Fantasy Football Week 3 Wide Receiver Preview: Waiver adds, starts, sits, numbers to know, and more
Everything you need to know about wide receiver for Fantasy Football in Week 3
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3 min read
Now is not the time to panic. I get it, if you started 0-2, it sure feels like the time to panic. But some of the worst decisions in Fantasy happen this time of year, because two weeks of data is much more convincing than one week. I get it, and I know this doesn't necessarily help, but through Week 2 last year, Cooper Kupp and Jayden Reed were top-five wide receivers. Alex Pierce and Rasheed were both in the top 10. Drake London, Ja'Marr Chase, Ladd McConkey, and Terry McLaurin were all outside the top 36. Remember how that turned out?
Some of those names above are instructive. London and Chase, for the Brian Thomas Jr. and A.J. Brown managers. I am not saying either Brown or Thomas are about to go nuclear and finish as WR1, but Brown was absent for most of camp, like Chase, and got off to a slow start. I fully expect Brown to be a top-12 wide receiver for the rest of the season, maybe better. Thomas wasn't on any injury reports, but we just learned he's battling a wrist injury. Since Thomas is still getting the volume we need for elite production, I am not particularly worried about him either.
McLaurin and McConkey were both on this list of slow starters last year, and they find themselves there again. Some have argued that it is different for McConkey because Keenan Allen and Quentin Johnston have been so good. That's true, but McConkey still has a 23% target share, and the other thing that has been much different is that the Chargers have thrown the ball at a higher rate relative to their game scripts than we expected. I am starting McConkey this week, wherever I can, and I am also sending out some buy-low offers.
McLaurin, like Chase, looks like a hangover from a missed training camp. His situation is more dicey because Jayden Daniels has a knee sprain, but the sprain is thought of as minor, and Daniels hasn't even been ruled out for Week 3 yet. We also saw McLaurin's target total bounce back in Week 2, when he earned a team-high nine targets. He doesn't rank very high for me in Week 3, but I fully expect McLaurin to be a top-24 wide receiver for the rest of the season.
The main takeaway? If you started slow and have these guys, I am not selling low. If you don't have them and you're sitting at 2-0, it is a great time to see just how low you can buy.
You can always find all of my projections over at Sportsline.
Here is the rest of the Week 3 WR Preview:
Week 3 WR Preview
WR Preview
Numbers to Know
- 39.2% -- Zay Flowers' 39.2% TPRR trails only Jaxon Smith-Njigba amongst starting wide receivers. It sure looks like the star turn is happening for both of these Year 3 wide receivers.
- 10.4 -- Wan'Dale Robinson's aDOT is 10.4 through Week 2. His previous career-high was 6.2. It's early, but the Giants may have two starting wide receivers in Fantasy.
- 6.6 -- Travis Hunter has an aDOT of 6.6 so far. That looks a lot more like Wan'Dale Robinson than a Round 1 wide receiver.
- 29.9% -- Rome Odunze has a 29.9% target share this season. It seems pretty clear who the Bears' WR1 is.
- 20.8% -- Despite leaving one game early and battling a trio of injuries, Jauan Jennings leads the 49ers with a 20.8% target share. That's bad news for Ricky Pearsall.
- 16.5 -- The Seahawks have allowed a league-low 16.5 PPR FPPG to opposing wide receivers this year.
- 7 -- The Bears have given up a league-worst seven passing touchdowns. In theory, this should be a good spot for George Pickens, who leads the Cowboys with four red zone targets.
- 22 -- Jakobi Meyers already has 22 targets in two games. He's a must-start wide receiver in full PPR leagues.
- 15 -- Jerry Jeudy has 15 drops since the start of last year, including two already this year. It has been a frustrating start to the year, and it won't likely get better against the Packers.
- 49.2% -- Tyler Lockett has only played 49.2% of the snaps for the Titans this year. Elic Ayomanor is the clear WR2, maybe even 1B, for the team.
WR Preview
Waiver Wire Targets
Week 3 Adds (WR Preview)
I already told you about Robinson's aDOT spike with Russell Wilson under center. Maybe the most impressive part about that is that Robinson also has a career-high 77.8% catch rate, and he's still earning nine targets per game. He has always been great in terms of target volume and catch rate, but those numbers normally decrease when aDOT spikes like Robinson's has. It is a bad matchup in Week 3 against the Chiefs, but Robinson could still be used as a flex in full PPR leagues.
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Ayomanor ranks second on the team with a 23.2% target share and first on the team at 1.23 yards per route run. He's played at least 70% of the snaps in each of the Titans' first two games, which is excellent for a rookie. The Colts are a much better matchup than the Broncos or Rams, the first two teams the Titans face. Ayomanor could burst onto the scene in Week 3, and you could be the beneficiary.
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Stashes (WR Preview)
We are hopeful that Christian Kirk will return this week, and the Texans need him even more than Fantasy managers do. Kirk should thrive on short area targets with C.J. Stroud behind a much-maligned Texans' offensive line. Kirk is better in full PPR leagues and will hopefully help C.J. Stroud's career-low 40.4% success rate. You may not want to start Kirk in his first game back, but you should definitely roster him.
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It is always dicey to trust one game of usage in a Sean Payton offense. But Franklin is a Year 2 wide receiver who just saw nine targets and turned them into 24.9 PPR Fantasy points. You can't leave that on the waiver wire. His experience with Bo Nix in college is an added bonus.
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WR Preview
DFS Plays
Top DFS Play
Projections powered by
Sportsline
I am going right back to Lamb, whose price is being held down by the fact that he hasn't scored yet in 2025. Facing the defense that has given up the most passing touchdowns through two weeks should help. Lamb has at least 11 targets and at least 110 yards receiving in each of his first two games, and Dak Prescott is playing very well. Be thankful he isn't the most expensive wide receiver on the slate.
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Contrarian DFS Play
Projections powered by
Sportsline
Meyers has always been disrespected, but this is getting absurd. He has 22 targets in two games, and he is the 24th most expensive wide receiver on FanDuel. This, with Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Zay Flowers, and Malik Nabers all playing in primetime games. You might guess that will make his roster rate high, but that is rarely the case with Meyers.
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WR Preview
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 3 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 3. Projected stats for all starting wide receivers are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
