With all of the turmoil at quarterback heading into Week 3, there is some uncertainty at wide receiver as well. I’d have an awfully hard time arguing any of the quarterback injuries are good for the affected receivers, though it is true that some quarterbacks target certain weapons more often than others, so we will be paying close attention to how those receivers are used in the coming weeks.
Keenan Allen is the only receiver with double-digit targets in all three games this season. I’m slightly worried he won’t get there in Week 4 in what should be a blowout at Miami, but he is as safe as anyone for fantasy. If anything, Allen might still be underrated. He leads the NFL with 12 red zone targets, which is great for someone who hasn’t had more than six touchdowns in a season since 2013.
Tyler Lockett was an afterthought in Week 1, with just two targets. Since then he has set new career-highs in targets in consecutive weeks, with 12 in Week 2 and 14 in Week 3. At this rate, Lockett will surpass his career-high for targets in a season midway through the season. This was by far Lockett’s most productive game this season, with 11 receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown. Lockett doesn’t have much competition for targets, so he looks to be pretty safe going forward, even if Russell Wilson isn’t going to throw the ball 50 times in most games.
The Rams’ offense no longer looks like a juggernaut, but at least Brandin Cooks , Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods are still getting plenty of targets. Woods had eight targets but only caught three for 40 yards, while Cooks and Kupp each had 12 targets for 100+ yards. On the one hand, it is only a matter of time before Robert Woods gets his, but it seems clear through three games that this offense isn’t good enough for all three receivers to be top-20 fantasy options. I’m playing Woods in DFS this week, but I will think long and hard about benching him.
Todd Gurley , on the other hand, is not nearly as involved in the passing game as he has been the last two seasons. He has caught four of five targets for just eight yards. I understand why fantasy players would focus on his decrease in carries and efficiency, but I’m most worried about the lack of receptions considering he averaged 61.5 over the last two seasons. You probably have to start him if he’s on your roster, but I think I would wait for him to score a touchdown or two and then try to trade him.
Who in the wide world of sports is Auden Tate ? Tate caught six of 10 targets for a team-high 88 yards Sunday. For now, he’s simply a thorn in the side of anyone who rosters John Ross . Tate will almost certainly struggle to get consistent targets, and with A.J. Green ’s return looming, Tate should remain on waivers outside of super deep leagues. As for John Ross , his ceiling remains as high as anyone’s, but so does his floor. I’ll probably have him ranked ahead of Marvin Jones , Will Fuller and Kenny Stills most weeks, but I think they are similar kinds of players for fantasy.
Marquise Brown 's glass can be half empty or half full, depending on how you look at it. On the one hand, he had nine targets in Week 3, giving him 24 for the season. That leaves him tied for 23rd, and he is sixth in receiving yards. That’s the glass half full view. The glass half empty view is he only caught two passes on Sunday, and his 58.3 percent catch rate ranks 49th among players with at least 19 targets.
I will probably try to bench him this week against the Bears, but I think Stefon Diggs is a buy-low candidate. The Vikings are on pace for the fewest pass attempts in the last 20 years, and no matter how much Mike Zimmer wants to run, or how good the defense is, it would be shocking if they throw the ball fewer than 400 times this season. It is discouraging that Diggs’s floor is this low, but he’s too good to be so unproductive for much longer.
I would feel better about Terry McLaurin if he had gotten more than one target before his team was trailing 28-0, but he’s tied with D.J. Moore , Julian Edelman , Emmanuel Sanders , Travis Kelce , Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews in targets. I like all of those players (except maybe Andrews) better than McLaurin, but he should probably be owned in all 12-team leagues. There’s a chance things get better when Dwayne Haskins finally gets to play as well.
Of all of the leaders in targets both for the season and for Week 3, the most suprising name is almost certainly Darren Waller . I would bet a poor game is coming, because that is the nature of the position, but he looks like a top-5 fantasy tight end going forward. I would still rather own Kelce, Ertz, Kittle and Engram, but that’s it.
I know it feels like Duke Johnson is simply a Carlos Hyde handcuff at this point, but I wouldn’t be looking to drop him just yet. Nine targets through three games feels disappointing, but he only averaged 3.875 targets per game last season, and he still caught 47 passes for 429 yards. I know he was drafted with he idea he’d be more than what he showed his last year in Cleveland, but he’s still useful, and I believe he has a higher ceiling than what he has shown.