Photo by Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire
Happy Tuesday Fantasy Footballers. It is hard to believe that we are almost finished with week 3 of the NFL season. As I watch my man Ryan FitzMagic try to pull a whimsical trick on the Steelers and mount a comeback after being down 30-10 at half, we turn the page to week 4 and the first bye weeks, making this week big on the waiver wire if you have any Carolina Panthers or Washington Redskins. Also, if you lost Jimmy Garoppolo you may be hunting for a quarterback after his unfortunate misstep on Sunday. Regardless of where you find yourself heading into week 4, here are some people you should be throwing claims towards.
Priority Adds
QB – Andy Dalton – Cincinnati (34% Owned)
Coming into last week, the Falcons were already playing with what our QBList writer Aaron Rader would call a “duct tape defense.” Well another one bites the dust as starting safety Ricardo Allen went down with a torn Achilles. Andy Dalton has been playing decent football, with 8 TDs through three weeks (unfortunately coming off 4INT vs Carolina), and now he gets a tasty matchup with a backup Falcons defense on Dome Turf. We are not sure the status of AJ Green as of right now, but even without him, look for Tyler Boyd and John Ross to get a lot of action this week flying downfield. If you are needy at QB this week, spend a few extra bucks for this bye week filler.
FAAB: 1%
RB – Javorius “Buck” Allen – Baltimore (27% Owned)
Last week, I did a short write up on Buck Allen, and with not much out there right now at RB that is available in a majority of leagues, Allen stands tall amongst the rest. While his YPC is not great on the year, averaging just 2.0 YPC, he is excelling in the passing game and touchdown department, logging 13 catches and 4 TDs on the year already. Until something changes, this guy is a sneaky good flex play and gets a more than generous passing defense in the Pittsburg Steelers next week. If you have Adrian Peterson or Christian McCaffery on your squad, Allen is a great filler for you. Even if you don’t he is a great addition to any team and will have RB1 upside if anything were to happen to Alex Collins.
FAAB: 12%
WR – Tyler Boyd – Cincinnati (18% Owned)
Last week, Tyler Boyd burst onto the scene with a 6/91/1 line. This week, he gave us one better, posting a 6/132/1 line with AJ Green going down. We don’t yet know the status of Green, but we do know that Boyd is filling the old Marvin Jones role in the Bengals offense. He is flirting with being a weekly flex player with WR1/2 upside if AJ Green misses any time. Regardless he should feast on a battered Falcons defense in Atlanta this week and you should pick him up and immediately slot him into your starting lineup, as I feel he will go over 100 yards and hit pay dirt again.
FAAB: 15%
WR – Calvin Ridley – Atlanta (45% Owned)
WOW! That was a game. If you watched the Falcons take on the Saints this week, you saw a good one and this guy was the star. On a team where Julio Jones is starting on the opposite side, Calvin Ridley stole the show to the tune of 7/146/3. That is 40 points in PPR formats. Ridley will be at the top of most priority lists this week, and for good reason. He is primed to be a key cog in this offense going forward and the Falcons will now be drafting a WR from Alabama every year from here until Nick Saban retires. Consider him a WR2 moving forward.
FAAB: 20%
Wildcard of the Week
TE Dallas Goedert – Philadelphia (2% Owned)
The tight end position is always one of the more boring positions in football and the most volatile. Outside of Gronk, Travis Kelce, and Zach Ertz it is really a crapshoot as to who is going to perform week in and week out. Could rookie TE Dallas Goedert be a one week wonder like Austin Hooper last year? Sure he could be. Could he also be Gary Barnidge-lite for your fantasy team? Yes. That my friends is why this is a wildcard, but one worth a couple bucks thrown at. At 6’5″, Goedert is a behemoth of a man and just hauled in 7/73/1 on Sunday. Not bad for a ‘rook. One thing to remember is that Alshon Jeffery is getting closer to returning which changes things from a target share standpoint, but there is little reason to believe that the Eagles won’t keep the big man involved going forward with little else outside of Ertz and Nelson Agholor on the team to catch the ball.
FAAB: 2%