Weekly Rankings: Ranking Each Position for Week 3

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Welcome to QB List’s weekly rankings! Each week, I’ll be taking a look at the upcoming matchups and ranking each position, as well as flex positions.

Week 3 Notes:

• Am I too hyped about Patrick Mahomes ranking him in the top five this week? Maybe. But he’s been absolutely on fire the past two weeks (you didn’t need me to tell you that) and he’s going up against a San Francisco defense that’s been very beatable in the pass game the past two weeks but strong as a run defense. As a result, I’d expect the Chiefs to lean heavily on Mahomes rather than Kareem Hunt this week, and the way Mahomes has been playing, that could translate to another really good week.
• Speaking of too hyped, I’ve got Ryan Fitzpatrick in the top 10 as well this week. He’s been just about as on fire as Mahomes, and while I think we all understand that he’ll come back to earth, we’ve all also see the Fitzpatrick hot streaks in the past and how good they can be. Against a pretty beatable Steelers secondary, I like Fitz as a QB1 this week.
• Carson Wentz is back this week and I don’t see any reason not to slot him in as a QB1 this week, especially against the Colts. While the Colts’ defense has been a bit better than I think many expected, it’s still not a great secondary.
• I’m of two minds with Ben Roethlisberger this week—first, he’s on the road, and it’s almost never a good idea to start Ben on the road. At the same time though, he’s going up against the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, whose defense has been pretty bad so far this year (I mean, Nick Foles threw 334 yards against them last week). I’ve got Ben as a borderline QB1, but I don’t feel great about it.
• Matt Ryan is an interesting play for me this week. He’s going up against a Saints secondary that’s gotten beat up this year. I still think they’re a good secondary, but Ryan will be at home, and even Tyrod Taylor managed 246 yards and a touchdown against the Saints last week. I think Ryan could do even better, especially at home.
• The Rams’ defense has yet to allow a passing touchdown this year. Now, granted, they’ve seen Derek Carr and Sam Bradford so far this season, and the former still threw for 303 yards, but I think this Rams secondary is solid, which is going to make life hard for Phillip Rivers. As a result, I’ve got Rivers as a low-end QB2.
• The Bears have given up the fewest fantasy points to running backs so far this season. Part of that, I believe, is because they’ve played the Packers and Seahawks so far, but another part is how good their front seven is. Still, David Johnson is easily the best running back they’ve faced yet, so I still think he’ll be an RB1, but just be prepared for him not to have quite the day that you’d normally expect.
• I understand if you’re worried as an Alex Collins owner given the past two weeks’ of production, but I think the past two games have both been unique circumstances that affected his workload. Week 1 was a blowout that saw him not even playing in the second half, and Week 2, the Ravens were down big fast, which forced Joe Flacco to throw the ball over 50 times. I don’t see either happening with the Broncos this week, so I think Collins’ will still get RB2 production (though he will be seeing a solid run defense).
• It seems Matt Breida has worked his way out as the running back to own in San Francisco. Alfred Morris should still have some value, but I’ve got Breida as a low-end RB2 this week against a Kansas City run defense that’s been beaten pretty easily so far this season.
• I’m a big A.J. Green fan this week. He looked amazing last week and should be able to be great again this week. I expect him to see shadow coverage from James Bradberry which I think leans strongly to Green’s advantage.
• I don’t generally like using offensive players in Thursday night games, but I do like Jarvis Landry this week. I expect him to mostly see Buster Skrine in coverage, which leans favorably towards Landry given that Skrine isn’t that great of a corner.
• I’m not 100% sure if Darius Slay is going to play this week. He hasn’t been at practice so it sounds like he won’t be playing. If he does play, I’m tentatively thinking Chris Hogan will be covered by him, given how much Hogan lines up on the left side, however we don’t know where Josh Gordon is going to slot into this offense. If Hogan is matched up against Slay for most of this game, that’s going to hurt his value (and potentially help Gordon), and if Slay doesn’t play, Hogan’s value will likely rise.
• It’s pretty clear Sam Darnold loves Quincy Enunwa, and this week, Enunwa will likely see Briean Boddy-Calhoun in coverage, a guy he’s got a big size advantage over. I could see Enunwa getting a bunch of targets again this week and being pretty productive, especially in PPR leagues.
• Marvin Jones is likely to be shadowed by Stephon Gilmore this week, which really limits his value to a low-end WR3. I think there are better options out there than Jones this week.
• My ranking of Marquise Goodwin assumes he’s back this week, which is a possibility given that he returned to practice, but isn’t a guarantee. Pay close attention to his progress this week, he could have some decent upside against a fairly poor Chiefs secondary in a game that could easily become a shootout.

Check out the full rankings below: