Week Two of fantasy football is in the books. And we now have DOUBLE the data and film. Where we had a singular point of information, now we can do our best to extrapolate some trends. Fantasy football is only going to get easier for folks who pay attention to the right details. And, year in and year out, leagues are won on the fantasy football waiver wire. Especially in big weeks like Week 3.

So, as always, we are going to dig through all the data and narratives in an attempt to figure out what matters and what doesn’t. This article will include all of the players that have the best combination of short- and long-term upside; the rest, for those deeper leagues, will fall into our Streamers & Stashes article. And, as always, make sure you stay tuned down to the bottom for our Yin & Yang Tight End rankings!

2026 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 3 Top Targets And Strategy

As we mentioned above, the key to navigating waivers is understanding your league and understanding what you need. We’ll give our guidance on whether to use your waiver claim or your FAAB, but every league is unique, so go with your gut for the final numbers.

You also need to know what kind of player you want to target. My rule of thumb is that, if the player goes DIRECTLY into my lineup at QB, WR, RB, or TE, I’m willing to use that top claim or a minimum of 25% of your budget. 

We will do our best to differentiate whether this is a guy we can start right away or whether we like to have them on the bench to see if they break out. As always, if you play in deeper leagues like FFPC, check out our Streamers and Stashes article that gets down to the much lower-rostered players for those deep sleepers!

 

 

 

NFL Week 3 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

Tyler Shough - New Orleans Saints, Yahoo: 49% | ESPN: 49% | Sleeper: 49% 

Rushing is the cheat code in fantasy football. But we can actually get a little more granular, as rushing is not created equally. Obviously, we want to get rid of QB sneaks and kneel-downs. But we also want to separate scrambles and designed runs. Scrambles are obviously key, but designed runs offer a bigger floor as well as higher upside, especially in the red area.

Shough has been known more as a gunslinging passer with high-tempo Kellen Moore. But he quietly has five designed runs through two games per Fantasy Points Data Suite, which is tied with Josh Allen and Deshaun Watson for the league lead on the season so far. So Shough could be more of a dual threat than we give him credit for, at least in the eyes of the playcaller. He’s rostered in a lot of leagues already, so this is probably the last chance on him.

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Bryce Young - Carolina Panthers, Yahoo: 33% | ESPN: 34% | Sleeper: 42% 

I totally get it if folks are skeptical here. We’ve seen three years of Bryce Young, and it’s been nothing spectacular in fantasy. He also doesn’t run much, which really means he needs to be a high-level passer. But the reality is that Young rising to the occasion and putting together some big games isn’t actually new. Even back in 2024, he took good teams like the Chiefs, the Buccaneers, and the Eagles down to the wire. It’s been the weekly inconsistency that has been the problem.

This year feels a bit different. We’ve always believed in Dave Canales, but it takes a little while to build things your way. With Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker, Chuba Hubbard, and Darren Waller, this offense actually feels like it could threaten in any given week. After two great weeks that actually have Young sitting as the QB2 behind only Josh Allen, it’s time we take him seriously. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Malik Willis, Geno Smith, Marcus Mariota

NFL Week 3 Waiver Wire Running Backs

Jonah Coleman - Denver Broncos Yahoo: 27% | ESPN: 22% | Sleeper: 36%

Welcome to the rollercoaster of fantasy football waivers. Jonah Coleman was a popular stash after Sean Payton spoke highly of him this summer. Then he played only 3 snaps in Week One and was, rightfully, dropped all over the place. But, with RJ Harvey missing this week and JK Dobbins leaving early during the game, Coleman actually found himself leading the team in snaps and carries. So now he actually has an opportunity, and we have to give ourselves a chance to see if he can run with it. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low to Medium Priority
  • FAAB: 5-10%

Tank Bigsby - Philadelphia Eagles, Yahoo: 29% | ESPN: 15% | Sleeper: 28%

Sometimes you have an injury scare like this, and it’s nothing. Barkley even came back into the game. Other times it lingers for a bit; next thing you know, the guy goes on IR. In deeper leagues especially, we are stashing so many random handcuff-type players; we might as well go where there is already a crack in the armor in terms of an injury. Where there is smoke, there is sometimes fire. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Alvin Kamara - New Orleans Saints, Yahoo: 29% | ESPN: 38% | Sleeper: 45%

If you are desperate for someone to plug directly into your lineup in a PPR league, Kamara isn’t a crazy play. Based on the split backfield in Week 1, it seemed pretty clear to us that the Saints had planned on a split backfield and stuck with that even with Kamara out. With Kamara back this week, he quietly led the backfield in touches with 15 targets + receptions to 10 for Travis Etienne He might not get six targets every week like he did this week, but it’s a good sign for his first game back. Just don’t expect some crazy resurgence from the 31-year-old. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Woody Marks, Emmett Johnson, Emanuel Wilson

 

 

 

NFL Week 3 Waiver Wire Wide Receivers

Denzel Boston - Cleveland Browns, Yahoo: 32% | ESPN: 26% | Sleeper: 43%

Denzel Boston was featured in this article last week. Not because he scored the long touchdown but because he quietly led the Browns in routes run. He basically played a full snap share while guys like KC Concepcion and Jerry Jeudy rotated. This week he once again led the team in snaps (he ran 34 of 36 possible routes while Concepcion ran 27 and Jeudy ran 25). And he, once again, scored a long touchdown.

The back-to-back long touchdowns means that, this time around, the casual games are going to be in as well. If you didn’t add him last week, this is probably your last chance, so you may need to drop the back on him. We are in on Boston, so this is the first play this year where, if you have that #1 waiver claim, we say use it. 

  •  Waiver Priority: Medium to High Priority
  • FAAB: 15-25%

Rashod Bateman - Baltimore Ravens, Yahoo 17% | ESPN: 24% | Sleeper: 25%

If you are a member who jumped into our Streamers & Stashes article, you may have even started Bateman this week. You definitely used him in DFS if you were following the DFS Playbook or listening to the Fantasy Alarm Show on SiriusXM. Now, after what we saw this week, he probably should be rostered even if it’s not a deeper league. His role will probably settle in when Zay Flowers is back, but Ja’Kobi Lane is on IR with a broken arm, so Bateman should remain the clear WR2. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Tre Tucker - Las Vegas Raiders, Yahoo 29% | ESPN: 25% | Sleeper: 30%

One of the reasons we aren’t dropping the bag on Rashod Bateman is that there are other options available that we like as well with similar profiles. One of which is Tre Tucker. Both are outside guys who run high aDot routes. Both will probably come back to earth when Zay Flowers and Brock Bowers get back. But we’re still interested in both of them because of the role.

The Raiders brought Klint Kubiak in to emulate his scheme from Seattle. That means a lot of fullback and multiple tight end usage. That consolidates things down to one main WR at times. And that WR has been Tre Tucker. With the pre-snap motion and play-action, that puts Tucker in a good position to score fantasy points.

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Adonai Mitchell - New York Jets, Yahoo 16% | ESPN: 17% | Sleeper: 13%

Another guy who fits a similar profile to what you might get from a Batemand or Tucker. He’s playing a massive snap share opposite of Garrett Wilson. This week he even got more targets than Wilson, but we aren’t going to project that outcome in any given week. They did add two first-round pass-catchers in Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper Jr., but so far, Sadiq has been a part-time guy, and Omar Cooper Jr. already landed on IR, so we don’t see the role for Mitchell changing any time soon. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Khalil Shakir, Malik Washington, Dontayvion Wicks 

NFL Week 3 Waiver and Yin & Yang Tight End

Pat Freiermuth - Pittsburgh Steelers Yahoo: 13% | ESPN: 22% | Sleeper: 20%

Our player of the week last week, Dalton Schultz, has already been scooped up in most leagues (and hopefully started, at least last week). Luckily, the next best thing in Pat Freiermuth, plays the same Bengals defense that Dalton Schultz tore up this past week. That makes Freiermuth an option whether or not Michael Pittman is available this week. 

The key here is that the usage for Muth has completely changed from Arthur Smith’s offense last year to Mike McCarthy’s this year. Not only has he run 30+ routes each week but he’s running a lot more from a WR spot vs. an inline spot. For instance, this past week he played 46 snaps with 32 in the slot, 12 inline, 1 wide, and 1 at QB. That QB snap was also a Tush Push, which adds just another avenue to production if they ever try that at the goal line. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Oronde Gadsden - Los Angeles Chargers, Yahoo: 6% | ESPN: 2% | Sleeper: 34%

This offseason for Oronde Gadsden was a lesson for dynasty fantasy football managers regarding Day 3 NFL Draft picks. NFL teams don’t always value these guys the way we do, even if they score some fantasy points. They might look at what that player accomplished and say “That was great - what if we upgrade that spot with more resources?”.

So Gadsden was on the outside looking in after they added Charlie Kolar to be the inline tight end with David Njoku to skew towards pass downs. But fate has brought Gadsden back into the light here as BOTH Kolar and Njoku landed on IR this week. So he could be worth a look here in deeper leagues. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Darren Waller - Carolina Panthers, Yahoo: 3% | ESPN: 3% | Sleeper: 9%

Here we go again. Feels like the same trajectory for Darren Waller every year. He floats around unsigned all summer. At the last moment, someone swoops in and signs him. He starts off on a part-time snap share that isn’t useful whatsoever. Then the touchdowns start, well, because he’s Darren Waller. And that’s where we find ourselves today.

Waller went from ~40% route participation Week One to 55% this week. That’s still not enough to really trust him, but how can we ignore that he had an endzone target last week (that was called back due to a penalty) and he scored two touchdowns this week? This experiment usually ends with him playing more and getting hurt, but maybe this time it won’t. Through two games, the Panthers offense has been humming. 

  • Waiver Priority: Low Priority
  • FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Zach Ertz, Kenyon Sadiq

 

 

 

NFL Week 3 Waiver DST

Green Bay Packers DST, Yahoo: 24% | ESPN: 20% | Sleeper: 33%

Pretty much all the bad offenses are playing defenses that are available on the wire, so it’s a nice week for streaming. We’ll keep targeting the Atlanta Falcons though, as they have really struggled to get anything going here. Even if Michael Penix does play, it will be his first game coming off a major injury. 

Kansas City Chiefs DST, Yahoo: 34% | ESPN: 60% | Sleeper: 41%

The Chiefs have the earliest bye week of any team, and their Week 4 opponents, the Las Vegas Raiders, might not be as easy as they initially seemed. But they are a solid play this week against the Miami Dolphins, who are on track to have the number 1 overall pick. 

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Panthers vs. CLE, Giants vs. TEN

NFL Week 3 Waiver K

Harrison Butker - Kansas City Chiefs, Yahoo: 28% | ESPN: 80% | Sleeper: 51%

We’ll just keep recommending Harrison Butker for Yahoo - he kicked four field goals this week, including the game-winner. Just like with the Chiefs DST, you will need another kicker in two weeks when they are on bye, but Butker should be a solid start until then. 

Tyler Bass - Buffalo Bills, Yahoo: 18% | ESPN: 9% | Sleeper: 10%

Same deal here with Bass for us. I know that it was all extra points this time around, but it’s not going to be that easy every single week (in Week One he hit three field goals). Bass is at least guaranteed to get some sort of points, as it’s hard to envision the Bills getting shut out here. 

 

 

 

Yin & Yang Tight End Chart

As always, this section below will be updated with Yin & Yang tight end rankings for the rest of the season each week. The way Yin & Yang tight end works is, if you have someone from the standalone section, you only need to roster one player. Beyond that, we are likely rostering two - someone to start and someone to stash. 

  • Standalone - Guys we currently trust that also have big upside.
  • Yin - A “safe” player that we can start while trying to hit on a breakout with a bench spot.
  • Yang - A higher-risk, higher-reward option ideally stashed on your bench for upside. 
  • Handcuff - Guys with minimal usage now who could have upside if the starting TE gets hurt.

[Check back for Week 3 Yin & Yang tight end update soon!]