Week 2 is behind us, and it gave us a better understanding of offenses and defensive matchups. However, it also brought the dreaded injury bug. This might have put you in a scenario where your roster is underperforming or injured, and you need sleepers to help this nightmare go away. That’s where I come in! I’ll provide a lineup full of sleepers that you may want to consider in your fantasy football Week 3 start/sit decisions.
Before I get to the sleepers, let’s recap the previous week’s “Shore Thing Sleepers.” Simply put, it didn’t go as planned. You know the injury bug was in full force when it got Tank Bigsby last week, having him score a goose egg. Daniel Jones and Mike Gesicki performed as much as they could, but the overall lineup still scored 3.3 under projection (not including Bigsby’s 0).
I can’t ace them all, but let’s stop looking back and look forward to Week 3!
Fantasy Football Start/Sit Consideration: Week 3 Sleepers
Quarterback
Gardner Minshew (Las Vegas Raiders)
Gardner Minshew has started this season very steadily. He’s gone over 257 passing yards and also threw a touchdown and an interception in both games. In the first two weeks, he is ranked QB16, averaging 12.8 fantasy points, and now he’s got a juicy matchup against the Carolina Panthers.
Quarterbacks against the Panthers might be only averaging 165 passing yards this season. But, despite that low yardage, the Panthers have allowed five passing touchdowns this season, which is the second-most in the league. Derek Carr and Justin Herbert both didn’t go over 200 passing yards but had multiple passing touchdowns. Carr and Herbert’s average was 16.6 fantasy points due to those touchdowns.
Minshew has the weapons available for him with Davante Adams and Brock Bowers. With those targets against this defense, I can see Minshew breaking his five-game streak of not throwing multiple touchdowns.
This leads me to ask Carolina, “Whatcha gonna do, brother, when Minshew Mania runs wild on you?!”
Running Back
Samaje Perine (Kansas City Chiefs)
Isiah Pacheco is on Injured Reserve (IR) and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. This Chiefs’ backfield is currently in flux. Kareem Hunt was signed to the practice squad this week, but it’s unclear if he’ll play or what role he will have. Clyde Edwards-Helaire is also on injured reserve, and the earliest he can return is Week 5. This leaves us with Carson Steele – the only Kansas City running back to see a carry besides Pacheco – and Samaje Perine, the only Chiefs RB to have a reception besides Pacheco.
Now, how do we sort this mess out? I believe that Perine, not Steele, will get the starting nod, given his pass-catching ability, which gives Patrick Mahomes a check-down option when needed.
Their matchup, the Falcons, might be allowing the fourth-fewest fantasy points to RBs this season, but they’ve allowed an RB to have 79 combined yards in both games. They’ve also allowed the ninth-fewest receiving yards to running backs with 43. The difference-maker is that Atlanta allows 6.1 Yards Per Reception (YPR) to a running back, and the Chiefs are averaging 7.4 YPR to the position. Additionally, Mahomes has targeted his running backs five-to-six times in both games this season. Perine could be getting somewhere around five or more Points Per Reception (PPR) fantasy points based on his pass-catching ability, and he should see some carries adding up to his total.
Rico Dowdle (Dallas Cowboys)
This might’ve gone unnoticed, but Rico Dowdle got the start at running back last week for the Cowboys. In these first two weeks, Dowdle has the same amount of touches as Ezekiel Elliott with 21. With those touches, Dowdle has outpaced Elliott in combined yards, 46 to 41. I think this showcases that Dowdle is the true RB1 in Dallas.
On paper, this shows to be a tough matchup, as the Ravens have allowed the sixth-fewest fantasy points to RBs this season. But Dowdle is averaging 10.5 touches per game, and that’s where this key stat comes in. Running backs have seen 11 or more touches in both games against Baltimore this season. Although only averaging 58 scrimmage yards, it’s showing up on the scoreboard with an average of 11.3 PPR fantasy points. The South Carolina product flashed his potential with 9.9 fantasy points in a 44-19 blowout last week.
Maybe the Cowboys can flip the script, and Dowdle will be the RB that goes off.
Wide Receiver
Wan’Dale Robinson (New York Giants)
Wan’Dale Robinson has been a pleasant surprise this season! We all were expecting Malik Nabers to shine, but Robinson has also surprisingly been consistent. He’s scored over 9.8 PPR fantasy points in four straight games dating back to last year. Can he keep this consistency up?
The Browns are allowing the 12th-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers this season. Interestingly, in both regular-season matchups against the Browns, the wide receiver with the second-most targets on the team has outscored the WR1. The WR2 has averaged three receptions for 67 yards and 0.5 touchdowns, good for 12.9 fantasy points. Meanwhile, the WR1 has averaged four receptions for 52 yards, totaling 10.4 fantasy points. After Week 2, Robinson is second in WR targets for the Giants with 16.
Of course, we just hope to see the Week 2 version of Daniel Jones and not the Week 1 version.
Jauan Jennings (San Francisco 49ers)
You might want to mask up for this one because this game has seen the injury bug ravage both teams before it even started. We’ll stay on the 49ers’ side, though; first, it was Christian McCaffrey. Now it’s Deebo Samuel, who will be out for an undisclosed time with a thigh injury. It has to be the next man up now, and that leads us to Jauan Jennings.
The Rams have allowed a receiver to put up some insane numbers in both games this season. Jameson Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr. both had over 121 receiving yards, a touchdown and a heavenly output of 24.4 PPR fantasy points or higher. Jennings might have one less target than Brandon Aiyuk in the season, but he’s out-producing Aiyuk, with Jennings averaging 8.5 to Aiyuk’s 6.5 fantasy points per game. Jennings has been riding a hot streak lately. Dating back to the start of playoffs, he has scored over 11 fantasy points in three of those five contests.
Facing off against an injury-ravaged Rams team and putting up some good production recently, Jennings has some legit upside this week.
Tight End
Cole Kmet (Chicago Bears)
After a disappointing one reception for four yards in Week 1, Cole Kmet bounced back in Week 2. He finished with four receptions on five targets for 27 receiving yards, finishing as the TE17 for Week 2. This is likely due to Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze still dealing with injuries (Odunze did end up playing). After only playing 48% of the snaps in Week 1, Kmet’s snap rate went up to 77% in Week 2.
Now, the Colts have not allowed a tight end to score over 4.6 fantasy points this season, but with how low TE scoring has been, that just ends up as the 12th-fewest fantasy points to the position. The Colts haven’t faced a scary tight end yet this season, either. It’s been Dalton Schultz – TE24 on the season – then Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave, who had Malik Willis at quarterback last week.
Stats might not be on my side here, but I think after Caleb Williams had to deal with constant pressure on “Sunday Night Football” last week, he’ll look to his tight end as a safety blanket. Then you factor in the Bears’ injured receiver corps, plus Kmet’s snap increase, and I can see another bigger increase for the former Fighting Irish tight end in fantasy production this week.
Check out all of our Week 3 fantasy football content:
- Fantasy Football Whiplash! | Week 3 News, Notes and Waivers (2024)
- Week 3 NFL DFS Picks & Lineup Advice (2024)
- Week 3 Fantasy Football Trade Targets (2024)
- Week 3 Fantasy Football Advice Mailbag
- Week 3 Shore Thing Sleepers (2024)
- Week 3 In the Scope Targets (2024)
Thanks for reading this week’s “Shore Thing Sleepers”! If you’re looking for more fantasy content like this or need help with the last-minute fantasy football start/sit decisions for your roster, you can find me on Facebook at “Fantasy Sports Start or Sit’Em Questions” or on Twitter/X @FSSOSEQ.
*Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea – USA TODAY Sports*