We wrap up Week 3 of the NFL season with another Monday Night Football slate featuring a two games yet again. I wasn’t too fond of this format a week ago, but it at least presents better teams this time around. We’ll get another two-game slate in Week 14 for Monday Night Football and then we get a Christmas Day three-game slate similar to Thanksgiving. The NFL is definitely taking charge of trying new things with their scheduling. To each their own! The big news on this slate will be the health and status of Joe Burrow for the Cincinnati Bengals. He’s questionable to play with his calf injury. He was limited in practice, but during Sunday’s walk through he apparently worked with the first team. We’ll monitor the news throughout the day and provide necessary updates as well to put you in the best position to build your winning lineups for Monday night’s main slate. Do take advantage of our NFL DFS Projections and NFL DFS Lineup Generator for this slate if looking to build multiple lineups.

 

These two-game slates kind of suck the fun out of DFS. There’s so much overlap and if we lose one of the best quarterbacks in this game then that also significantly downgrades his weapons, thus forcing more rostership on the chalk players. So it’s not wise to play Cash games because you’ll likely be entering the same builds as everyone else. Some of you asked last week for Example Lineups, so I’ll cave and provide some for this slate although it’s such a limited player pool so I’d still advise building your own. I will publish the lineups at the bottom of this article between 6:45pm-7:00pm ET. I understand the slate locks at 7:15pm ET. The reason I’ll be holding off publishing Example Lineups is because I want the most accurate information before doing so. The inactives for the Eagles/Buccaneers will be available at 5:45pm ET and then we won’t have the official Joe Burrow news for that game’s inactives until 6:45pm ET.

 

Quarterbacks

Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia Eagles

Hurts can deliver on everything we require in this matchup. For starters, he’s in one of the best offenses in the league. But beyond that there’s passing volume and rushing upside. We haven’t quite seen him hit his ceiling through the first two weeks. But he’s only $8,000 on DraftKings for this two-game slate which seems soft, right? The Bucs have been tough to run on through two weeks, but you can throw on them. Kirk Cousins dropped 328 passing yards on this secondary in Week 1.

Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals

On the surface, a $6,600 price tag for Joe Burrow is hilarious. When at full health he’s easily an $8K kind of quarterback on DraftKings. But he is dealing with a calf injury and he’s Questionable for this game. The good news is that he did take first-team reps during Sunday’s walk through as mentioned above, so I’d say he’s trending towards playing. The price tag is phenomenal so if he’s playing, I’d try to be overweight based on the price alone. But it’s clear he’s struggling to push off on the calf. The Bengals have really tried to push through this injury and it’s unsurprising that it’s been re-aggravated. Nobody cares what I think, but personally I think he should sit and get his body right. If he’s out I wouldn’t have too much interest in Jake Browning aside from 10% exposure in Tournaments if making 20+ lineups. Sure, the Rams have been tough to throw on through two weeks. But they’ve played Geno Smith and Brock Purdy. I’ll take a limping Joe Burrow over those two any week if he suits up.

Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams

Despite not having Cooper Kupp at his disposal, Stafford has looked fantastic through the team’s first two weeks. He’s attempted 93 total pass attempts through two games so far and he’s registered 300+ passing yards in back-to-back games. It’s one hell of a coaching job by Sean McVay and we’ve only seen one touchdown pass from Stafford so far. Despite the passing volume, he hasn’t even crossed 20+ fantasy points yet on DraftKings but it’s coming. 

Baker Mayfield, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The beautiful thing about Baker Mayfield’s performance through two weeks is that he’s integrated a quick release into his game. Tampa’s offensive coordinator, Dave Canales, should be in line for some head coaching interviews at the end of the year. Maybe I’m jumping the gun but this offense has injected new line into Mayfield and vice versa. He’ll clearly face his most difficult matchup Monday night, but the Eagles defense has shown deficiencies at times and he could get garbage time. Regardless, the $5,500 price tag on DraftKings makes him an appealing option at quarterback.

 

Running Backs

Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

We are pretty much getting what we’ve always received from Mixon so far. His yards per carry is okay (4.42) and he has some involvement in the passing game so far with seven receptions on 10 targets for 53 yards. He’s still involved even though he hasn’t delivered a slate-breaking performance yet. And hey, if Joe Burrow is inactive in this matchup, we’re potentially looking at the backup quarterback to Jake Browning…

Look at that form! He is beauty. He is grace. We saw Keenan Allen throw a 49-yard touchdown to Mike Williams yesterday. What’s stopping Mixon from a ‘hold my beer’ touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase? So far through two games the Rams have allowed 255 rushing yards and 159 of those yards came last week against Christian McCaffrey and the San Francisco 49ers. There is potential with this play and we may see Cincy lean more on the run game if Burrow is ruled out for this matchup.

Rachaad White, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

We definitely can’t complain about the volume that White has seen through two games so far. He’s had 34 carries and caught all seven of his targets and he was a DFS gem for yours truly last week. This is a tough matchup as the Philadelphia Eagles come to town. While the Eagles are a little beat up on the defensive side, they’d yielded just 104 rushing yards through two games. The caveat to that is the Eagles have allowed 16 receptions to opposing running backs so far for 98 yards. It’s not the sexiest matchup we’ve ever seen but we know that Baker Mayfield has no problem checking down to his running backs and if the Bucs’ O-line can’t contain the pass rush then we could see Mayfield and White connect a few times.

D’Andre Swift, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

If you ask me, I would’ve priced Swift over White on DraftKings, but I won’t argue with the discount. Swift had a monster performance 11 days ago. He touched the ball over 30 times and churned out 181 total yards and a touchdown. He benefitted from Kenneth Gainwell being inactive and it looks like the Eagles just hate the idea of giving Rashaad Penny any kind of workload. One thing that always bothered me about Swift’s game was that he would always try to run around blockers and avoid getting hit. However, this tweet from Davis Mattek of Sportsgrid and RotoGrinders really summed up this new style of running from Swift…

The Bucs have allowed just 108 rushing yards through two games but to be fair they’ve played Chicago and Minnesota and neither team has showcased a particularly deadly ground attack. Kenneth Gainwell will likely reclaim some of the work he missed out on after being inactive last week and as always, Jalen Hurts is a threat to run the ball as well. Swift still has some risk, but at least we know this is more of a GPP-only type of slate and he’s very much in play for this format.

Kyren Williams, RB, Los Angeles Rams

It’s such an odd slate when there’s a clear running back to target. The Los Angeles Rams recently traded Cam Akers to the Minnesota Vikings. It was the final nail in the coffin to officially lock in Williams as the RB1 in this offense. Williams has at least 15 touches in each of his first two games and he even had 10 targets last week against the San Francisco 49ers. He has four touchdowns through two games and there’s no reason to think he won’t find the end zone tonight. The Bengals have allowed 384 rushing yards so far and they don’t generate the greatest pass rush in the league. That’s kind of a challenge against this well-coached offensive line for Los Angeles.

Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Most expect Gainwell to come back and still get his workload in this matchup. I could see that being the case. NFL players typically don’t lose their job or workload due to an injury, so despite Swift having a monstrous game a week ago, I imagine Gainwell still sees plenty of action. Gainwell wasn’t efficient against New England but he had 18 touches, including four receptions for 11.4 fantasy points. As noted earlier, the Bucs have been tough to run on through two games but the three-head monster for this run game should get plenty of work and cause fits for the Tampa defense.

Sean Tucker, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

He’s probably as cheap as I’m willing to go on this slate at the running back position. We don’t root for injuries to happen, but that’s what it would take from Rachaad White to get Tucker more work. He looks to be a better pure runner than White. White needed to work on his vision and hitting the holes better and while he struggled with that in Week 1, he looked better in Week 2. But Tucker has some upside. His draft stock took a hit because he wasn’t medically cleared for most pre-draft activities and his pro day wasn’t until the week of the draft. He likely would have been a day two draft pick. But the running back position is heavily dependent on opportunity. So far Tucker has seen 15 touches through two games so while he’ll be a contrarian option, there is inherent risk.

 

Wide Receivers

Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

It’s been a frustrating start to the season for Chase. The volume has definitely been there with 17 targets through two games. He has 10 catches but hasn’t found the end zone and the receiving production has been down. But it’s not for lack of effort to get him the ball. The read on this one is simple, if Burrow plays, I’m still fine playing Chase and Tee Higgins. If Burrow sits then the only upside in playing these two boils down to leverage but the overall fantasy production could be very light.

AJ Brown, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

This will be AJ Brown’s squeaky wheel game. We all know it’s coming. To kick off Week 2, the Eagles had to play the Vikings and it was mostly the D’Andre Swift and DeVonta Smith show and we had this on the sideline…

Personally, I think Jalen Hurts handled that masterfully. You’ve got a premiere wide receiver that’s upset he isn’t getting the ball. And after the camera caught that on the sideline there was a concerted effort to get Brown the ball and get him going. It just didn’t happen in Week 2. But it’ll almost certainly happen Monday night against the Buccaneers who can be beaten through the air. They operate more as a pass funnel defense so this plays right into guy’s strengths Monday night. Brown and his squeaky wheel will get the oil Monday night.

DeVonta Smith, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Smith has found the end zone in each of the first two weeks this season and he’s really flashed big play upside. He has 15 targets so far, which is good. But compared to Puka Nacua it’s nothing. I do believe there will be more of an effort to get Brown the ball to keep a star wide receiver happy. And as mentioned in the Brown writeup, the Bucs have more of a pass funnel defense so while I think Brown has the bigger night, we can’t sleep on Smith one bit.

Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams

Of course, the darling of fantasy football right now makes the Playbook and his stats speak loudly regarding his potential. He’s caught 25 of his 35 targets for 266 yards through two games. After Week 2 he led the league in targets where a player was deemed ‘open’ or ‘wide open’ according to Jacob Gibbs of CBS Sports. Nacua had 20 such targets, the next closest was Chris Olave with just 12. Matthew Stafford thrives when he has that one player to target as we’ve seen in previous years. Will Nacua continue to see 15 targets per game? No, it’s just wildly unsustainable. But even $6,400 on a short slate like this feels a little underpriced.

Mike Evans, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Through two games, only Tyreek Hill had averaged more yards per route run (3.92) than Mike Evans (3.76). Evans and Baker Mayfield have displayed excellent chemistry so far this year. He’s recorded six receptions and a touchdown in each of his first two games. The concern in this matchup is that Darius Slay will shadow Evans. It’s not ideal and Slay could certainly pose a problem for Evans tonight. But in Week 2, Justin Jefferson did catch seven of eight targets for 88 yards when shadowed by Slay. Jefferson is certainly in a different tier than Evans, but it shows that Slay can be beaten.

Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

Everything that was said in the Ja’Marr Chase section applies to Higgins. He was held to zero fantasy points in Week 1, but bounced back last week catching two touchdown passes. If Burrow is active you can play him, but if he sits then everybody and their mother are likely fading the Bengals offense aside from maybe Joe Mixon. The Rams haven’t really been tested through the air on defense as they’ve allowed just 291 passing yards through two weeks and if Jake Browning starts at quarterback for the Bengals, then it looks like that test will be delayed another week.

Chris Godwin, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Godwin hasn’t quite shown the same rapport with Baker Mayfield as Evans has, but he still has five catches in each game so far. There may be some DFS players that flock to Godwin over Evans because of Slay shadowing Godwin’s teammate, but James Bradberry is back after missing last week’s matchup against the Minnesota Vikings and it’s expected that Bradberry will shadow Godwin. He’s still having a good season, but for DFS, these five catches for 50-60 yard performances don’t go a long way to taking down a Tournament. He fits perfectly fine in Tampa stacks, but I’d rather stack Baker with White and just one of these receivers.

Tutu Atwell, WR, Los Angeles Rams

Atwell would be the talk of the fantasy community if Puka Nacua didn’t exist. Nacua’s 35 targets in two games are outlandishly impressive. But Atwell’s been just fine in his own right. He has 13 receptions for 196 receiving yards on 17 targets. The price tag seems excessive for Atwell, but it’s a short slate and we can make it work. Assuming that the Rams keep attacking with this one-two punch of Nacua and Atwell, it wouldn’t come as a surprise for both players to have productive games. The Bengals don’t look to have a great defense so this is a spot the Rams can do some damage both on the ground and through the air. Van Jefferson can be viewed as a punt to save $1,100 and get exposure to this offense. He’s a big play threat but he hasn’t nearly been as involved as Nacua or Atwell through two weeks.

Trey Palmer, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

He’s a player to consider if you “big brain” the shadow coverage for Tampa’s two biggest receiving threats. Palmer likely won’t see any coverage from Darius Slay or James Bradberry. But he also comes off the field for two-wide receiver sets. He has five targets through two weeks but did find the end zone in Week 1. This is a boom-or-bust GPP play that likely has minimal ownership and could pay off if he finds the end zone. Deven Thompkins may get a few snaps and maybe two touches, but his appeal is more in the return game for the Bucs.

Olamide Zaccheaus, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Zaccheaus gets a bit of a value bump because Quez Watkins is out. Zaccheaus should see more work in three-wide receiver sets but he hasn’t been involved so far this year. Even when Watkins was on the field, he still only had two targets in Week 1. Britain Covey may also see some extra reps and he’s used in the return game as well with Watkins out. Both players are mostly just large-field GPP plays.

 

Tight Ends

Dallas Goedert, TE, Philadelphia Eagles

It’s not a great slate for tight ends but we’ll kick it off with the most expensive option on the board. Goedert’s been quiet through two games. He didn’t have a single catch in Week 1 but there was more of an effort in Week 2 to get him going. He caught six-of-seven targets but only for 22 yards. Goedert and AJ Brown have watched DeVonta Smith run wild the first two games, but they’ll get their share in due time. Last week he was fifth in route involvement rate among tight ends with an 87% rate trailing just Tyler Higbee, Hunter Henry, Kyle Pitts, and Durham Smythe. He was also outstanding in run blocking last week and with that kind of effort you imagine the team wants to reward for his efforts at some point. The Bucs haven’t been tested too much by opposing tight ends but through two games they’ve allowed 12 catches to the position.

Tyler Higbee, TE, Los Angeles Rams

We don’t necessarily have the greatest of analysis here, but we know Higbee will get targets. He has 10 through two games including seven last week. Puka Nacua has stolen the headlines for the Rams pass catchers so far but Higbee is still involved. The downside with this guy is that he just doesn’t do much with the ball once he catches it. He secures it and is okay being tackled. But no tight on this slate is price over $5,000 so it’s hard to find one to fade especially when we have one that gets as much work as he does. If you wanted to get really weird and differentiate your builds you could throw Brycen Hopkins into a lineup or two, but his involvement has been minimal through two games.

Cade Otton, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This is a pretty interesting opportunity for Otton Monday night. He’s played 97% of the team’s offensive snaps, and sure, a lot of that is blocking since the Bucs have called 67 running plays through the first two weeks. But he is coming off a week where he caught all six of his targets for 41 yards and he plays a defense that has surrendered 15 catches and three touchdowns to the tight end position so far this year. I doubt he sees six targets Monday night, but he’s an interesting candidate since his anytime touchdown prop opened at +280 with Caesars. 

Drew Sample, TE, Cincinnati Bengals

Irv Smith is doubtful with a hamstring injury after logging limited practices late last week. I’d prefer to not go down here if I could avoid it, especially if Joe Burrow sits. Sample has just 13 receptions since 2021, including two all of last year. Even at this cheap $2,500 price tag you would need two touchdown grabs from him to likely hit the optimal lineup and that seems even less likely to happen if Burrow is inactive. But he’ll have an opportunity to be on the field more assuming Irv Smith doesn’t suit up.

 

Defenses/Special Teams

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles had several players pop up on the injury report over the last week. The good news is that only two offensive players have been ruled out so far. They’ll get James Bradberry back as well as Reed Blankenship. Even Jordan Davis popped up with an ankle issue, but he looks good to go. It’s a short slate but they’re probably the best defensive option available to us. And because it’s a short slate, I’m okay playing some Buccaneers players in lineups that stack Eagles players and this D/ST. The Birds are favored by about five points and the projected total is right around 45 points. I expect the Eagles front seven to have a commanding presence and get some pressure on Baker Mayfield.

Los Angeles Rams

There’s obvious appeal here and they probably become the chalk of the slate if Joe Burrow is ruled out. The Rams only have three sacks on the season and they’ve forced zero turnovers so far. They haven’t exhibited a great ceiling and they had some personnel turnover in the offseason. They’re just two-point underdogs in this matchup with a game total of about 43.5 points. However, I’d expect some line movement if Burrow is inactive.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I’m mostly including the Bucs to avoid questions like “How do you feel about this defense? They didn’t make the Playbook…” If you need the salary relief, you can go here. They’ve forced ample pressure on Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield so far. They have eight sacks and five takeaways through two games while holding both the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings to just 17 points. They have a much more difficult test Monday night. The Eagles have one of the best offensive lines in the league so pressure and sacks will be more difficult to come by.

 

Example Lineups

These lineups are nearly identical, including the pivots. There lone difference being the Eagles pivot with each build. For DraftKings, the pivot is D’Andre Swift, while on FanDuel the honor of pivoting goes to Kenneth Gainwell.

DraftKings

QB – Jalen Hurts

     Pivot – Matthew Stafford

RB – Kyren Williams

RB – Rachaad White

     Pivot – D’Andre Swift

WR – AJ Brown

WR – DeVonta Smith

     Pivot – Puka Nacua

WR – Tutu Atwell

TE – Cade Otton

FLEX – Tyler Higbee

     Pivot – Ja’Marr Chase

D/ST – Philadelphia Eagles

 

FanDuel

QB – Jalen Hurts

     Pivot – Matthew Stafford

RB – Kyren Williams

RB – Rachaad White

     Pivot – Kenneth Gainwell

WR – AJ Brown

WR – DeVonta Smith

     Pivot – Puka Nacua

WR – Tutu Atwell

TE – Cade Otton

FLEX – Tyler Higbee

     Pivot – Ja’Marr Chase

D/ST – Philadelphia Eagles