the Vikings, Allison still posted a 6/64/0 line on six targets. That’s valuable right now and given Cobb’s spotty injury history lately, he could be one step away from a massive share from the best quarterback for fantasy in the NFL.

DeSean Jackson/Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Vs Pittsburgh Steelers

Yahoo – 49/35 percent     ESPN – 61.1/34.1 percent 

As long as Ryan Fitzpatrick is slinging the football like he is right now, these two players need to be on rosters. It helps that they have a very easy matchup this week at home against a defense that apparently can’t communicate how to cover.

Aside from the absurdity that statement entails, the Steelers defense is a sieve. Godwin and Jackson have combined to catch 18 of a possible 20 targets while racking up 352 yards and five touchdowns through two games. Am I going to be comfortable starting them every single game? Probably not but this week is the exception. There’s yards and touchdowns for everyone here.

Keelan Cole/Dede Westbrook, Jacksonville Jaguars – Vs Tennessee Titans 

Yahoo – 49/17 percent          ESPN – 48.4/9.7 percent  

We’re going to double dip yet again and these two have identical targets and receptions through two games, while Cole has put up 43 more yards and has a spectacular catch to his name already. He’s a back-end WR2 and my only real fear with these two is the offensive philosophy when Leonard Fournette is in the lineup. The offense opens up without him which might seem odd, but it makes sense when you think about the style of running back Fournette is. He’s one that lines up and is a smash mouth back but this team has talent on the outside. Cole also has a 3.5 higher aDOT than Westbrook but both of these players are viable now and could be a big help once we get to bye weeks.

Antonio Callaway, Cleveland Browns – vs New York Jets 

Yahoo – 7 percent      ESPN – 3.7 percent 

I don’t blame people if they look at the targets for Rashard Higgins and go for him on waivers instead of Callaway but I’m taking the higher value targets. Callaway had a huge 17.0 aDOT compared to the 6.1 mark for Higgins and the Browns will want a player that can help stretch the field a little bit since Josh Gordon is no longer there. He and Tyrod Taylor connected on a long touchdown and Callaway made a nice catch on a dime from Taylor. The Browns took a chance on this kid and then held onto him through some legal turbulence through the preseason for a reason and he’s going to get his shot.

Also Consider – Calvin Ridley, Atlanta Falcons     D.J. Moore, Carolina Panthers     Tyler Boyd, Cincinnati Bengals      Terrelle Pryor, New York Jets 

Tight End

Austin Hooper, Atlanta Falcons – Vs New Orleans Saints 

Yahoo – 17 percent      ESPN – 17.5 percent 

Without looking, do you know who is second on the Falcons in targets through two games? OK, maybe it’s obvious given what section of the article we’re on, but Hooper has seen the second most targets on the team. Sure, he’s a distant second behind Julio Jones but that’s to be expected. Hooper is the TE10 in .5 PPR formats and that can’t be ignored at a position that is so dreadful right now. If you didn’t already know that, Jesse James and Jared Cook are 1-2 right now. I’ll take a tight end that is seeing 4.5 targets a game and is leading his team in red zone targets right now. Hooper is also just 23 years old and is entering his third season. There is at least some potential for a breakout the rest of the way.

Jesse James, Pittsburgh Steelers – At Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

Yahoo – 10 percent       ESPN – 3.2 percent 

I really don’t buy into the performance so far from James but times are tough in the world of fantasy tight ends. He’s now sharing targets for the tight end position on his own team but he broke off some big plays this past week against the Chiefs. That’s not going to be sustainable and it’s tough to get too excited about a 10 percent target share but the Steelers defense looks awful once again. If they have to throw the ball 40+ times more often than night, James might still hold some value. It’s just going to be a bumpy ride due to his role in the offense.

Defense and Kicker

Cleveland Browns, Vs New York Jets 

Yahoo – 7 percent     ESPN – 5.4 percent 

That’s right, I’m writing up the Cleveland Browns defense as a streaming option for Week 3. First off, they’re a top five unit right now. If you wanted to argue that’s off the back of six turnovers against Pittsburgh during Week 1, that’s fine. You would also have to explain how they went to the dome in New Orleans and held the Saints to just 21 points. They’re sixth in the league in sacks and they’re tied for third in interceptions and lead in fumble recoveries. Now they get the Jets at home on a short week against a rookie quarterback that struggled a little bit with two interceptions last week. Cleveland is going to be hungry for a win and I think they might get it this week.

Dan Bailey, Minnesota Vikings 

Yahoo – 8 percent     ESPN – 2.7 percent 

Bailey finally has signed with a team and he picked one of the better ones in football. He was hurt last season but before that, Bailey was a top 12 kicker in every single year of his career. He’s hit over 88 percent of his career attempts and we’ve seen that this Minnesota offense can move the ball. I’m not a fan of playing with kickers but Bailey should continue being one of the most reliable options out there.

As always, make sure you’re sticking with FantasyCPR all week long as we bring you all the football content you can possibly handle. Tomorrow will bring my DFS Game By Game Breakdown for this week’s main slate so I’ll see you there and any questions about your waivers, tweet me at @bucn4life and I’ll be happy to help!