It’s that time of the week again, boys and girls! We once again choose hope and optimism for our squads. After all, we spent all offseason preparing for a time such as this. Let’s talk Flex for Week 3! I am bringing you some more flex options this week to ensure you bring that W home! Before I dive into Week 3, let’s hit a quick recap of last week’s picks!

Hits

Curtis Samuel

The Commanders’ jack-of-all-trades came through once again in a big spot for us in Week 2! Samuel finished as the WR12 in PPR leagues with 7 receptions for 78 yards and a TD. NOICE! Samuel once again led the Commanders receiving corps in targets and seems like a viable flex option for the foreseeable future.

Rhamondre Stevenson

In true New England fashion, Stevenson completely disappointed fantasy managers despite playing most of the snaps in the backfield. Rhamondre out-snapped Damien Harris 42 to 27 but finished the game with only 9 attempts for 47 yards and 0 touchdowns. In an utterly disgusting week for running backs, Stevenson still only managed to finish as RB45.

Misses

Jarvis Landry

The Bucs/Saints game was ugly. The game had it all. We saw scoreless drives, ejections, multiple Jameis Winston picks, basically everything except for high-scoring football. Landry played 68% of the snaps and was only targeted five times. He finished as the WR71 on the week, yikes! His disappointing performance coincides with Chris Olave’s emergence as the 1A/1B with Michael Thomas. Olave played the same amount of snaps as Thomas and out–targeted him 13 to 9. To make matters even more complicated, Jameis is apparently dealing with a back injury as well now. I would probably be hesitant about putting Landry back in my lineup unless necessary.

Zay Jones

The Jags put up one of the most impressive displays of Week 2. The game was so lopsided that it was hard to draw too many conclusions from the performance. The Jags ran the ball 37 times and only passed 30 times. I don’t think many of us saw that performance coming against the Colts. Zay finished as WR76 with 3 receptions on 4 targets for 23 yards and 0 touchdowns. I am not sure how many games we can expect the Jags to run away with this year, but maybe best not to start Zay in those games.

Week 3

We are moving on to bigger and better things this week. I will bring you some of the players I am most confident in or am avoiding. As always, I will provide a little insight and rationale with each pick and leave the final decision to you.

I will choose wide receivers outside the top 36 and running backs outside the top 24 ranks based on FantasyPros Expert Consensus Ranks for Week 3. I am most certainly using the PPR ranks because, contrary to popular opinion, I am not a savage.

Garrett Wilson WR NYJ – WR45 FantasyPros

Garrett Wilson had an absolute coming-out party last week against the Browns. Wilson had 8 receptions on 14 targets for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had more targets than all the rest of the Jets receiving corps combined! The scariest part is that he managed all that on only 61% of the snaps! He was beaten up a little in the second half but returned to the game and seems fine going forward.

Garrett is currently the 12th highest graded wide receiver per PFF through two games. Flacco is under center again this week, and I expect a boatload of more targets!

Greg Dortch WR ARI – WR61 FantasyPros

I am not sure how long this rollercoaster will last, but for now, I will take another ride. Rondale Moore is still not practicing in full and could also miss this weekend. (If Moore does start, I would be less likely to start Greg.) I just want to be clear. I am not FORCING the Human Dortch (a sick nickname I know) into my lineup this weekend. I think you could play him if you are in a deeper league or struggling. This matchup has a 48.5 over/under, and there should be points on offer.

Greg has been more efficient than AJ Green, and with a beat-up Conner, the Cards may need to lean on the passing game even more.

Noah Brown WR DAL – WR68 FantasyPros

Brown has been functioning as the de facto WR2 for the beleaguered Cowboys offense through two weeks. He has been doing a surprisingly good job, as well! Noah played 85% of snaps last week against the Bengals and was WR14 in PPR with 5 receptions on 5 targets for 91 yards and a touchdown.

Michael Gallup could return on Monday Night Football against the Giants but will likely be on a pitch count if he does. In a two-week sample, Noah has a better PFF grade, higher YPRR (yards per route run), and a deeper ADOT (average depth of target) than CeeDee Lamb. If you scooped Noah off the waiver wire in pre-season or after Week 1, this might be your last chance to play him for a while. Hopefully, you won’t need to unless it’s a 14-team league or deeper, but if you are stuck, I think he could come through with a decent game.

Dameon Pierce RB HOU – RB27 FantasyPros

A lot of people don’t realize how decent (if not good) the Texans’ offensive line actually is. According to PFF, they have the 11th ranked pass blocking line through 2 weeks of the NFL season. The Texans are playing the Chicago Bears this week. The Bears just so happen to have the 3rd worst run defense in the NFL, according to PFF.

Now let’s talk about Dameon Pierce. Pierce had a slow Week 1 and was out-snapped and outperformed by aged vet Rex Burkhead. Week 2 against the Broncos was a different story as Pierce out-snapped Burkhead 39 to 23. He had 15 rush attempts to Rex’s 0 and even had a target in the game. Dameon had the 10th highest PFF grade for running backs with a minimum of 10 rush attempts in Week 2 and averaged 4.6 yards-per-carry against the Broncos.

There you have it, folks, some of my sneaky starts and full-on sends for Week 3! I hope you absolutely smash it and grab some W’s!!!

If you have any questions or want to chat about football, you can always hit me up on Twitter @FFEvanlution.

See ya next week!