Looking at the best Week 3 fantasy football waiver wire pickups, including New England Patriots’ wide receiver Kayshon Boutte.
Superstars largely dominated the scoring in Week 2. Relative to some of the wackiness we saw a week ago, Sunday felt like a correction of sorts. Even if your lineup was clicking on all cylinders, it remains important to attack the fantasy football waiver wire pickups with urgency, especially early on in the season. The goal is to have the deepest roster possible to be prepared for the inevitable chaos that is to come!
Speaking of chaos, we already have some brewing on the injury front at an unexpected position. Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels, Justin Fields, Brock Purdy and J.J. McCarthy are all banged up to varying degrees and will likely all be sidelined in Week 3. As a result, quarterbacks will undoubtedly be in high demand for fantasy football waiver wire pickups this week.
As always, we caution you on overreacting to box score stats when selecting and prioritizing your waiver claims. Instead, we encourage you to dig deeper into the numbers and put a greater emphasis on snap counts, targets and touches when deciphering the players you want to prioritize amongst your fantasy football waiver wire pickups. Like most years, many players around the league had inaccurate ADPs based on the opportunity available to them within their respective offenses.
Let’s take a look at the top fantasy football waiver wire pickups to target heading into Week 3.
Note: Players must be owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues to be included in the best fantasy football waiver wire pickups column. Ownership percentages will reflect their status on Tuesday mornings ahead of standard waiver processing.
Best Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 3
QB Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts (21.2%)
The “poor man’s Josh Allen” is back amongst our best fantasy football waiver wire pickups this week after another strong outing on Sunday. It’s pretty amazing what Daniel Jones has been able to do through two games with a respectable offensive line in front of him and a go-to target in tight end, Tyler Warren. He surpassed the 300-yard mark through the air in Week 2 and added yet another rushing touchdown, giving him three such scores through the first two games. Oh, and let’s not forget that this performance came against a Denver defense that is considered one of the best in the NFL. “Indiana Jones” deserves waiver priority at the QB position.
Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons (28.1%)
The Falcons dominated on Sunday Night Football despite Michael Penix Jr. not needing to do a whole lot. Atlanta’s game plan against Minnesota was to run the ball early and often. They did so very successfully, and Penix only passed for 135 yards in the lopsided victory. On the bright side, Penix gets a favorable matchup against Carolina in Week 3. On the downside, the Falcons may opt to run the ball heavily once again and should find success in doing so against a bad Panthers run defense. That said, with QBs seemingly dropping like flies, one could do much worse than to add the second-year pro for this matchup.
Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers (20.5%)
If you find yourself in need of a reliable starter or are looking to get a leg up on streaming the position, a waiver claim for Aaron Rodgers could be a solid place to start. The four-time MVP underwhelmed on Sunday after a blistering start in Week 1. However, a positive opportunity awaits Rodgers and the Steelers passing attack in Week 3 against a New England defense that has been shredded through the air by two very average offenses to begin the year. Opponents have completed nearly 76% of passes against the Pats over the first two weeks.
RB Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
Tyler Allgeier, Atlanta Falcons (34.1%)
Tyler Allgeier is another player returning to this fantasy football waiver wire pickups column for Week 3. Once again, he had a high usage rate working in complement to Bijan Robinson in the Falcons’ dominant rushing performance on Sunday night. Allgeier touched the ball on 17 of his 22 offensive snaps played and produced 76 rushing yards and a late touchdown. The impressive box score will garner more buzz in the mainstream fantasy waivers discussion, so if you are in need of RB depth, be sure to try and jump on him now. That said, don’t expect 15 PPR points on the regular.
Bhayshul Tuten, Jacksonville Jaguars (40.0%)
Although Travis Etienne is the clear RB1 in Jacksonville, Bhayshul Tuten was elevated to the RB2 role following the trade of Tank Bigsby to Philadelphia last week. While it’s a distant second to Etienne based on the snap counts, Tuten did average over five yards per carry and had a receiving touchdown in Week 2. LaQuaint Allen Jr. is also modestly involved here. While not expecting huge outputs from Tuten in the short-term, rostering him now is advised given the injury history and durability concerns of the lead back ahead of him in this offense.
WR Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
Kayshon Boutte, New England Patriots (26.4%)
Kayshon Boutte saw his ownership surge after leading the Patriots’ wide receiver corps in Week 1. Honestly, I’m a bit surprised at the time of writing that it’s only at 26% in ESPN leagues. Perhaps the consensus opinion was that Week 1 was a fluke. Well, Sunday’s snap counts confirmed that it wasn’t. Boutte once again led New England in both snaps and routes run. It may still be tough to trust him for weekly production (evidenced by just one target) but make no mistake about Boutte being the WR1 in this offense. It’s rare to have a player with this level of opportunity available in nearly 75% of leagues after two weeks of play.
Elic Ayomanor, Tennessee Titans (7.7%)
The Titans’ offense has experienced its fair share of growing pains with rookie QB Cam Ward at the controls. As ugly as it has been at times, Ward has shown flashes against two of the NFL’s top defenses. Another rookie in this offense who is perhaps more appealing on the fantasy football spectrum is Elic Ayomanor. The fourth-round draftee was on the field for 48 of the Titans’ offensive snaps in Week 2. He also found the end zone for the first time, but more importantly, has garnered 13 targets over the first two games. Ayomanor is the WR2 for Tennessee and should continue to improve along with Ward in the coming weeks.
Troy Franklin, Denver Broncos (2.0%)
Second-year pro Troy Franklin has plenty of speed to burn and appears to be taking the reins from Marvin Mims as the WR2 in the Broncos’ offense. In fact, the former Oregon standout led all Denver receivers with 49 snaps in Week 2. After seeing six targets in Week 1, he had nine come his way on Sunday. The fact that one of those turned into a touchdown means that plenty will be gunning to land him amongst this week’s fantasy football waiver wire pickups. He’s worth bidding for as the opportunity figures to have staying power given that Mims only played 21 offensive snaps and that Evan Engram is already dealing with injuries.
TE Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints (48.2%)
This is your friendly reminder that even terrible football teams can provide beacons of light on the fantasy football scene! After leading all tight ends in targets on opening weekend, Juwan Johnson tied for second with another nine balls thrown his way in Week 2. He only caught five of them this ime, but a touchdown once again enabled him to surpass 15 PPR points. The Saints’ lack of quality depth across the board will keep Johnson heavily involved on a weekly basis. This team also figures to be trailing a lot, resulting in a pass-happy offense.
Ja’Tavion Sanders, Carolina Panthers (1.0%)
Last week, it was Johnson who was featured in this fantasy football waiver wire pickups column with a tiny ownership. Ja’Tavion Sanders is the TE who is almost assuredly available in your league heading into Week 3. Given that the Panthers have a few more mouths to feed and a second tight end (Tommy Tremble) who is seeing playing time, Sanders may be tougher to trust on a weekly basis. That said, Sanders got the lion’s share of snaps on Sunday and caught seven of the nine targets thrown his way. He is more than capable of taking a big step forward in his sophomore NFL campaign.
Follow us on all of our social channels! Check out our Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok for more great FlurrySports content.
