Slate Overview- Week 3 Thoughts

Week 3 is a much more interesting week than Week 2. Last week, things were a bit crazy as we saw a consolidation of roster percentages bundled with just a few players. This week, we do have a couple of players that are going to be severely under-priced due to injuries, but for the most part there are far more ways to build your roster in Week 3 compared to Week 2.

This week, you’re going to have salary to play with as there are a significant amount of injuries that will create value in players such as Cam Akers, Brandon Aiyuk, and potentially Diontae Johnson with the move of Andy Dalton starting for Carolina.

Roster construction is interesting this week, as it stands right now, about 35% of rosters will have Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, or Kyler Murray. What this does, is it creates value for the cheaper quarterbacks as well as some of the elite wide receivers such as CeeDee Lamb, Tyreek Hill, or Justin Jefferson as if you take one of those high quarterbacks it is extremely difficult to spend up at the receiver position. Therefore, a strategy could definitely be finding a cheap quarterback that you can get enough out of while also getting the upside of the elite receivers.

Key Injuries for Week 3

• The 49ers are a mess. San Francisco will be without Christian McCaffrey who is on IR, George Kittle with a hamstring, and Deebo Samuel Sr. with a calf injury. At $6,200, Brandon Aiyuk is going to be one of the most popular wide receivers on this slate. Jauan Jennings also could be a fine punt play at $4,100, but you likely don’t need to go that low on a week with significant value. Jordan Mason is interesting this week. DraftKings mispriced Mason this week at just $6,200. He’s too cheap given the amount of touches that he will get despite his lack of pass catching ability.
• The Rams offense is a mess with Cooper Kupp out this week and Puka Nacua on IR. If you had to punt the position, Jordan Whittington is likely the guy at $4,200 as he replaced Kupp after his injury. However, on 50% of the snaps last week, he did manage just 2 targets, but no receiver had more than 4 targets last week. With the Rams having a full week to game-plan a strategy, they could look at Whittington who will allow you to stack the rest of your lineup.
• Raheem Mostert seems unlikely to play this week. Last week we saw De’Von Achane have 29 touches. While Achane should be used heavily this week with Skylar Thompson getting the start for the injured Tua Tagovailoa, it’s unlikely he will have anywhere close to 29 touches again this week as Jeff Wilson Jr. looks like he will return after missing last week.
• A.J. Brown will miss this week with a hamstring injury. DeVonta Smith should be a strong cash game consideration after having 75 yards or more in each of his two games this season.  
• Joe Mixon is doubtful this week, while Dameon Pierce has already been ruled out for Houston. This means Cam Akers should see a majority of the volume for the Texans. At the minimum price, Akers should be a highly rostered player this week.
• Ken Walker III is doubtful with an oblique injury. Zach Charbonnet will get the start again this week after finding the end zone last week to save his day. Charbonnet has been extremely unproductive as a runner in the games that he has been the primary back. He’s averaging just 3.1 yards per carry in games with 14 carries or more. At $6,000 he is a little too expensive for how highly rostered he will be as Charbonnet has not been able to show that he can break the big plays necessary to be a GPP winner.
• Jordan Love is a game-time decision. While we likely are not going to target any Packers this week against a good Tennessee defense, if Love is unable to go, the Titans instantly become the top defense on the board. It seems more likely than not that Love will be out one more week as coach Matt LaFleur made comments that they’ll give him up until 90 minutes before the game to make the decision.
• Jordan Addison will miss this week once again. This should open the door for Jalen Nailor along with Justin Jefferson in a game that the Vikings will need to throw the ball heavily against this elite run-stopping unit in Houston.

Stacks

Top Stack

Jared Goff, Marvin Harrison Jr., Jameson Williams

A lot of the love this week is going to go to Kyler Murray, as he’s looked outstanding to start the season. However, with Kyler Murray much like Lamar Jackson, my preference is to play them without a stack built around them. The reasoning for this is to simply capitalize on the weeks that they have the multi-touchdown rushing performance instead of relying on their arm on a week-to-week basis. Compared to 2023 standards, Jared Goff has started off slow throwing for just one touchdown in his first two games, but the talent and volume is clear for Detroit. Last week, we saw Goff throw the ball 55 times. The reason for pairing him with Jameson Williams is that Williams has seen more red zone work as he leads the NFL with five targets inside the 20 yard line. Getting a savings of $2,400 compared to St. Brown who was great last week, will allow you to spend up elsewhere.