Week 3 Fantasy Football Streaming Options
Week 2 didn’t prove the best week on the stream, so we’ll just use our fantasy mulligan here and move ahead to the top streaming candidates for Week 3. Streaming can help bail you out of a bad pick, get your team through a rough bye week, or simply be part of an overarching, season-long strategy.
For streaming purposes, 4for4’s Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points Allowed (aFPA) is a metric we rely on heavily to determine weekly matchup strength. Since aFPA requires a minimum of three to four weeks of data to provide truly reliable results, streaming options in these early weeks will be selected based on a combination of predicted fantasy points allowed, projected usage and track record.
To provide advice that you can actually use, candidates for streaming must be available in at least 50% of Yahoo fantasy leagues.
Quarterbacks
Trevor Siemian, Broncos at Bills (38% owned)
In what can only be described as an unexpected start to the season at the quarterback position, Denver signal caller Siemian is the No. 1 fantasy quarterback through two weeks. The Broncos head to Buffalo in Week 3, to face a Bills defense with the fifth-highest aFPA in 2016, during which it allowed an average of 18 points a game to opposing quarterbacks.
Denver’s offense should very little trouble finding scoring opportunities against the Bills, and should control the game flow with the strength of its dominant defense. Siemian likely won’t be at the top of the fantasy quarterback mountain for long, but his Week 3 matchup gives him the opportunity to remain for at least one more week.
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Jay Cutler, Dolphins at Jets (31% owned)
Miami’s Week 3 matchup is a juicy one, with a trip north to meet the winless, hapless Jets on tap. The Jets have been among the friendliest defenses to quarterbacks through the first two weeks of the season. They allowed Tyrod Taylor to score 19.8 fantasy points in Week 1, and then surrendered 21.2 points to Derek Carr last week.
Cutler may be new to Miami, but he’s quite familiar with Adam Gase’s offense after the year the two spent together in Chicago. He used his new weapons quite well last week, hooking up with Jarvis Landry 13 times for 78 yards, and DeVante Parker four times for 85 yards. His ownership will likely continue to climb, but for now the Dolphins quarterback fits the criteria for a quality Week 3 streamer.
Deshaun Watson, Texans at Patriots (13% owned)
Watson draws the mighty Patriots in his second career start in Week 3. As daunting a matchup with Bill Belichick is, Alex Smith gashed the Patriots in Week 1, and Drew Brees racked up 356 yards and a pair of touchdowns last week. Some of Brees’s production came in garbage time, but the fact remains that the Patriots pass defense has been beatable this season. Smith and Brees combined to score 53.26 fantasy points in their games against the Patriots.
Watson is still an unknown commodity, but this isn’t a terrible spot if you’re looking for help at the quarterback position in Week 3. He also brings a rushing element to the table, evidenced by his 49-yard rushing score in the Texans 13-9 win over the Bengals last week.
Tight Ends
Gerald Everett, Rams at 49ers (1% owned)
Two games into the Sean McVay era, the Rams offense has been impressively efficient. Jared Goff looks like a completely different quarterback, making good use of all of his weapons. One of those is the rookie tight end Everett. He didn’t have much of a role in the Rams Week 1 win over the Colts, but caught all three of his targets for 95 yards in the loss to the Redskins last week. That made him the team’s leading receiver in Week 2, and he was third in targets behind Cooper Kupp and Todd Gurley.
This week, the Rams head to Santa Clara to face a winless 49ers team that ranked in the bottom-third of the NFL last season at defending tight ends, with an aFPA of 13.8 PPR points. Teams don’t use second-round picks on tight ends, as the Rams did on Everett, if they don’t plan to feature them, so it’s a safe bet he’ll be heavily involved in their offensive scheme all season. Fantasy owners are late to the Everett party. Despite ranking 16th in points, he’s still available in nearly every fantasy league. He’s a solid Week 3 streamer, and with all the injuries at the position, he could be prove himself worth holding onto for the long haul.
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Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Jets vs. Dolphins (4% owned)
Returning from a two-game suspension for violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy, Seferian-Jenkins is one of the more intriguing widely-available players, regardless of position. The Jets have been hunting for a tight end for years, and there’s no doubting Seferian-Jenkins’s talent. Remember, the Buccaneers made him the 38th overall pick in the 2014 draft, but he quickly fell out of favor in Tampa. He showed up at training camp 30 pounds lighter, seemingly realizing this could be his last shot in the league.
The Jets host the Dolphins this week. In their Week 2 season debut, they allowed Hunter Henry and Antonio Gates to combine for nine catches, 91 yards and a touchdown. The Jets need playmakers wherever they can find them, and Seferian-Jenkins, from the perspective of raw talent, is as good a bet as any to catch Josh McCown’s eye.
Ed Dickson, Panthers vs. Saints (4% owned)
Dickson is the next man up in Carolina after Greg Olsen broke a bone in his foot last week. It’s not clear how the division of targets will fall in Week 3 for the Panthers offense, and Dickson isn’t likely to get all of looks once slated for Olsen. He’s going to have to share those with Devin Funchess and Christian McCaffrey. Still, it’s worth rolling of the dice on the 30-year old tight end with the putrid Saints defense on the other side of the line.
The Saints have allowed double-digit PPR points to opposing tight ends in both of their games this season. To be fair, they’ve seen Kyle Rudolph and Rob Gronkowski, but they haven’t done much to slow down either one. Rudolph caught three passes for 26 yards and a score, while Gronkowski went off for six catches, 116 yards and a touchdown. Dickson will be touchdown-dependent, but he can be weapon for Cam Newton in the red zone.
Defenses
Philadelphia Eagles, vs. Giants (40% owned)
The Giants offense has struggled mightily this season. There’s no semblance of a running game, Brandon Marshall has been a non-factor, and Eli Manning and the offensive line aren’t even in the same book, let alone on the same page. Odell Beckham looked mostly like himself in his season debut after missing Week 1 with an ankle injury, and he can inject some life in the offense this week, but this is still a great matchup for the Eagles. They’re set up to exploit the Giants weaknesses with Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox and Vinny Curry all potentially too much for the line to handle. The Philadelphia defense has produced eight sacks and three fumble recoveries in 2017.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers, at Vikings (27% owned)
The Buccaneers defense looked great in its season debut against Chicago. The group produced four turnovers, one of which was a pick-six by Robert McClain, and held the Bears scoreless until the final two minutes of the game. Minnesota’s playmakers looked elite in Week 1, but that was with Sam Bradford under center against a pillowy-soft Saints defense. They looked a whole lot different with Case Keenum at the helm against the Steelers last week. Should Bradford be on the sidelines again, the Buccaneers will be one of the strongest streaming options on the board for Week 3. Even if Bradford returns, they’ll project as a backend starter in 12-team leagues.
Green Bay Packers, vs. Bengals (43% owned)
The Bengals are one of two teams that have yet to find the end zone this season (the 49ers are the other), and have only put nine points on the scoreboard. The line has been completely incapable of protecting Andy Dalton or creating holes for the run game, and that has stalled the offense through two weeks. The Packers get a pass for last week, as there aren’t many, if any, defenses in the league that are going to go into Atlanta and look good this season. Even with his line struggling, Dalton hasn’t looked great this season, highlighted by a five-turnover game in Week 1.
