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:
- Antonio Brown – Pittsburgh Steelers @ Philadelphia
- Julio Jones – Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans
- Odell Beckham Jr – New York Giants vs. Washington
- DeAndre Hopkins – Houston Texans @ New England
- Allen Robinson – Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Baltimore
- Brandin Cooks – New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta
- Amari Cooper – Oakland Raiders @ Tennessee
- Kelvin Benjamin – Carolina Panthers vs. Minnesota
- Jordy Nelson – Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit
- Dez Bryant – Dallas Cowboys vs. Chicago
- Mike Evans – Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. St. Louis
- Alshon Jeffrey – Chicago Bears @ Dallas
- A.J. Green – Cincinnati Bengals vs. Denver
- Brandon Marshall – New York Jets vs. Kansas City
- TY Hilton – Indianapolis Colts vs. San Diego
- Jarvis Landry – Miami Dolphis vs. Cleveland
- Jordan Matthews – Philadelphia Eagles vs. Pittsburgh
- Jeremy Maclin – Kansas City Chiefs @ NY Jets
- Larry Fitzgerald – Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo
- Eric Decker – New York Jets vs. Kansas City
- Willie Snead – New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta
- Travis Benjamin – San Diego Chargers @ Indianapolis
- DeSean Jackson – Washington Redskins @ NY Giants
- Doug Baldwin – Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco
- Stefon Diggs – Minnesota Vikings @ Carolina
- Demaryius Thomas – Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati
- Marvin Jones – Detroit Lions @ Green Bay
- Julian Edelman – New England Patriots vs. Houston
- Sammy Watkins – Buffalo Bills vs. Arizona
- Randall Cobb – Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit
- Sterling Shepherd – New York Giants vs. Washington
- Michael Floyd – Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo
- Will Fuller – Houston Texans @ New England
- Michael Crabtree – Oakland Raiders @ Tennessee
- DaVante Parker – Miami Dolphins vs. Cleveland
- Tajae Sharpe – Tennessee Titans vs. Oakland
- Golden Tate – Detroit Lions @ Green Bay
- Mike Wallace – Baltimore Ravens @ Jacksonville
- Emmanuel Sanders – Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati
- Allen Hurns – Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Baltimore
- Mohamed Sanu – Atlanta Falcons @ New Orleans
- Victor Cruz – New York Giants vs. Washington
- Phillip Dorsett – Indianapolis Colts vs. San Diego
- Tyrell Williams – San Diego Chargers @ Indianapolis
- Tyler Lockett – Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco
- Corey Coleman – Cleveland Browns @ Miami (Note: he now is likely out this week due to injury)
- John Brown – Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo
- Cole Beasley – Dallas Cowboys vs. Chicago
- Jamison Crowder – Washington Redskins @ NY Giants
- 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:
Professor I have devonta Freeman, tevin coleman, Crowell, latavius Murray and mckinnon our scoring is touchdowns and double on passing touchdowns to running backs and anything over a 100 id’s gets points do you think I’m crazy if I start both coleman and freeman
Yes, I actually would lean Murray/Crowell
Prof
Should I start T.Y Hilton or Maclin?
I’d go Maclin, but it’s close.
Dez Bryant or Eric Decker this week?
Dez
How about between Decker and Jordy Nelson?
Nelson
michael floyd or tyrell williams standard flex.
spencer ware or christine michaels standard
Standard scoring league. In the flex position would you start ware or parker?
Someone dropped Delanie Walker and I’m thinking of picking him up to trade (I already have Reed), but would need to drop one of: Emmanuel Sanders, DeVante Parker, or Hurns.
My starters are Antonio Brown, Evans, and Maclin, so the others are mostly bye week fill ins and subs for better matchups.
Any thoughts? Thanks!!
trevor leitch – Willianms // Ware for this week
Iaian – Ware
K – I could see dropping Hurns for him. I def. wouldn’t part with the other two
Rudolph or fleener at tight end?
P Dorsett, sanu, v jax, j forsett, j hill or q enunwa at flex. Its a ppr league.
Fleener for the upside
Probably Dorsett, though Enunwa is appealing
16 team PPR; need to pick two of these
– Enunwa (wr Jets)
– D Washington (RB Oakland)
– A Humphries (WR Tampa)
I do have Sammy Watkins, but don’t expect him to go, as well as Funchess. I think I hate 16 team FFL …. lol
I’ve also picked up Josh Ferguson (RB Ind) as another deep option. I think I’m looking to use Enunwa, and then could use advice for the second; right now I have D Washington as safe play, but Humphries seems to be involved for a PPR league.