You don’t need someone to tell you that Bijan Robinson is worth starting in fantasy every week, likewise, with a number of players who enter the week as projected top 10 players at their positions.
But sometimes, you find yourself in a bind. Maybe you have CeeDee Lamb on your team and you noticed he missed practice on Wednesday with an ankle issue and you’re just like oh, uhh … I need a backup plan if he’s out.
That’s where sleepers come into play.
To count as a sleeper, quarterbacks and tight ends need to be ranked outside the top 15 at their position on FantasyPros’ weekly rankings, while running backs are ranked outside the top 20 and wide receivers are ranked outside the top 25.
Sam Darnold - QB - Minnesota Vikings
Week 3 ranking: QB18
Sam Darnold is good now.
I mean, he might be good now. We’re still working off a small sample size, you know? But that sample size is looking favorable for Darnold as he’s led the Vikings to a 2-0 start.
This isn’t the first time in his career that he’s looked good early in a season, but it is the first time he’s had Justin Jefferson to throw the football to, which is pretty notable. Darnold’s always landed starting gigs in places where he didn’t have weapons. As a rookie, his top three receivers were Robbie Chosen, Jermaine Kearse and Quincy Enunwa. His last year starting for the Jets, it was Jamison Crowder, Breshad Perriman and Braxton Berrios.
He had D.J. Moore and Christian McCaffrey in Carolina … and got off to a strong start then faded basically the moment McCaffrey got injured.
Now he’s got Justin Jefferson with Aaron Jones at running back. Seems good.
This week, Darnold plays the 2-0 Texans. But while Houston is undefeated, its pass defense has had a few struggles, allowing some big plays to Anthony Richardson in Week 1. Houston shored those issues up against Chicago last week, but that might speak more to Chicago’s porous offensive line than it does to anything else. If the Vikings can protect Darnold, he can have a strong day.
Zamir White - RB - Las Vegas Raiders
Week 3 ranking: RB26
I’m about ready to hop off the Zamir White bus. I was all in on him as a preseason sleeper, but he’s really failed to live up to those expectations. He just hasn’t looked like a capable NFL back out there, averaging just 3.1 yards per carry through the first two games of the season.
And yet here we are: a recommendation to play White in Week 3.
Why? It all comes down to matchups. Carolina has allowed 333 rushing yards to opposing running backs this season, the second-most in the league behind Indianapolis. If there’s ever going to be a moment in 2024 when White figures things out, it will be this week.
And while he’s struggling, he’s still dominating the backfield touches. Alexander Mattison is playing some, but in Week 2 White had nine carries and four targets while Mattison had four carries and zero targets. Ameer Abdullah had two carries and two targets. The Raiders are still giving White the ball. If that doesn’t change in Week 3, he could produce high-end RB2 results.
D’Andre Swift - RB - Chicago Bears
Week 3 ranking: RB27
The Bears offense has been a mess this year. There was this narrative coming into the season that Caleb Williams had the best supporting cast of any rookie ever, but that narrative ignored something very important: the offensive line is part of that supporting cast and this offensive line stinks.
But this game against the Colts might be a get-right game for Chicago, especially the team’s run game.
The Colts have allowed a league-high 350 rushing yards to opposing running backs this season. In Week 1, Joe Mixon gashed them for 159 yards, and then one game later, Josh Jacobs ran for 151.
Will D’Andre Swift get a buck fifty as well? Probably not. He struggled immensely against Houston with just 18 rushing yards on 14 carries. But Swift had 1,000 yards on the ground last year in Philadelphia. There’s still juice in these legs, and this is a perfect matchup for Swift to showcase that.
Demarcus Robinson - WR - Los Angeles Rams
Week 3 ranking: WR37
It’s not that I think the struggles by the 49ers defense against the pass game so far this season are any kind of proof that San Fran is actually a bad pass defense. Sure, Sam Darnold kind of shredded it, but *points above to the section of this article about Sam Darnold*.
This is much more about the Rams and the injury woes the team has at wide receiver. No Cooper Kupp. No Puka Nacua. Someone’s got to catch passes and the guy most likely to do that is currently ranked as just a high-end WR4 play. We’re too low on Demarcus Robinson this week.
While Robinson was only targeted four times in Week 2’s loss to the Rams, he played 48 of the team’s 52 offensive snaps. He and Tyler Johnson should be on the field for most of this Week 3 contest, with Robinson likely to be the better play out of those two because…well, because he’s got a much better track record, both in this offense and across his entire NFL career.
Jonnu Smith - TE - Miami Dolphins
Week 3 ranking: TE20
I’ve been waiting for Jonnu Smith to become a thing for what feels like my whole life. I remember being convinced that he just needed Delanie Walker to retire and he’d be a top tight end in Tennessee. Then when he moved to New England, I thought that system would fit him perfectly. By the time he landed in Atlanta last year, I’d given up, but then Smith posted his best NFL stat line, catching 50 passes for 582 yards and three touchdowns. The first two numbers were career highs. The touchdown number wasn’t, but he was coming off 2021 and 2022 seasons where he found paydirt a combined one time.
I’m no longer sitting expecting us to ever get a true breakout from Smith, but I do think there are certain matchups that warrant him as a streaming play at tight end and this one against the Seahawks is one of those matchups.
That’s not even really because Seattle is that bad against opposing tight ends. I mean, they’re allowing the eighth-most fantasy points to the position, but it’s too early for that to necessarily mean much, especially with tight end production this season feeling like a complete crapshoot.
No, the main reason I’m high on Smith this week is that with Tua Tagovailoa sidelined, the Dolphins will likely not be stretching the field like usual, focusing more on the short and intermediate game.
In Week 2, Smith was targeted seven times, catching six of those passes for 53 yards. Backup quarterback Skylar Thompson targeted him twice in the fourth quarter after Tagovailoa exited. Whoever starts at QB this week, be it Thompson or the newly acquired Tyler Huntley, look for that player to involve the tight end because they won’t have the arm to just throw it deep to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle as Tua can.