Fantasy Football - Biggest FF Storylines after Week 3

We're officially through 3 weeks of Fantasy Football, and per usual, it's going exactly how we all expected (which is to say it's going not-even-close to how we expected). There have been Breakout Stars, Injuries to Stars, Stars that aren't playing like Stars -- and no shortage of shocking results for Fantasy Managers everywhere.

I've been hesitant to write about Fantasy Football because I don't want to give bad advice -- and as anyone who's in a league with me knows, I'm not lighting it up there anyways. So I'll never give my add / drop recommendations or tell you who to start and sit, because I can hardly figure it out myself. But what I can do is write what I see -- the trends and storylines we've seen over 3 weeks of the season, and what that fallout could look like for the rest of the year.

Some of these takeaways will be directly-related to what we saw in Week 3 -- as far as injuries, what teams look like post-recent-injuries, etc -- but much of today's blog is intended to be outlook for the coming weeks, and how what we've seen to this point will affect the rest of the Fantasy Football season.

The Burrow-less Bengals may be Busts

When we saw Burrow go down in Week 2, everyone that has a piece of the Bengals in FF let out a collective sigh. This was the year the Bengals were supposed to bounce back to being a playoff team, lifting our fantasy teams with them for Jamarr, Tee Higgins, Chase Brown owners.

And while Jake Browning was able to lift Higgins and Chase to solid performances last week against Jacksonville, Week 3 in Minnesota was a different story. It was a dumpster fire. 5 turnovers, 2 picks from Browning, and just 140 yards passing. Higgins (1/15), Chase (5/50), and Brown (10 carries for 3 yards) had disastrous games because of it, and the Bengals as a whole looked like a mess.

It's possible this was a one-off against a good Vikings defense, but Cincy travels to Denver next week before hosting Detroit and going to Green Bay in the weeks following. There may not be room to get worse than this week -- but I wouldn't bet on things getting much better either. As long as Browning is starting, I'm downgrading all Cincy skill players (until they trade for Jameis).

Can Rookies Revamp the Giants?

It was announced on Tuesday that Jaxson Dart would be taking the reigns from Russell Wilson as starting QB of the New York Giants in Week 4 against the Chargers. It was announced on Monday that Tyrone Tracy Jr. suffered a shoulder injury that will have him sidelined for a few weeks -- opening the door for Cam Skattebo to dominate RB reps for the team.

While Russ shined against a putrid Cowboys Defense in Week 2 -- he's been awful in NYG's other two games, and made key mistakes against Dallas too. It was always a matter of when, not if, Dart would take over the starting role -- the new question is, will Dart make the Giants skill players elite Fantasy Football options? Malik Nabers has been as volatile as they come in 3 games, and Wan'Dale Robinson is an underneath-target-machine -- how do their outlooks change with Dart? And will Skattebo take this backfield by stranglehold, or will Devin Singletary be a factor sans Tracy?

Key Injuries to Fantasy Football Staples

We've seen a slew of injuries over the first 3 weeks, but especially in Week 3 it seemed big names were heading to the medical tents. It remains to be seen how long these stars will be sidelined, but there are some key players whose statuses are very much up in the air:

• Cedee Lamb: likely out 3-4 weeks w/ high ankle. Jalen Tolbert seems to be most likely waiver wire player to see uptick (outside Pickens and Jake Ferguson).

• Mike Evans: likely out 3-4 weeks w/ hamstring. IR unlikely. Huge bump to Emeka Egbuka, Sterling Shepard bump as WR2, but potential return of Chris Godwin makes leftover targets behind Egbuka unclear.

• James Conner: Sent to IR, season over. Brutal hit to the wait-on-RB drafters. Trey Benson likely to step into workhorse role with Emari Demarcado getting RB2 work.

• Terry McLaurin: Quad injury has Week 4 status in the air -- seeking more opinions and going through more testing. Game was a blowout, so holding him out the 2nd half may have more to do with that, lean toward playing. Deebo and Ertz upgrades if he's out, unless the man below sits too, then they're still volatile.

• Jayden Daniels: considered Day-to-Day by the team, and with Mariota steering them to a win last week, they may not rush JD back for week 4 against Atlanta. Mariota would be a QB2 flier after 21+ points against LV.

• Xavier Worthy: injured in week 1 (by Travis Kelce). Hasn't played since, seems to have a chance to return in Week 4. Likely a risky flex for fantasy purposes if he plays, but this KC offense needs all the help it can get.

• Aaron Jones: Went to IR after Week 2 -- Jordan Mason dominating snaps in his stead. Potential return Week 7.

• Brock Purdy/Jauan Jennings: Potential Week 4 returners -- Jennings considered day-to-day, Purdy expected to practice this week. Potentially won't rush them back at 3-0 with JAX on deck, but lean toward both returning.

Indiana Jones Gives Life to Colts

Outside of Jonathan Taylor, there weren't many Colts FF options you were chomping at the bit to start each week with Anthony Richardson at the helm last season. Since Daniel Jones' takeover, not only is he the QB4 through 3 weeks -- the rest of the offense are weekly starts. JT is the RB1 in dominating fashion, Michael Pittman is a Top-15 option each week, and Tyler Warren is a Top-10 TE with Top-5 upside each week. Keep firing up your Colts -- until Danny Dimes comes back to earth, at least.

Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze -- Fantasy's Top Stack?

You know what you're getting from Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson each week -- dominant QB1 numbers that spread the ball around, feed their RBs, and make plays with their legs (though the Zay Flowers and Dalton Kincaid stacks have looked great early). Jalen Hurts fired up AJ Brown and Devonta Smith this week when they got down to the Rams, but how often can we expect the Eagles to fall behind like that?

Enter Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze. Through 3 weeks, they've looked like the most enviable QB/WR stack in Fantasy. QB3 and WR3 respectively, they've connected for 4 TD's and Odunze's commanded 25 targets to DJ Moore's 16. While Caleb's FF numbers may not transition to success for the Bears on the real field every week, his success on the Fantasy field has been due to force-feeding Odunze thus far.

The Usual Suspects + New Breakouts at RB

There's no surprises when you look at the current Top 5 RB's through 3 weeks -- JT, James Cook, CMC, Bijan, and Jahmyr Gibbs. These are guys that, as long as they're healthy, will put up RB1 numbers every week. We'd expect to see guys like Saquon and Derrick Henry closer to that Top-5, but they're still producing 13+ FFppg and aren't concerning their managers right now.

But there are some names we wouldn't have expected coming into the season putting up RB1 numbers early-on. Javonte Williams of the Cowboys being a prime example, RB6 on the year. The Travis Etienne revival tour is rolling strong, and JK Dobbins is out-performing his rookie counterpart by a wide margin early -- both Top-10 RBs on the year. We've also seen consistent production from guys like Jaylen Warren and Chuba Hubbard through 3 weeks who are dominating the backfield opportunities for their squads.

Positional Advantage at TE Non-existent Early On

Going into Fantasy Drafts, it's always a concern for managers to decide whether to draft TE early, or wait on a lower-tier guy to scoop up late. In years past, guys like Travis Kelce and Rob Gronkowski -- and as recently as last year, guys like Trey McBride, Kittle, and Brock Bowers -- offered massive positional advantage over other players at TE. It's still too early to make declarations, but thus far, that gap is seemingly closed down.

The gap between the TE1 last year and the TE11 was a staggering 90 points. Through 3 weeks, the gap is just 8 points between TE1 and TE11. Smaller sample size obviously, but the current TE1 is Hunter Henry after a big Week 3. Guys like Zach Ertz, Juwan Johnson, Dalton Kincaid -- afterthoughts in drafts this summer -- are Top-7 options. I think the McBride's and Bowers' of the league will separate themselves as the season goes, but right now, the gap is awfully close.

Predicting the Top 3 at each Position by End of Season

To close things out, I'm going to give my predictions for what players will be at the top of the points-scored by the end of the 2025 Fantasy Football Season, based on the first 3 weeks of games. Obviously, you can't predict injuries -- so I may look back on this and have jinxed an entire slew of studs into injury hell -- but from what I've seen through 3 weeks, these are the guys I think will be winning their managers prize pots come December.

Quarterback:

QB1: Josh Allen

QB2: Lamar Jackson

QB3: Justin Herbert

No fun to pick Hurts as #3 because that's the chalk pick, so throwing in Herbert who has looked incredible in this new pass-heavy Chargers offense -- which I think leans even further into the pass with Najee Harris' injury.

Running Back:

RB1: Christian McCaffrey

RB2: Jonathan Taylor

RB3: Jahmyr Gibbs

The King of FF re-establishes himself as the RB1 this year -- the 9ers weak schedule, injuries around him, and unreal target share make CMC my pick. JT has been dominant, my only fear is if the Colts cool off, he will too -- but that wasn't an issue last year. The Lions have shaken off their Week 1 dud, and despite Monty's involvement, I think Gibbs is the best pure RB in the league. Predicting a slight drop-off for Cook (so many TD's) and Bijan (the Falcons might be ass).

Wide Receiver:

WR1: Amon-Ra St. Brown

WR2: Puka Nacua

WR3: Nico Collins

WR1 and WR2 are boring picks as current 1/2 respectively, but they're both so damn good and catch everything (even though I fucking despise Amon-Ra and Stafford refuses to throw Puke the ball in the red zone). So I threw a major dart for WR3 -- Nico mothafuckin' Collins.

I think Nico will only improve as the season goes on despite the Texans slow start. The run game is horrendous, he's their only good WR, and Stroud is going to pepper him with targets. I also didn't want to pick another WR I have in fantasy at risk of jinxing them — otherwise I’d probably go with JSN. (I jinxed him anyways, fuck!)

Tight End:

TE1: Trey McBride

TE2: Tucker Kraft

TE3: Jake Ferguson

Lot of exciting whites on this list -- and I didn't even include Brock Bowers. I love Brock, but am not encouraged by the target share early from Geno, though they'll likely trail in 90% of their games. McBride's chemistry with Kyler is elite (or at least looks elite next to MHJ), Tucker Kraft is a dog with injuries in their locker room (if he can stay healthy himself), and Jake Ferguson is a target hog that might get 20 7-yard targets a game the next 4 weeks with Lamb out.

That's all I got folks -- let me know if you enjoy these types of Fantasy Football blogs and if you want to see more in the future. Until then, good luck in your leagues this week -- there's always hope in this beautiful game (unless you're 0-3 or 1-2, then you may as well give up trying).