The Game Plan For Week 3 (#FantasyFootball)

Going For 2 fanbase my name is @TheBLeagueSays and in this week’s ‘Gameplan for the Week’, I will give to you some plays to make for seasonal and daily roster construction, prop bets, and dynasty evaluations. Before you make any start and sit decisions this weekend make sure you check out our weekly rankings also.

Thank you, and enjoy!

Slant Route

Once, twice, three times a…maybe:

In Week 1, Jay Gruden told us that James Robinson was the starting running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars and no one really believed him and the rookie that most had not heard of had a decent debut with 90 combined yards. Ok, it’s the Jaguars and it wasn’t the most convincing performance, I get it. So onto Week 2, against the tough division rival in the Titans and Robinson gashes them for 120 combined yards and a touchdown which currently sees him as the RB14 in PPR to start the season with a healthy 15.5 points per game. For what it’s worth, that’s better than some of our favorites who we dropped early-round selections on like Derrick Henry, David Johnson, Austin Ekeler, and Kenyan Drake.

On a short week with the Thursday night matchup, Jacksonville welcomes Miami to Duval County, and although priced at $5400 on Draft Kings seems appealing, the Dolphins have given up the 9th fewest points per game to running backs so far this year – yes, I am aware that Cam Newton and Josh Allen both smashed them, the keywords would be ‘running’ and ‘back’ – might have brighter days ahead with Cincinnati, Houston, and Detroit coming up in the next month before their bye round in Week 7. He’s probably not ‘name brand’ enough for people to resist parting with and I’d think many might want to cash out on a guy who might have cost them a 5th round rookie pick at best. If you have him, with Saquon Barkley (season-ending injury) and Christian McCaffrey and Raheem Mostert set to miss time also then it may be worth shopping him about.

Flat Route

LOL @ tight ends, omg:

Here’s a murderers row of tight ends that made their way into the top 12 in week one: David Njoku, Logan Thomas, O.J. Howard and Greg Olsen. And in week two it got better… no wait, worse, with Jordan Reed, Dalton Schultz, Mo Alie-Cox, and C.J. Uzomah. So bad is the position, that Zach Ertz (and a consensus top-five tight end selection in 2020 ADP I might add) finished as the TE21 with 9.2 points, was out produced by Tyler Eifert, Jordan Akins, Drew Sample, Robert Tonyan, and Darren Fells. Ertz only outproduced Anthony Firkser by 0.7 points last week.

The tight end position is indeed trash. Hell, Rob Gronkowski for the second week in a row has absolutely wrecked your lineup for the second week in a row, with a total of 3.1 points over the opening two games this year. ‘Gronk’ cost you a 7th round pick in redraft this year for what it’s worth also. And if you happen to have a decent enough squad with a solid tight end with name brand equity, wait for that big game or a consistent run of form and sell as high as you can and upgrade elsewhere. Streaming the position this year not only couldn’t be more apparent but also easier to do at this point.

Comeback Route

It’s wheels up for the ‘Jet’:

If there is one player that everyone should be over the moon for its Jerick McKinnon, who I think everyone will agree is due some good fortune for once. His time in Minnesota was so long ago it seems, but when he arrived in San Francisco everybody was pumped to see what he could do. Now, with Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman set to miss time due to injury it will be McKinnon along with Jeff Wilson and (probably) JaMycal Hasty leading the 49ers running back group against the New York Giants in Week 3.

The Giants gave up 113 rushing yards to Benny Snell in their season opener, and 127 combined yards and a touchdown to David Montgomery this past week. It’s with this in mind and with the 49ers lacking any viable receivers or George Kittle, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nick Mullens continually dumping it off to McKinnon to let him do what he does best. Without a doubt, Jerick McKinnon is a must-add and must start each week moving forward until Mostert and Coleman return.

Screen Route

Look who’s back, back again!:

Kenny Golladay returns this week and that is welcomed news for the winless Detroit Lions. And while that is a big deal not only for the pundits that enjoy his game on a weekly basis but because he is one of the best receivers in the league. However, I think it will be Marvin Jones who will enjoy his return the most. Their stats from 2019 have been well documented all offseason, and yes they pretty much replicated each other in terms of volume, yards, and touchdowns but it is still Golladay ($6200) who is more expensive than Jones ($5400) this week in DFS without yet playing any snaps in 2020.

This week they play against the Arizona Cardinals on the road, and Patrick Peterson could well be all over ‘Babytron’ in his return to the starting lineup. And while the targets and yards haven’t been exactly what you hoped for so far in 2020 for Jones, he has still lead the Lions for red-zone targets through the start of the season. So he has Golladay returning and likely having Patrick Peterson on him and is still their cheaper option in DFS, he leads their team in red-zone targets while likely chasing the Cardinals from behind? I’ll take that as a must-start thank you very much!

Out Route

‘Who Cares’ in one hand, and ‘So What’ in the other:

I don’t want to sound brash but are you really that invested in Devonta Freeman as a New York Giant? Or do you really think Dion Lewis could be resurgent? Wait, wait I know… the small sample size Wayne Gallman had that one time could be enough. I mean Javoris Allen is out there he might come back? Javon Leake or Rod Smith anyone? I don’t normally give good advice, let alone half-good advice, but if I had to give you the one bit of good advice for 2020 it’s this: avoid this backfield. Let someone else make the mistake and spend money on them or bomb a waiver claim.

And now that I’m feeling generous, if attaining a solid back up running back in a good situation is something that you crave to do because seeing studs go down has got you spooked: then go and get Giovani Bernard, Jamaal Williams, or Tony Pollard. Go and get guys who are the clear cut number two choice on their team’s roster that have great receiving chops to back them up. Look for that guy who has an all-around upside. Adding one of these fodder that the Giants have on their roster won’t help you move forward.

The 9 Route

They’ve let themselves down:

Minnesota was way too concerned to pay ‘Captain Average’ Kirk Cousins (again) and running back Dalvin Cook this offseason, and in doing so they forgot to pay their defense. The Vikings lost Xavier Rhodes, Linval Joseph, Trae Waynes, and Everson Griffen (to name just a few) as some of their losses that they clearly did not do a good enough job to replace. And as a result, have coughed up 43 points to the Packers and 28 points to the Colts.

Enter the undefeated Tennessee Titans. A team where Ryan Tannehill has continued on his stellar 2019 form to be the QB10 so far this year. The Vikings are giving up at least 20 PPG to the quarterback already and that could escalate if they try and put their focus on Derrick Henry over their play-caller instead. Currently, the Vikings average about 140 yards and a touchdown per game on the ground to opposing running backs which should suit the former Alabama product just fine.

Currently, the Titans are -2.5 point favorites when initial lines were released and I can imagine that this may pull out a little closer to Sunday so it might be worth getting on earlier in the week.

Hail Mary

I’ll take those percentages and claim:

Drew Sample is to finish in the top 12 for fantasy tight ends to close the year in PPR.

Bold, maybe, but this is where hail mary’s come to live and die and I’m going to jump on this one right now. Joe Burrow has been slinging the rock like a madman and if the Bengals are going to have him pass the ball 60 times a week then not only am I here for that, but Drew Sample is as well. Currently, the Bengals have targeted the tight end position at a respectable 22% of the time so far this year, and with C.J. Uzomah having his season end due to injury, the Bengals depth chart behind Sample is virtually bare.

To start you off on this wild Drew Sample ride, this week he goes up against the Eagles who have been absolutely atrocious against the tight end position, coughing up a total 91 yards and 4 touchdowns in the opening two weeks. If you had to find the positive while setting your lineup this week, Sample has a $3500 cost on Draft Kings as well for a position that is generally hard to pick at the best of times.

I want to thank you for checking this article out! As always you can follow me at @TheBLeagueSays and feel free to check out my @BackRowGiants podcast out (https://linktr.ee/TheBLeagueSays) – subscribe, rate, review, share, and listen.

Let’s all get better together!

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