5 breakout fantasy football stars to pick up for Week 3

The long and winding road that is a fantasy football season can be both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Finding a shrewd pickup, like anyone who read last week's column did with Puka Nacua, can lead to a potential league-winning move while using your waiver on the wrong guy can inflict damage that can take weeks to overcome.

While there are plenty of quarterbacks and tight ends out there we'll undoubtedly cover in the future, this week's space will focus on running backs and receivers, the backbone of your fantasy team. Here are the week's top five pickups, with all roster percentages based on Yahoo! leagues.

Top fantasy football pickups for Week 3: 5. New York Giants, RB, Matt Breida

There isn't a bigger game-changer in fantasy than an injury to a starting running back. J.K. Dobbins did some damage to fantasy players last week but a bigger domino may have fallen in Week 2 when Saquon Barkley left the Giants' comeback win against the Arizona Cardinals with an ankle injury.

Early indications are that Barkley suffered an ankle sprain, which is good news since it could have been far worse, but he is still likely to miss some time. Any absence would elevate Matt Breida to the lead role in New York's offense, which still has the ability to be prolific as evidenced by the second-half explosion against Arizona.

Breida is rostered in just one percent of leagues so there will be plenty of opportunity to scoop him up if you need running back help. Keep an eye on the medical updates for Barkley, however, as an extended absence could also lead New York to kick the tires on veteran free agents like Leonard Fournette and Kareem Hunt.