Rising Stock

Deshaun Watson QB, HOU– The 12th pick in the 2017 draft was handed an opportunity to take over the starting role in the second half of week one after Tom Savage came out flat. Watson has since cemented himself in that role with two inspiring performances for a team that, offensively, was very stagnant much of last season and into the 2017 season. In Watson’s two full games since taking over the helm he’s averaged 18.5 standard fantasy points per game (T-5th among Qbs.), both of which came on the road in Cincinnati and New England. More commonly owned signal callers Marcus Mariota and Cam Newton have only averaged 16.3 and 10 fppg respectively which gives a taste of what Watson brings to the table. Watson has shown the ability to throw the ball to his main man in DeAndre Hopkins (14-149 in 2 games) but what intrigues me most about him is his ability to use his legs (13 carries for 108 yards and a TD). He is available in 89% of leagues so if you are the owner of a struggling quarterback I suggest you look at Mr. Watson and his immense upside.

Joe Mixon RB, CIN –There is nothing more irritating for fantasy owners than a running back committee. Newly promoted Bill Lazor appears to be relieving us of one of those situations as we speak. Week 3 proved to be what Mixon owners were hoping for when they invested in the rookie out of Oklahoma. Mixon led all Bengals with 18 carries for 62 yards while Gio had 3 and Hill had only 7. He also caught all three of his targets for a 13-yard average. Cincinnati drafted Mixon with the intent to be THE guy after seeing a few years of mediocrity from Bernard and Hill and I think, just maybe, that time has arrived. The Bengals started the 2017 season with a 0-2 record. Their offense was non-existent the first two weeks, resulting in no offensive TD’s and the firing of their OC coming into week 3. Lazor jumped right in and instantly installed a game plan heavily focused on getting Mixon the ball, even against a stout Green Bay front seven. This is a guy with sky high potential, impressive patience and great lateral quickness for his size. In the coming weeks, with this kind of workload, Joe Mixon is a guy to target now before it’s too late.

Devin Funchess WR, CAR -The reason for one of my all-time favorite fantasy football team names…. Bunches of Funchess! Boy, do I want Bunches of him now. Greg Olsen has a timetable of 6-8 weeks with a broken foot and Kelvin Benjamin is likely to miss a few weeks with a knee injury suffered in the first quarter of week 3. Cam has to throw to somebody and with his top two targets out I’m willing to bet Funchess gets a few extra looks. Devin led all Carolina wideouts with 10 targets in week 3, second only to running back Christian McCaffrey who had 11. McCaffrey will also get a target increase in the passing game but in the red zone Cam will be looking for a big body, enter the 6’4” 225-pound Funchess. If you lost Benjamin in standard leagues, you should be looking to snatch him up.

Sammy Watkins WR, LAR – We all know that with Sammy, it’s all about getting him the ball. The potential here is of any top tier receiver in the league; however, he had a difficult time connecting with Tyrod in Buffalo. Jared Goff looks much better through pre-season and now through the first few weeks of the regular season. Watkins has only been around this team for about a month but looks to be on the same page with Goff. In week 3, granted against the 49ers, Watkins saw his target share increase and capitalized catching 6 balls for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has now caught 13 of the 14 balls thrown his way in 2017 and with the explosiveness he possesses, along with the maturation of his QB, Watkins could be a game changer down the stretch for your fantasy team, although your window of opportunity to buy-low seems to have just been slammed shut.

Falling Stock

Austin Hooper TE, ATL–Uh oh, Bender's going to kill me for this. Be gentle. Look, Hooper is a high upside tight end in a high-octane offense but outside of DFS GPP formats I’m not interested. Heading into week 4 against the Buffalo Bills, Austin Hooper has 6 targets, total. Outside of his 88-yard touchdown in week one against the Bears these are his numbers: 4 catches for 56 yards and 0 touchdowns while five Falcons received more targets in this offense. I’d keep him on the watch list, especially at a weak tight end position, however I’m going in another direction until I see something change.

Hunter Henry TE, LAC – Yikes, another high upside tight end with seemingly no real role in his team’s offense. Through three games, Henry has posted a 7-80 week and two weeks where he wasn’t even targeted. The ageless Antonio Gates has been given 3, 4, and 5 targets in each respective week so far as the teams number one tight end. Fantasy owners hoping for Hunter Henry’s ridiculous potential seemingly will have to wait a little while longer. If you have him I think you hold him and hope Gates rides off into the sunset sooner rather than later. However, not getting a single target in two out of three games and so many mouths to feed in that offense, this is very concerning for me in seasonal formats.

Cam Newton QB, CAR –Cam oh Cam oh where have you gone? “Superman” looks like he’s been eating kryptonite cookies all offseason. Carolina has suffered a slew of injuries and he himself has had shoulder issues and I thought Rivera was holding him back a little in this offense to get him right. A date with the league’s worst defense was sure to bring Cam back to his old self, right? Nope. Cam Newton and the Panthers looked atrocious. He is averaging 10 fppg and has 3 total touchdowns and 4 interceptions with really no desire to run. That takes away all fantasy appeal for me, especially with the unfavorable injuries to his main weapons. His gameday outfits coming off the bus are fun though!

Lamar Miller RB, HOU –Houston is a team with a very solid offensive line and a very good defense, both provide conditions for a team to run the ball and to run it well. Lamar Miller hasn’t done that for the Texans. The volume is there, the job is his to lose. The Texans drafted D’onta Foreman in the 3rd round of the 2017 draft and he is quietly creeping up on miller. Foreman is garnering praise from coaches and is the clear handcuff to Miller. D’onta has been more decisive, more powerful through the holes and has been much more explosive. I don’t like where this is headed if I am a Miller owner. Even with his heavy workload so far, in the 2017 season, the efficiency hasn’t been there this year or in 2016. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of a balance in carries between the two as the season goes on.

Stocks to Watch

Marcedes Lewis TE, JAC –Yes, its 2017 and Mercedes Lewis is still playing for the Jaguars. Not only is he still playing for them but he just produced, in a HUGE way! The massive tight end caught 3 touchdowns against the Ravens in London early Sunday morning after not catching any of his four targets in the previous two games. This is a Jaguars team who’s fanbase has been calling for Bortles to be sent packing, a team that has already lost Allen Robinson for the season and a team in a very winnable division. For those reasons, I see Lewis as being a guy that could see this type of workload, if not success, in weeks to come. Bortles is playing for his job right now and will be looking to duplicate this magical performance for the rest of the year to continue to be THE guy for this franchise. Lewis is also basically the only receiving threat that Jacksonville has out of the tight end position. James O’Shaughnessy is the only other tight end on this team with any fantasy points, a whopping total of ONE point, so far,this season. He will have an outstanding opportunity to ride this success into week 4 against the New York Jets and in a shallow position, Mercedes could be a factor down the stretch.

Marlon Mack RB, IND – You’ll be hard pressed to find a bigger Frank Gore fan than yours truly but the Colts are in bad shape. Marlon Mack didn’t even play this week and his stock went up for me. Gore, after week three, now has 3.0 ypc on 49 carries for the season along with two touchdowns. Frank the tank is getting ALL the teams’ carries for now, but with this team possibly considering the future in coming weeks as the losses pile up, Mack could begin to take on a bigger role in the offense. The ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and run with the explosiveness he has shown for the Colts up to this point will soon play into the decision to reduce the workload of ol’ reliable Frank Gore. This one has more to do with the lack of production in front of him but I believe with a healthy Luck and an opportunity to be the lead man, stashing Mack could pay off big time for your squad.

Alex Collins RB, BAL– The Ravens didn’t look like a football team in London. Every aspect of that squad looked over matched. After ending the first half down 23-0, Baltimore never really had a chance to get any semblance of a run game going. This allowed Buck Allen to gather a bunch of targets in the passing game but no one really stood out between the tackles, except for Alex Collins. Leading the team in carries and yards on the ground with his aggressive running style, he may have just earned himself a few more looks next week against a Steelers team who was just gashed by the Bears for 220 yards and 2 TD’s. Buck is getting the reps in the passing game and has shown he can be a factor there but the Terrance West era isn’t working. John Harbaugh must like what he is seeing from Collins as he has now gained 7.7 ypc on 16 carries while West has accumulated 3.4 ypc on 14 carries the last two weeks. If this trend continues there is no way Harbaugh can continue to give these looks to West with the production he’s getting from Alex Collins. Having shown some upside with the Seattle Seahawks, he is worth a flier here.