2015 Fantasy FootballFantasy Football

2015 Fantasy Football: Week 3 Gold Mine

We don’t know about you, but injuries are killing us. With just two weeks in the season completed, you’d feel like we were in mid-season form with the number of top players who have been hurt, suspended or benched due to poor performance.

Dez Bryant, Alshon Jeffery and Mike Evans have all missed time. Tony Romo is going to miss time, CJ Anderson and TY Hilton should have missed time, Jeremy Hill got benched, Nelson Agholor hasn’t lived up to any of the hype thus far and now Jay Cutler, Matt Stafford and Jason Witten are all hobbling around like they live in an old folks home.

With all of these injuries and team issues we are not sure if we are going to have much hair left after we are done pulling it all out.

So what can you do about that? With many league’s top waiver wire options now in the rear view mirror, the following players can still be added to your rosters and perform at a quality level.

All of these players are owned in less than 35% of ESPN leagues. Don’t play in ESPN Leagues? Don’t worry attached are the percentage of ownership in Yahoo and NFL leagues as well as Fanduel and DraftKings salary numbers.

Karlos Williams (BUF) ESPN: 23.1, Yahoo: 21; NFL: 5.4; FD: 5.3K; DK: 3.2K

It may be safe to say that Karlos Williams is going to be a thorn in the side of many fantasy football palyers for weeks to come this year. With the injury to LeSean McCoy that keeps rearing it’s ugly head, Williams has seemingly taken full grasp on the goal line touches and could’ve had a lot more last week if it wasn’t for the shoot out the Bills defense found themselves in. McCoy sat out of practice again this Wednesday, which for the most part is normal for a player nursing a hamstring, but he should play on Sunday. Even though McCoy should still play, Williams is still a great option to score against the Dolphins defense, which hasn’t been all that great against the run this year.

Nick Foles (STL): ESPN: 16.3; Yahoo: 17; NFL: 51; FD: 6.5K; DK: 5.2K

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been beyond atrocious in the passing defense department. Granted they received the short end of the stick in week 1 against the Pats and they faced a 49ers team that racked up a lot of yards in garbage time, but they proved they couldn’t stop a nosebleed. When you think of Foles and the Rams you don’t think high powered passing attack but after Foles threw for 297 yards and a score against the vaunted Seahawks defense he started changing some minds. He then stumbled in Week 2 against the Redskins who have played well against the pass this season, but with how poor of a defense the Steelers have, the Rams should be able to exploit the open holes in the Steelers secondary.

Jared Cook (STL): ESPN: 17.1 Yahoo 17; NFL: 3.4; FD: 5.4K; DK: 2.8K

You’d think Foles would have some consistent receiving options to throw the ball to but that just isn’t the case. Enter Jared Cook at tight end who has averaged 12 points per game in PPR leagues through two weeks. With 13 targets on the year it is clear that Foles trusts Cook when he needs him the most. Although Cook has failed to find the end zone in either game this season he has turned 13 of those targets into 10 receptions for more than 120 yards receiving and is just one TD away per game from turning in some excellent performances. The Steelers are just as bad against the TE as they are the QB ranking second worst giving up 20.5 points per game to opposing tight ends this season.

Lance Dunbar (DAL): ESPN: 13; Yahoo: 15; NFL: 3.1; FD: 4.9K; DK: 3.2K

With all the injuries in Dallas someone needs to step up. After Dez went down we thought it would be Dunbar or Williams to take over; that turned out to be Williams. But when Romo went down and Weeden entered, Dunbar is going to be needed a bit further in an offense that is going to need plenty of check downs. The Cowboys defense has been playing really well so far this year so the game shouldn’t be a Falcons blow out giving Dunbar GTP (garbage time production), but they will need his change of pace ability to keep the Falcons defense on their toes and the Cowboys offense running smooth. The Falcons rank as the worst defense against opposing running backs this season and in PPR leagues Dunbar should take advantage of that big time.

Rishard Matthews (MIA): ESPN: 11.3; Yahoo: 21; NFL: 2.4; FD: 5.7K; DK: 3.8K

The clear cut go-to-guy in Miami is Jarvis Landry who is coming off a 110-yard performance last week for the Dolphins, but Rishard Matthews is quietly jumping up the ranks. However, Matthews put up an equally good performance gaining 115 yards on just six receptions in the Dolphins Week 2 match up against the Jaguars. Matthews was also able to find the end zone in Week 1 making him a pretty sneaky option at WR for the Dolphins offense. The Buffalo Bills have been giving up a ton of points to WRs this year as TY Hilton, Donte Moncrief and Julian Edelman among others have torched the Bills secondary to a tune of 416 yards and three touchdowns.

The season has started off extremely slow. We have seen some really bad play from some of the leagues top guys, but as the season progresses so should those players who we’ve come to know as a level of consistency.

While you can certainly stay patient with your players it is good to keep your eyes and minds open to some of the players who can help your team succeed.

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