Fantasy Football Takeaways: Week 3

With the Sunday slate over, we only have a matchup between NFC East foes (Dallas vs. Giants) left before Week 3 is complete. It was yet another crazy set of fantasy performances, including a top-5 finish from Raiders wide receiver Mack Hollins. 

We also saw multiple upsets this week, including the Jaguars, Colts and the Dolphins pulling out wins. Below I will explain my Week 3 takeaways for fantasy football. 

Achilles, who cares? 

An Achilles was once a career-ending injury for running backs, but this narrative took a hit this week. James Robinson, Cam Akers and Justice Hill are all players returning from Achilles injuries, and all of them looked impressive this week. James Robinson posted a 100-yard rushing game and found the end zone on 17 carries. Additionally, he caught all three of his targets for 16 yards and posted 20.6 PPR points and a top-10 finish at the position. It seems likely he has taken over the main role in the Jacksonville backfield. 

Cam Akers also had a solid day with 61 yards and a score on 12 carries. However, he didn’t see a target, which resulted in only 10.1 PPR points. He out-touched Darrell Henderson 3-1 which is a positive sign moving forward. Meanwhile, Justice Hill averaged 10 yards a carry for the Ravens and looked explosive. This trio is punching holes in the previous Achilles narrative. Chalk one up for modern medicine. 

Mark Andrews is the guy in Baltimore

Over the first two weeks of the season, the Ravens offense has leaned more on the passing game. But there’s only one pass-catcher in this offense who is a lockdown fantasy starter – Mark Andrews. For the second time this year, Rashod Bateman only caught two passes, and this time he failed to find the end zone. He only scored 5.9 PPR points and finished outside the top 50 wide receivers. 

Devin Duvernay is another player who has emerged as an early producer, and this week he finished a bit higher than Bateman. A touchdown saved his day despite seeing just two targets. Mark Andrews continued to be the go-to guy for Lamar Jackson, seeing 13 targets. He produced 89 yards and two touchdowns on nine catches en route to 28.9 PPR points and a top TE finish. Moving forward, Andrews is the only skill player who can be trusted in this offense. The rest feel more like boom-or-bust plays every week. 

Chris Olave is becoming the guy 

It took a few weeks, but it’s clear that Chris Olave is becoming the guy in New Orleans. This week, he exploded for 147 yards on nine receptions, all while leading the team with 13 targets. He finished as the WR6 with 23.7 PPR points without even finding the end zone. This was his second week in a row leading the team in targets – both with 13. 

Olave is going to have a huge target share going forward, and he is becoming a must-start in fantasy football. The only thing holding him back is that his targets are rather volatile. His 22.3 adot leads the NFL among wide receivers who have seen at least 15 targets. There could be some dry weeks, but he has an extremely high ceiling every week. 

Multiple Viable Jaguars…

It has been quite some time since the Jaguars have produced a plethora of fantasy options, but this year appears to be different. Under new head coach Doug Pederson, the Jaguars are 2-1 to start the season. They are also producing quality fantasy performances. The most consistent Jaguar wideout has been Christian Kirk. In the first three weeks, he has finished no lower than WR20 and has posted no less than 17 PPR points in a week. Against the Chargers, we saw Zay Jones explode for a top-10 finish, as he scored 24.5 PPR points on 11 targets. He caught 10 of these for 85 yards and a score. 

The run game was humming as well with James Robinson posting 116 scrimmage yards and finishing as a top-10 running back. Last, but not least, is the signal-caller Trevor Lawrence, who posted one of the best fantasy performances of his young career with 25.18 points (top 5 finish). This completed the trifecta for the Jaguars, who finished the week with a top 10 fantasy option at three positions. 

It’s Dameon Pierce Season 

The time has come for all the Dameon Pierce truthers out there. We got to see him handle the bulk of the Texans’ backfield work for the second week in a row. He showed why he should have been in this role sooner, touching the ball 22 times for 101 scrimmage yards and a touchdown. That resulted in 18.1 PPR points and a top-12 finish in PPR scoring. Although this was an impressive performance, the key takeaway here is that he out-touched Rex Burkhead on a 3-to-1 ratio this week. It feels like he has cemented himself as the guy moving forward for the Texans. 

However, his fantasy value feels like it will be matchup-based. This week was a plus matchup – last week was a negative matchup in which he finished outside the top 24 PPR scorers. Next week, the Texans draw the Chargers, who just gave up 100 yards to James Robinson. It’s likely we can start Pierce with confidence in Week 4. 

Bears running backs are a must-start 

Leading up to Week 3, the Bears running game had been impressive through two weeks. This trend continued for a third week in a row. Early in the game, we saw starting running back David Montgomery go out with an ankle injury – the early prognosis is good. In his absence, second-year running back Khalil Herbert stepped in and had himself a day! Herbert rushed for 157 yards and two scores on 20 attempts and posted the top fantasy finish so far this week with 30.9 PPR points. 

He looked explosive, averaging 7.9 yards per carry. He had a 52-yard scamper and caught his two targets for 12 yards. It was a plus matchup for the Bears, but they also did this against the Packers and the 49ers. Whether it’s Herbert or Montgomery in the backfield, they will be must-starts for fantasy football on a weekly basis.