Week Three Tidbits

Injuries have caused a lot of waiver wire activity over the first couple of weeks as some key players have been lost for the year such as Keenan Allen and Danny Woodhead. The keys to fantasy football success are depth and the ability to adjust.  If you watched the Chargers game last week, Travis Benjamin showed that he is capable of posting some solid numbers as he got 2 touchdowns among his 6 catches for 115 yards. Most likely, Benjamin was drafted, so he was not available on the waiver wire after Allen’s injury after Week 1, so you would have had to dig deeper on the waiver wire.

WAIVER WIRE

When you look to add players to your teams from the waiver wire, try to keep yourselves away from just looking at the upcoming week’s matchup and look at the upcoming schedule of games maybe 3 to 4 weeks out.  If you can find a player that you feel will be beneficial to you for more than just 1 week, you may strike gold.  

A player that could be available and fall under such a tag is Marqise Lee in Jacksonville. Be advised that they have an early Week 5 bye, but here’s a look at the next 5 games on the Jaguars schedule: Baltimore, Indianapolis, @ Chicago, Oakland, @ Tennessee.  During this slate, also consider that the Oakland game will be a cross country trip for Oakland as they play at 1pm ET, 10am PT.  With your adding Lee, you will have to limit your expectations considering he is behind Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns, but with both of them in the lineup in Week 2, Lee led the Jaguars in receiving with 5 catches and 75 yards.  Not spectacular by any means, but good enough to consider adding to your squad.

REBOUNDS

A trend that is growing each and every year is that fantasy owners panic and drop players that they drafted highly simply because their early production is not meeting expectations.  Let me say 2 words that every owner should take to heart after 2 weeks: DON’T PANIC!

Here are some players who may not have been taken in the first couple of rounds, but were taken in the middle rounds who you thought would put your team over the top.  Look for them to rebound this week and upcoming weeks on their schedules.

Randall Cobb.  The Green Bay offense is always a source of scoring, but Cobb has been limited in his production so far. Look for Green Bay to focus their offense on getting him involved in Week 3 against Detroit and if that happens, he may set for a nice run as his upcoming schedule should be quite favorable.

Coby Fleener. So far, it could be argued that Fleener is the biggest disappointment in all of fantasy as most everyone projected him to be a breakout star in New Orleans. In 2 games, he has 3 catches for 35 yards.  What does get lost in just seeing those numbers is that over these 2 games, he has been targeted 12 times, which included 8 targets in Week 2. In Week 3, the Saints play at home on Monday Night Football and with such national exposure, look for Drew Brees to air it out and fleener could be the main beneficiary.

BEWARE

When determining waiver wire adds and making your lineup decisions, matchups play a huge role.  When your player has certain teams coming up on your schedule, please take into account that your player may be having rough games ahead.  Although recent results on the scoreboard may not show it, you should be wary when your players face Denver, Arizona, Carolina, Houston, Minnesota, and the New York Jets. These defenses are known to be among the best in the NFL.  It will be inevitable that your players will matchup with these teams at some point, and understand, you should not bench your players when they cross paths based on the matchups alone. You simply need to be aware of them and when you have better options available to you, consider them a little bit more than you normally would.

YOUR EYES SHOULD LIGHT UP LIKE IT IS CHRISTMAS MORNING   

When you see some weaker teams matchup with your players, you should be hopeful that your players have the opportunity to explode those weeks and you need to be excited about it. These teams include New Orleans, Indianapolis, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, and Cleveland.  As with the solid defenses referenced earlier, everyone should have such opportunities for their players to have these quality matchups.  Take advantage when you can and maybe bump up a player on your team’s depth chart if such a matchup is something you favor over another player’s tougher matchup.

As always, I welcome your feedback and comment with any additional players that may be on your radar to add to this piece.  Remember to enjoy the games and not to panic after a slow start. Also, if you have started 2-0, I offer you my congratulations and wish you continued success.