by Will Overton

After a weird week, where many top performers were shut down, I think we’re going to see them bounce back in a big way. For the DFS players out there this is a really good week for top of the line WR’s based on matchups and it’d be a good time to pay up for the position. Here is the way I see the Top 50 shaking out for the week:

1. Antonio Brown – Pittsburgh Steelers @ Philadelphia
2. Julio Jones – Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans
3. Odell Beckham Jr – New York Giants vs. Washington
4. DeAndre Hopkins – Houston Texans @ New England
5. Allen Robinson – Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Baltimore
6. Brandin Cooks – New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta
7. Amari Cooper – Oakland Raiders @ Tennessee
8. Kelvin Benjamin – Carolina Panthers vs. Minnesota
9. Jordy Nelson – Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit
10. Dez Bryant – Dallas Cowboys vs. Chicago
11. Mike Evans – Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. St. Louis
12. Alshon Jeffrey – Chicago Bears @ Dallas
13. A.J. Green – Cincinnati Bengals vs. Denver
14. Brandon Marshall – New York Jets vs. Kansas City
15. TY Hilton – Indianapolis Colts vs. San Diego
16. Jarvis Landry – Miami Dolphis vs. Cleveland
17. Jordan Matthews – Philadelphia Eagles vs. Pittsburgh
18. Jeremy Maclin – Kansas City Chiefs @  NY Jets
19. Larry Fitzgerald – Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo
20. Eric Decker – New York Jets vs. Kansas City
21. Willie Snead – New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta
22. Travis Benjamin – San Diego Chargers @ Indianapolis
23. DeSean Jackson – Washington Redskins @ NY Giants
24. Doug Baldwin – Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco
25. Stefon Diggs – Minnesota Vikings @ Carolina
26. Demaryius Thomas – Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati
27. Marvin Jones – Detroit Lions @ Green Bay
28. Julian Edelman – New England Patriots vs. Houston
29. Sammy Watkins – Buffalo Bills vs. Arizona
30. Randall Cobb – Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit
31. Sterling Shepherd – New York Giants vs. Washington
32. Michael Floyd – Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo
33. Will Fuller – Houston Texans @ New England
34. Michael Crabtree – Oakland Raiders @ Tennessee
35. DaVante Parker – Miami Dolphins vs. Cleveland
36. Tajae Sharpe – Tennessee Titans vs. Oakland
37. Golden Tate – Detroit Lions @ Green Bay
38. Mike Wallace – Baltimore Ravens @ Jacksonville
39. Emmanuel Sanders – Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati
40. Allen Hurns – Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Baltimore
41. Mohamed Sanu – Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans
42. Victor Cruz – New York Giants vs. Washington
43. Phillip Dorsett – Indianapolis Colts vs. San Diego
44. Tyrell Williams – San Diego Chargers @ Indianapolis
45. Tyler Lockett – Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco
46. Corey Coleman – Cleveland Browns @ Miami (Note: he now is likely out this week due to injury)
47. John Brown – Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo
48. Cole Beasley – Dallas Cowboys vs. Chicago
49. Jamison Crowder – Washington Redskins @ NY Giants
50. Torrey Smith – San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle

Thoughts:

• We saw last week that even the elite of the elite can be shut down from time to time, with Antonio Brown and A.J. Green both struggling and Odell Beckham Jr. not doing nearly as well as he should have. That said, there aren’t many wholesale changes at the top of my list . The top guys all have pretty prime matchups and I expect we’ll see more chalk among the top performers. One exception is A.J. Green who I bumped down a fair amount because of a tough matchup with Denver and the sheer amount of good matchups others have.
• It’s going to be important to keep an eye on injury news this week after so many were taken down by the injury bug. Both of the Jets top receivers are dinged up, and while both are supposed to play you need to watch the news. There’s also Quarterback news to watch, as the Patriots and Bears both have QB situations that are up in the air and could impact the rankings.
• At some point Carson Wentz and Jordan Matthews will meet up with a stout defense that could put a stop to their early season success. That could be this week against the Steelers, but despite the way they stopped A.J. Green I still think their secondary is sketchy and can be taken advantage of. Matthews has been far better than I expected and I think it’ll continue this week.
• Everyone was content to just assume that the San Diego Chargers offense would disappear from our radars with Keenan Allen hurt, but they then went out and rolled up the Jaguars. Travis Benjamin caught six balls for 115 yards and a pair of TD. Danny Woodhead is now out for the year too and that could mean even more targets headed in the direction of Benjamin and Tyrell Williams. I like both guys quite a great deal this week against the weak Colts secondary.
• If you look at my rankings you may assume I am not giving Stefon Diggs the credit he deserves. Diggs has been arguably the most productive receiver in the league with 16 catches for 285 yards and a TD. With those kind of numbers he should really be Top 10, but this is a weird week. With so many good receivers in good matchups and Diggs taking on the Panthers I have him tapped out as a WR2/FLEX play. I think Diggs could blow my ranking of him up, but I’ll save my big jump for another week.
• It’s becoming clearer that I may have downplayed the impact of the Broncos QB situation on their receivers. Even though Demaryius Thomas did catch five passes for 90 yards last week, he should have done far better against that defense and now he takes on the Bengals (who just shut down Antonio Brown). Having Thomas ranked in the late 20’s seems odd, but as I looked at the guys above I just couldn’t get him any higher up the list.

Make sure to check out all of our Week 3 rankings:

• Quarterbacks
• Running Backs
• Wide Receivers
• Tight Ends
• Kickers
• Defenses