Waiver Flavor: Week 4

Week 3 was as exciting as Week 2 was weird. In week three he compiled 23 fantasy points in the loss to the Bills.

Freeman will only be the lead back for a week or two more considering all of this.

We recap the most important developments of the day in the Week 3 Sunday Superlatives. He didn’t look great on the whole (2.07 ypc), but with Jennings now playing special teams, it seems like the team wants to groom Williams for the lead back role, whether he’s capable or not.

It was pretty obvious that Devonta Freeman was about to lose significant touches to Tevin Coleman when the season was getting started. Scoring touchdowns of two, three and seven yards out, Freeman racked up 141 yards and three scores on a whopping 30 attempts.

Andy Dalton, still underowned, go get him. Patrick Peterson played a role in Smith’s absence from the Week 3 box score as well, as the Arizona corner was locked on Smith in this game. The story was a bit different on the other side.

Injury after injury. Watkins was dealing with a calf issue Sunday against the Miami Dolphins – something that kept him from action in the second half. He had four carries for minus-5 yards after halftime as the Cowboys’ offense stalled. Randle still holds onto a small sliver of hope, though, fueled by performances such as his seven-catch, 116-yard, one-touchdown effort against Washington in Week 3.

The question for Randle and Freeman owners now: Can they keep it going for the balance of the season? If something happens to Randle, he will split carries with McFadden plus get all the receptions that he had before. Futhermore, Green went for more than 90 receiving yards in just five games and caught at least six passes on only six occasions last season. The first three games of the season saw Denver, Oakland and Cincinnati. Time to start him. Wide receiver A.J. Green was in and out of the lineup last season due to a nagging toe injury. They both grew up in the southeast and were in the 2008 high school class. Jones was Rivals’ No. 1 receiver, and the fourth overall player in that class, while Green rated second and ninth, respectively. Other players constantly seeing all their looks downfield: Louis Murphy, Malcom Floyd and Jermaine Kearse.

The New York Giants also have trouble with tight ends, so Charles Clay offers a good fill-in option this week when the Giants and Bills square off. Many will forget that he was projected to be a sleeper fantasy tight end a year ago, but he dislocated his elbow in Week 1 and missed the rest of the season. Jones now has 34 receptions through three games, the most in National Football League history. Matt Jones is looking better than Morris through 3 games, but may have cost himself the starting job with his fumbling problems. Connecting on two 11-yard touchdown passes to Greg Olsen, Newton found a way to finish as the second-best fantasy quarterback this week. The first, however, was the highlight-reel play.

OK, so his trial run didn’t go so well on Sunday when Ben Roethlisberger suffered a nasty-looking injury in the third quarter. The value for every fantasy-relevant Steeler took a hit when Roethlisberger reached for his knee.

Dion Lewis – If you didn’t grab him, likely too late. Vick entered the game, went 5-6 for 38 yards and fumbled once. Now, you’re going to pay a premium to acquire his services. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald, who scored 25 fantasy points on Sunday, ranks among the 15 best starts by any wide receiver in his team’s first three games. That was made possible by the 10 receptions he put up for a career-high 227 yards and two touchdowns.

Here’s who turned in strong fantasy performances in Week 3 – and who left fantasy owners wanting more. Brees is expected to be back this week, which is going to help Ingram’s production even more. I mentioned Williams-a burly converted safety-in the “speculative” portion of this column last week; he can be owned in all leagues now, even if you’re not a McCoy owner. He also converted near the goal line, scoring his touchdown from six yards out. They put up 47 points in a win over the San Francisco 49ers.

If you’re one of those people who hate rostering “cheaters”, maybe this isn’t the move for you.

Derek Carr, OAK- Carr’s average ownage in standard leagues hovers around 20% which should dramatically increase this week after throwing for 665 yards and five touchdowns over the last two weeks against the Ravens and Browns.

He’s been the Bills’ best back and arguably the best offensive player. What they undoubtedly have is an offense in which fantasy owners can invest.

The Colts completed an impressive comeback against Tennessee on Sunday, but wide receiver Andre Johnson was not involved in the fun.

Why are all the quarterbacks getting hurt? While the offense isn’t strong, Reed’s volume makes him a borderline Top 5 TE until he inevitably pulls his hamstring in a few weeks. When they were falling apart against the Titans, there was reason to believe they would never live up to expectations. The Texans continue to lead the league in plays per second, and in a matchup against Atlanta, with an expected positive pass-happy game script, Mallett will continue to be high-floor stream QB through attrition.

No, he’s not going to be stealing carries from Joseph Randle anytime soon, considering he has two carries this season, but if you’re in a PPR league Dunbar needs to be on your roster.