Week 3 is upon us and injuries are starting to take their tolls around the league, which really affect season long leagues even more than our daily fantasy lineups. With that said, the injuries are an intriguing thing for DFS purposes as it presents new possibilities and shiny objects for us to want to play with. Week 3 brings us the return of last years Fantasy Sports MVP as Le’Veon Bell returns from his 2 game suspension.
Last week saw a lot go wrong for a number of the top options or at least the guys that I was really high on around the industry and we will look to get back on track this week. The QB/WR combos that I hit on last week were obviously Matt Ryan/Julio Jones, Tom Brady/Gronk and Roethlisberger/Antonio Brown. The pretty obvious guys unfortunately. I had Carson Palmer right, just paired with the wrong wide receiver. I basically whiffed on my RB/DEF stacks last week and it pained me greatly as I could not believe how terribly my top 3 defenses played last week (STL, MIA and BALT). The one call that really stuck out as my proud moment (and thanks for the Twitter love for it guys) was the David Johnson/Arizona sneaky option as Johnson is not a huge part of the offense but he is extremely dangerous and I think that combination is in play this week as well.
QB/WR Stacks
At this point, how can we not suggest Tom Brady/Rob Gronkowski/Julian Edelman as the top choice when it comes to stacks? I am starting to jump on board with the idea that the Patriots are going to go out and do their best to give the NFL a big middle finger this year. The Patriots are big time favorites against the Jaguars and this generally would lead to a lot of Blount and Lewis out of the backfield however I’m not afraid to getting a stud 1st half out of this trio as they should be in a spot to really run up the score.
My next combo for this weekend might shock you as far as being my number 2 choice, however I think Andrew Luck/Donte Moncrief are in a great spot to explode this weekend as Moncrief seems to have all of Luck’s trust right now. Luck has looked pretty bad so far this season and that is similar to last year as they were 0-2 at this point and in week 3 Luck came out and fired 4 TD passes to go with 370 yards. Hilton has been slowed by his injury and may not yet but up to full speed and Moncrief just offers us too much for such a low price tag.
Number 3 on my list is the combination of Matt Ryan/Julio Jones as these two have chemistry that is only rivaled by Big Ben and Antonio Brown. I think this combination is going to be under owned and that may shock you as these two should generally be a top 3 combination on any given week. People are really afraid of this new ball control offense of the Cowboys and how it limits its opposition. I think that is generally an interesting concern, however the Cowboys are going to be without Tony Romo and Dez Bryant. I think the Atlanta defense does its best to take away the running game to force Brandon Weeden to beat them, which may lead to a number of 3 and outs.
I am going to lump numbers 4 and 5 in the same paragraph as I can’t make a distinction as to which I like the most. The combinations are Peyton Manning/Demaryius Thomas/Emmanuel Sanders and Carson Palmer/Larry Fitzgerald. With the Broncos offense, I feel like I noticed something click late last week and they get a few extra days to work on things for this Sunday night game against the Lions who were dominated by the Chargers wide receivers in week 1. If you had to choose just 1 Bronco WR to pair with Manning, I would lean Sanders over Thomas, however Thomas may be the sneakier option at this point. Palmer is tied with Brady for the most TD passes so far this season and Fitzgerald looks somewhat rejuvenated as he is racking up the targets so far. The 49ers defense was just torn apart by Big Ben and Antonio Brown, so this lines up as a great spot for the Cardinals passing game.
RB/DEF Stacks
The top option to stack this week is the combination of Marshawn Lynch/Seattle as they get to take on the Bears at home, while being 0-2 on the season. The Bears are most likely starting Jimmy Clausen while the Seahawks defense welcomes the return of Kam Chancellor. I think C.J. Anderson bounces back as signs point to him playing and I think this week he goes pretty under owned and pays off in addition to the Broncos defense. C.J. Anderson/Denver is a sneaky pairing in my eyes as people have been burned by Anderson so far this season and the Broncos defense gets to take on a banged up Matthew Stafford this week. My last combination has a caveat to it as there is some injury concern to the #1, which would put the #2 in play. Chris Ivory/Bilal Powell/New York Jets are an intriguing option as they take on a struggling Eagles team. The Eagles offensive line has been a massive struggle so far and the Jets are able to get after any QB, which could cause problems for a struggling Sam Bradford. The Jets offense likes to control the ball and while I love their passing game in this one, I think their RB’s could steal the show. My hope is that Ivory is good to go, however should he be out Powell offers excellent upside with his ability to catch passes.
Returner/DEF Stacks
I will start this out with my big winner last week as I think David Johnson/Arizona are in a prime spot to pay off yet again for us. The 49ers travel to Arizona and have a tall task on hand as the Cardinals defense is coming off of an excellent performance and the 49ers offense shouldn’t be as solid as it has been. Johnson has electrified in his first two professional games so far and there is a rumor of him being introduced into more of the offense going forward. If that is the case then Johnson may find himself in the RB/DEF combination section. Last week I wrote about Tyler Lockett/Seattle and I am sure a lot of people thought I was off my rocker against the Packers and while it didn’t payoff, I am completely on that combination again this week as they should cause the Bears offense to punt quite a bit, when they aren’t turning it over. With the passing game, we never know where the targets are going to go and after Jimmy Graham complained, I would imagine he gets fed religiously. With that said, Lockett should become more and more involved in the offense as he is extremely dangerous with the ball. Travis Benjamin/Cleveland is my interesting option for this week as Benjamin has been extremely explosive from all over the field with 3 50+ yard touchdowns already on the season. The Browns defense is nothing special and can generally be picked on by opposing RB’s which is why I really like Latavius Murray, however the Raiders offense is pretty raw overall and are not against turning it over and Joe Haden is always looking for a pick-6.
Thanks for taking the time to check out this weeks article and as always, hit me up on twitter! We also have added a comments section to our articles here at DFSreport, so I would definitely appreciate some feedback and feel free to ask questions as I will definitely get them answered! Happy grinding!
