Fantasy football fails and wins: week three

By now, there are probably a few must-starts that you’re no longer questioning, even if it was unexpected in the beginning. We’re in week three now and starting to trust players like Mike Williams, who we maybe weren’t so sure about at the start of the season. But then we have those other up-and-down players who do well when we bench them and poor when we start them. So let’s take a look at some of the biggest wins and fails of week three and see if we can’t get any closer to figuring out just what exactly is going on. Here are the top five wins and top five fails from week three of fantasy football.

Wins:

The better of the Justin quarterbacks, at least in week three - you were a lucky dog if you had Herbert this week! He played every single snap of the game against Kansas City and threw for four touchdowns. He has two reliable wide receivers to count on. Now if he can just get a grip on those turnovers, we’d think of him as a consistently start-worthy QB.

Not a bad start back at all. After suffering from an ACL injury, this was Beckham’s first game back and he had a 29% target share with Jarvis Landry out. He led the Browns with 34 routes on 40 pass plays. I would expect to see him with high volume again next week against the Vikings, too.

Finally, the breakout game we’ve been waiting for! Well, almost. He didn’t run the ball as much as I would like, but he found the end zone (for the first time since 2019) and put up 21.4 PPR points. This was definitely progress from the still-recovering Barkley we saw the last two weeks, and I think that trajectory will continue on so long as he is still getting targeted.

Though he never made it to the end zone, we still saw Kittle’s best game yet, racking up nearly a combined total of his last two weeks’ points. He caught seven out of nine targets for 92 yards even in a game which saw Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk sharing the snaps. The 49ers have a tough matchup against the Seattle Seahawks next week, and Kittle has been limited in practice due to calf pain.

Matt Stafford and Cooper Kupp are a dynamic duo. Stafford connected with Kupp for two of the four TDs he achieved against Tampa Bay. Stafford has proved himself a reliable QB with nine TDs in the last three games and only one interception. DeSean Jackson also provides a threat to the Rams offense

Fails:

I’m really sorry I told you to start him…I really thought he’d do a little better than THAT. But the whole Bears offence was a dumpster fire, wasn’t it? Fields’ passing game was barely existent and then on top of that, he was sacked NINE times. OUCH. He also left that game with a hand injury and is now questionable against the Lions, so it could be any of the Bears QBs starting next week.

Poor Singletary just didn’t see many targets in week three. It was Zach Moss (who was inactive in week one and slightly active in week two) who played the bigger role for the Bills. He led the team in carries and rushing yards and saw more targets than Singletary. With Moss fully active, I don’t trust starting Singletary in fantasy.

Harris is a solid runner, but when the Patriots have to throw the ball, we can’t expect him to produce much, and that’s what happened here. If he gets enough carries, he will likely take advantage of those and get you some TDs, but if he doesn’t? Depending on who the Pats are up against, I wouldn’t risk him, and the Bucks are one of those “don’t-risk-it” teams I’m referring to.

Pitts was not involved much in the passing game and this was his third game without seeing the end zone. I don’t know what to make of Pitts. He was great in weeks one and two and then in week three, his target share fell significantly. I’m not sure why as the Falcons really could use him. If he’s utilised, he does tend to put up big plays.

Also sorry I said to start him. When I type his name, my autocorrect says “Noah can’t” and honestly…it’s not wrong. I’m kidding - of course, he can. But only if he is part of the game plan, which in week three, he really wasn’t, at least not much. Hopefully he will see more usage in week four when the Broncos host the Ravens without Jerry Jeudy as well as WR KJ Hamler.