Who would have thought that two weeks into the season Stefon Diggs and Willie Snead would be leading the league in receiving yards? I wish I could say that I knew that it would be this way. Much like I said with the quarterbacks, we’ve seen some defenses that we know we can exploit. Also, we are starting to see some trends about lucrative QB-WR combinations that could really pay off on a weekly basis. One last thing, given the way the league is nowadays, don’t get cute at wide receiver. Get yourself at least one guy from this list in DFS and go make yourself some money. For those in season-long leagues, hopefully you have one of the guys listed below this week. Here are this week’s Top 5 wide receivers for Week 3 of the NFL season.
Julio Jones @ NO
Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be. The Saints have been atrocious against wide receivers this season and they simply have no one that can cover Jones. The Saints are tied for allowing the third-most passes of 20 or more yards, so Jones should be able to put top-tier numbers.
Antonio Brown @ PHI
Last week was a fluke with the Pittsburgh offense, especially with Brown’s numbers. Expect Big Ben to get the ball into Brown’s hands early and often against a Philadelphia secondary that is susceptible to the long ball. Brown will return to elite status this week.
Dez Bryant vs. CHI
Quarterback Dak Prescott finally got Bryant involved in the offense last week and Bryant’s usage should carry over into this Week 3 tilt with the Chicago Bears. Chicago’s defense isn’t intimidating and especially in the red zone, they have no one to matchup with Bryant. Expect to see the “X” at some point this weekend.
Brandin Cooks vs. ATL
The Saints throw the ball just over 70 percent of the time and the Atlanta defense has allowed three touchdowns to receivers through the first two weeks of the NFL season. Brees is going to air it out early and often and it will only be a matter of time until Cooks burns past the Atlanta secondary for a deep ball.
Jarvis Landry vs. CLE
The PPR golden boy has 23 targets on the season, tied with T.Y. Hilton and Jordan Matthews for second-most in all of football. His 17 receptions lead the league and the Cleveland defense has been gashed by slot receivers (see Matthews Week 1). He won’t have to worry about Joe Haden covering him, so Landry has an excellent opportunity to post similar numbers as last week.
Check out the rest of the NFL Week 3 Player Rankings.
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Player News
Free agent Gabe Davis will visit the New York Giants.
Cut by the Jaguars after one season last week, Davis visited the 49ers on Monday. New York would be a reunion of sorts, as he played for Giants coach Brian Daboll in Buffalo. The G-Men already have several wideouts capable of stretching the field, but 26-year-old Davis could still be a decent role player in a strong offense. The problem, of course, is that the Giants profile as anything but, but rookie QB Jaxson Dart is comfortable throwing down the field.
Ravens S Ar’Darius Washington has been diagnosed with a torn achilles suffered during offseason training.
The fifth-year pro became a weekly starter for the first time last season, earning elite PFF marks in the process. He was a restricted free agent this spring but had yet to sign his $3.26 million tender. That’s a tough break, to put it mildly. Achilles timelines have shortened significantly in recent years, but Washington will probably still miss the entire 2025 campaign. The Ravens are protected in part by their first-round selection of fellow S Malaki Starks, but May is not the month you already want to be dipping into your depth. Going on 26, Washington’s career future is murky after he worked so hard to finally become a regular contributor last season.
Chiefs signed fourth-round WR Jalen Royals to a four-year contract.
Royals doesn’t have an obvious and open spot in the receiving corps to build short-term fantasy value with Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, and Rashee Rice operating in the opening 11-personnel package. He may or may not play his way into WR4 duties depending on how the team feels about JuJu Smith-Schuster. Royals has plenty of talent and Brown is on a one-year deal, so there is a future where Royals is more than a bit player for the Chiefs. It likely won’t happen in his first season without injuries in front of him.
Matthew Judon said he “probably” won’t return to the Falcons in 2025.
The Falcons, of course, drafted both Jalon Walker and James Pearce in the first round. In an exclusive interview with CardPlayer.com — not to be confused with our PokerNews.com James Cook scoop a few days ago — Judon said that his sack total was down because “I dropped (into coverage) on 60 percent of the plays. It’s hard to get a pick and a sack on the same play.” Judon also told Kyle Odegard that “a couple” teams had expressed interest in him but he was in no rush to sign.
Jets released P Thomas Morstead.
Austin McNamara and Kai Kroeger will compete for the Jets punter job this year. The 39-year-old former Saint was the league’s oldest punter last season. If he wants to keep punting, he can absolutely join the tryout circuit or a competition elsewhere. But this is probably a sign that the Morstead’s 16-year career is close to an end at this point.
Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said it’s “going to be a breakout year” for Jameson Williams.
Morton said he’d never “been around someone that fast,” then quickly corrected himself to note that Jhamyr Gibbs is also that fast. Williams came on strong last year with a 58/1001/7 receiving line, but offensive coordinator praise could mean even more targets are coming. It would likely come at the expense of Amon-Ra St. Brown’s production if Williams were to truly break out, though there’s plenty for St. Brown to give and still be a top-flight fantasy wideout. It’s risky to read too much into statements like this in the offseason, but the new offensive coordinator telling you he thinks it’ll be a breakout year for Williams is certainly noteworthy.