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Week 3 of the 2021 NFL season brought unexpected fantasy football surprises and busts. Mike Riggall analyzes overreactions to Ben Roethlisberger, DeSean Jackson, Kendrick Bourne, and more.
Week 3 of the NFL season is now in the books and while we saw many familiar names register top-fantasy performances there were a few surprises. The quarterback position was fairly stable with Josh Allen coming in as QB-1 on the week off a four-touchdown performance. Justin Herbert had his own four-touchdown game against the Chiefs, Matthew Stafford torched the Buccaneers, Tom Brady threw for 432 yards and Sam Darnold rushed for two scores to round out the top-five. Kirk Cousins had another big game, finishing as QB-6 and is now QB-5 on the season. At tight end Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Mark Andrews finished inside the top-six, along with Tyler Conklin, Dalton Schultz and Mike Gesicki who were both more involved than usual in their respective offenses this week. One of the biggest disappointments this week was the lack of targets and production from T.J. Hockenson, who only had two catches for 10 scoreless yards.
At wide receiver, Mike Williams and Cooper Kupp continued to dominate, finishing as the top-two scorers in Week 3. Davante Adams, Emmanuel Sanders, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, D.K. Metcalf, DeSean Jackson, Kendrick Bourne and Chris Godwin rounded out the top-10. Most of the names inside the top-10 are familiar to this list, but Emmanuel Sanders, DeSean Jackson and Kendrick Bourne were a little surprising and each will be discussed later.
Kareem Hunt, James Robinson and Peyton Barber surprised us all and finished as top-five running backs on the week. Najee Harris gained just 40 yards on the ground but caught 14 balls for 102 yards on his way to a top-five finish. The rest of the top-10 was rather predictable, rounded out by D'Andre Swift who took advantage of a Baltimore defense without Brandon Williams, Alexander Mattison who filled in for Dalvin Cook, Austin Ekeler, Alvin Kamara, Saquon Barkley and Ezekiel Elliott who finished as RB-1. Now, let's take a look at some of the outliers from Week 3 and evaluate whether they're worth a spot on your roster or in your starting lineup.
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Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 3 Stats: 38-of-58 passing, 318 yards, 1 TD, 1 carry, 5 yards
Ben Roethlisberger is 39-years old and looked every bit of it this week as he struggled to get away from the Bengals pass rush. Roethlisberger was under pressure the entire day and was sacked four times while throwing two interceptions. The Steelers offensive line is brutal and cannot protect their immobile quarterback.
Bottom Line: Ben Roethlisberger is now QB-26 on the season and cannot be trusted as your starter. He may not even be worth a roster spot at this point.
Emmanuel Sanders, Buffalo Bills
Week 3 Stats: 6 targets, 5 catches, 94 yards, 2 TD
Heading into Week 3, Emmanuel Sanders was the third-most targeted wide receiver on the Bills offense and that remained true on Sunday as Sanders received just six targets compared to 13 for Cole Beasley and 10 for Stefon Diggs. As referenced in my wide receiver matchups article for Week 3, Sanders had a great matchup going against Benjamin St-Juste which he took full advantage of while Diggs saw William Jackson III and Beasley had to deal with Kendall Fuller.
Bottom Line: Emmanuel Sanders is a solid receiver, but this performance was a product of an easy matchup. Prior to Week 3, his season-high was 52 yards and he failed to score. Moving forward Sanders is nothing more than a matchup play if your fantasy team is dealing with injuries or bye weeks.
DeSean Jackson, L.A. Rams
Week 3 Stats: 5 targets, 3 catches, 120 yards, 1 TD
DeSean Jackson had a massive game in Week 3 which was highlighted by a 75-yard bomb from Matthew Stafford which went for a score. Jackson played just 21 of the Rams offensive snaps against the Buccaneers compared to 53 for Cooper Kupp, 57 for Robert Woods, and 50 for Van Jefferson.
Bottom Line: DeSean Jackson exploited a vulnerable secondary in Week 3 and cannot be trusted in your lineups moving forward unless the Rams have a similar matchup that's expected to be a shootout. The 21-snaps Jackson played in Week 3 exceed the 17 snaps he played the previous two weeks combined.
Kendrick Bourne, New England Patriots
Week 3 Stats: 8 targets, 6 catches, 96 yards, 1 TD
Kendrick Bourne played 76% of the Patriots offensive snaps compared to 95.8% for Jakobi Meyers and 80.6% for Nelson Agholor. James White left this contest very early due to injury, which left the Patriots short a pass-target and Jonnu Smith surprisingly played just 42% of the offensive snaps which is down from the 73.3% he played in Week 1 and 49.2% he played in Week 2. Smith did tip a ball from Mac Jones which was intercepted and taken for a score which may have contributed to his low snap count and he's also been dealing with a minor hip injury. The 55 snaps that Bourne logged in Week 3 was a season-high, his previous high of 54.2% came in Week 2.
Bottom Line: This is an extremely tough situation to navigate because it's unclear whether Bourne's usage increased in Week 3 because Jonnu Smith is starting to fall out of favor or because James White went down with an injury. Regardless of Bourne's long-term outlook, he should see a lot of volume in Week 4 against a struggling Buccaneers pass defense and is worth starting consideration in deeper PPR-leagues.
Peyton Barber, Las Vegas Raiders
Week 3 Stats: 23 carries, 111 yards, 1 TD, 5 targets, 3 catches, 31 yards
Peyton Barber played 56.6% of the Raiders offensive snaps compared to just 43.4% for Kenyan Drake. While Barber is clearly viewed as the early-down back for the Raiders and is getting more work than Drake, six of his carries came in overtime including a 27-yard run.
Bottom Line: Peyton Barber is a running back that's extremely dependent on volume to rack up statistics. If Josh Jacobs misses Week 4, Barber will be an intriguing option against the Chargers who have given up 70-or-more rushing yards to Antonio Gibson, Tony Pollard, Ezekiel Elliott and Clyde Edwards-Helaire so far this season. While the Chargers have given up significant rushing performances to their opponents this year, there's always a chance that Justin Herbert and the Chargers put points up on the Raiders early and force them to abandon the run which makes the idea of relying on Barber very troublesome.
Giovani Bernard, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 3 Stats: 10 targets, 9 catches, 51 yards, 1 TD
Giovani Bernard played a season-high 45.2% of the Buccaneers offensive snaps in Week 3. The Buccaneers struggled to run the ball against a tough Rams rush defense and as a result, they abandoned the run and threw the ball 55 times compared to just nine rushing plays.
Bottom Line: Giovani Bernard simply can't be trusted in your lineups. Bernard is clearly the passing-down back for Tampa Bay and is unlikely to ever get any early-down work behind Leonard Fournette or Ronald Jones. Bernard played more snaps in Week 3 than he played in the previous two weeks combined.
Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts
Week 3 Stats: 10 carries, 64 yards, 3 targets, 1 catch, 8 yards
Jonathan Taylor averaged 6.4 yards-per-carry against the Titans but as the Colts fell behind, Taylor's playing time dwindled and he only logged 47.5% of the offensive snaps. Nyheim Hines played 55.7% of the Colts offensive snaps as the team tried to catch up to the Titans. Taylor did not touch the ball in the fourth quarter.
Bottom Line: Jonathan Taylor has touched the ball 50 times through three games and has gained 241 yards-from-scrimmage. While Taylor has failed to score so far in this young season, and disappeared in Week 3 due to game flow, he is producing when he does touch the ball. Taylor may be a player you want to get on your roster via trade.
Damien Harris, New England Patriots
Week 3 Stats: 6 carries, 14 yards, 2 targets, 2 catches, -3 yards
Damien Harris played a season-low 30.6% of the Patriots offensive snaps in Week 3. The Patriots fell behind early against the Saints and their offense struggled to sustain any long drives throughout the contest, resulting in very light usage for Harris.
Bottom Line: The Patriots play the Buccaneers in Week 4 so you only want to rely on Damien Harris if you're desperate and don't have other viable options.
T.J. Hockenson, Detroit Lions
Week 3 Stats: 2 targets, 2 catches, 10 yards
T.J. Hockenson was barely involved in the Lions offense in Week 3 but he's still TE-3 on the season. Hockenson's performance is a little surprising because the Ravens had been gashed by Darren Waller and Travis Kelce in consecutive weeks, but D'Andre Swift and Kalif Raymond dominated targets in the Lions passing game. The Lions had success on the ground and fed the ball to its running backs 26 times which also played into Hockenson's poor performance.
Bottom Line: T.J. Hockenson is the second-most targeted player on the Lions behind D'Andre Swift and third-most targeted tight end in the NFL through the first three weeks of the season. He will be fine moving forward. Don't panic.
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