Fantasy Football: Week 3 Waiver Wire Targets
By Pat Pitts
The second week of the 2020 Fantasy Football season will be forever remembered as, “Bloody Sunday.” Every big name player possible suffered an injury. Christian McCaffery and Raheem Mostert, and Parris Campbell suffered injuries sidelining them for multiple weeks and seasons ended for the like of Saquon Barkley and Courtland Sutton.
It’s about that time to place your claims and hopefully bolster your roster following the unbelievably injury riddle Week 2 slate.
Quarterbacks
Gardner Minshew
Rostered in 33% of Yahoo Leagues and 19% of ESPN Leagues
Gardner Minshew is the most entertaining QB in the NFL. The Jaguars may have lost on Sunday, but putting up 30 points against a very good Titans defense is a great fantasy football victory for Minshew and anyone who rostered him.
Minshew threw for 332 yards and 3 TDs on Sunday and he has a great schedule over the next four weeks. Minshew and the Jags face the Dolphins, Bengals, Texans, and Lions before their Week 7 Bye. We’ve seen some bad QBs that had high expectations to start the season, so go get all the shares of Minshew humanly possible.
Joe Burrow
Rostered in 71% of Yahoo Leagues and 45% of ESPN Leagues
The Bengals stink, but Joe Burrow does not. Backdoor Burrow finished as a QB1 in Week 2, throwing the rock 61 times on Thursday night for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Burrow has three favorable matchups over the next five weeks and should be treated the same way as Minshew in any format. Burrow should be rostered in all leagues and can be started or used as a streaming option in Week 3 against the imploding Eagles.
Running Backs
Jerrick McKinnon
Rostered in 25% of Yahoo Leagues and 19% of ESPN Leagues
Raheem Mostert suffered a sprained MCL this week and is expected to miss some time and Tevin Coleman is also expected to miss significant time with a knee injury. Jerrick McKinnon has looked great in his first two games since returning from injuries of his own since arriving in San Francisco.
McKinnon has scored two touchdowns, one receiving and one rushing, and he is only going to be used more now as the De facto feature back. He should be owned in every league and even placed into some starting lineups as a touchdown dependent FLEX play with upside.
Joshua Kelly
Rostered in 40% in Yahoo Leagues and 19% of ESPN Leagues
You may not believe this, but Austin Ekeler and Joshua Kelly have the same amount of rushing attempts (35) through the first two weeks of the season. The rookie, who came into camp expecting to be the RB3 behind Justin Jackson, now finds himself as a must own in fantasy football. He’s starting to gain standalone value as a high-end PPR FLEX and a MUST own for anyone who has Austin Ekeler on their roster.
Wide Receivers
Russell Gage
Rostered in 23% of Yahoo Leagues and 19% of ESPN Leagues
Gage is my TOP priority for teams dealing with Michael Thomas, Kenny Golladay and now Courtland Sutton injuries this week. He had nine catches for 114 yards in Week 1 and followed that performance up with six receptions for 46 yards and a TD on Sunday. Averaging 7.5 receptions per game through two weeks is a good number of targets for an alleged WR3.
Corey Davis
Rostered in 42% of Yahoo Leagues and 36% of ESPN Leagues
For the second straight week, Corey Davis finishes with 10+ fantasy points. Davis only caught three balls for 36 yards, but salvaged his day with a touchdown. AJ Brown's injury could linger for multiple weeks and Davis leads the team in receiving yards and is tied for the team lead in targets. Grab him off waivers this week to help you fill the void left by the injury bug and hope his resurgence is the truth.
Tight Ends
Jonnu Smith
Rostered in 68% of Yahoo Leagues and 39% of ESPN Leagues
Smith caught four passes for 84 yards and took two trips to the end zone. He has three touchdowns in two weeks, which has him tied for the most TDs by a TE in the entire NFL.
If you were a poor soul who drafted Blake Jarwin, have George Kittle still injured, or just need a boost at the position, you should do whatever it takes to snag Smith off waivers. If you need to dig deep into your FAAB, or lose a high waiver positioning, so be it because Smith is worth it and then some.
Mike Gesicki
Rostered in 68% of Yahoo Leagues and 48% of ESPN Leagues
Gesicki had himself a great fantasy day on Sunday, catching eight passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. These are the types of numbers we saw someone like Darren Waller put up for the then Oakland Raiders just a year ago.
He leads the team in targets, receiving yards, and touchdowns. The Dolphins offense seems like it has begun to click and even if Tua Tagovailoa becomes the QB anytime soon, rookie QBs have historically relied on their TEs to move the ball down field and be a security blanket on check downs. Snag Gesicki if you can because this is your last shot at a probable Top-3 TE by season’s end.
May the odds be ever in your favor following this horrendous week of injuries and we at Underground Sports Philadelphia send our best to everyone who was injured in Week 2.