Fantasy
9/16/24
3 min read
Fantasy Football 2024: Week 3 Waiver Wire Targets
The adage “once is a coincidence, twice is a pattern” applies handily to this week’s waiver wire article.
Now that we’ve seen a couple of games from every team in the NFL, we’re getting a better idea of which players have important roles. Several players who may have seemed like Week 1 flukes are starting to gain traction.
We can’t ignore the patterns.
There’ll be plenty of time to address the players who’ve seen disappointing results through a pair of contests in our Week 3 position rankings. However, the spirit of this exercise is to give insight into those who can be impactful adds to your fantasy squads.
Together, let’s talk through a handful of names who’ve been some of the biggest surprises to open the 2024 season that you must consider picking up ahead of Week 3.
Fantasy Football Week 3 Waiver Wire Adds
Derek Carr, QB, New Orleans Saints
- ESPN Rostership: 9.5 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 19 percent
Derek Carr and the Saints' offense put up more than 40 points on their opponent for the second week in a row and dominated their way to victory on Sunday vs. the Dallas Cowboys.
The veteran signal-caller finished the road bout with 243 passing yards (fifth-highest among quarterbacks entering Sunday night) and leads the league (as of SNF) with an eye-popping 10.55 passing yards per dropback, per TruMedia.
Whether or not Carr’s production is sustainable is worth debating, of course. The odds of the Saints continuing to be this efficient aren’t likely:
Regardless, managers in 1-QB leagues looking for a streamer in Week 3 might as well give Carr a nod. He’s averaging 21.6 fantasy points per game (second among quarterbacks), according to FantasyData, with six total touchdowns this year.
If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.
So long as he and WR Rashid Shaheed keep connecting on long bombs, this offense can keep their steamroller running against the Philadelphia Eagles next weekend.
Bucky Irving, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- ESPN Rostership: 29.6 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 34 percent
Bucky Irving’s name came up in our Week 2 start/sit article as a player to be intrigued by but not one to count on right away.
I wasn't quite ready to count on the contributions of a rookie in a garbage-time Week 1 victory, but now that we have greater information on his role, this week would be an excellent time to pick him up if you haven’t already.
Irving has now seen a 37.2 percent share of the Bucs’ backfield touch opportunities (carries + targets) through two contests. He could be on his way to a regular role opposite starter Rachaad White.
In fact, by some measures, Irving is already on the precipice:
This information should come with the caveat that while Irving is experiencing plenty of growth, he only accounted for 2.2 point-per-reception (PPR) points on Sunday against the Lions.
Fantasy managers might want to be a little cautious with Irving, though his Week 3 contest against the Denver Broncos might just be the breakout week we’ve been waiting for.
Pick him up now before it’s too late.
Ty Chandler, RB, Minnesota Vikings
- ESPN Rostership: 46.7 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 29 percent
Ty Chandler finds himself in this article for the second week in a row. Hopefully, by next week, his rostership percentage will be too high for him to qualify as a waiver add.
I don’t say this because of any aversion to Chandler, but what more do we need to see from him that wasn’t obvious in Week 1?
The third-year back is yielding 36.8 percent of the Vikings’ backfield touches as the spell guy for Aaron Jones and has turned these opportunities into a total of 7.7 PPR points per game through two weeks, per FantasyData.
In fact, Chandler out-carried Jones in Week 2 vs. the 49ers with a team-leading total of 82 rushing yards.
This might be a split for now, but it’s not unrealistic for this to become a situation where Chandler can emerge as the 1A in the split committee.
Braelon Allen, RB, New York Jets
- ESPN Rostership: 7.4 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 9 percent
This 20-year-old rookie doesn’t appear higher in the group of running backs because he’s firmly entrenched as the No. 2 option behind his team’s starter.
Breece Hall dominated Week 2’s backfield touches against the Tennessee Titans with 21 total. Unless Hall were injured or suspended for any reason, Braelon Allen isn’t guaranteed to have any standalone value.
Still, we can’t ignore how well the Wisconsin product performed on the nine touches he received on Sunday. Allen found the end zone twice, both via the air and ground game, in addition to racking up 56 total scrimmage yards.
This may be the beginning of a budding role for Allen; however, there are no guarantees.
Even if he doesn’t emerge as a viable standalone player, remember what folks are experiencing with the San Francisco 49ers backfield.
High-end handcuff options are precious. A player like Jordan Mason is reaping the benefits of his proximity to fantasy relevance now that Christian McCaffrey is on injured reserve for the next month.
The evidence we have about Allen might suggest he could be part of this category of fantasy back. If you have a spot to spare, consider lending it to Allen.
Alec Pierce, WR, Indianapolis Colts
- ESPN Rostership: 13.5 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 28 percent
If you’d told me six months ago that Alec Pierce would be the clear-cut No. 1 receiving option in the Colts’ offense to start this season, I’d have called you at least a little kooky and perhaps ridiculous.
Not that Pierce isn’t a talented guy— he’s in the NFL, after all.
However, Michael Pittman Jr. established himself as one of the league's most reliable high-volume targets last season, and the organization invested a second-round pick in rookie Adonai Mitchell in the 2024 NFL Draft. We can’t forget second-year WR Josh Downs, who is injured but talented in his own right.
Regardless of the perceived difficulties ahead of him on the depth chart, Pierce is beating the odds and demonstrating an incredible connection with QB Anthony Richardson.
Through two contests, Pierce currently leads the Colts in air yards share (33.5 percent) per TruMedia and ranks ninth among wide receivers in PPR points per game (19.1). Impressive totals!
The only factor to consider here is that Pierce’s 22.5 air yards per target suggests a relatively high degree of difficulty associated with his and Richardson’s ability to sustain this connection on the strength of primarily big plays.
Still, as long as this duo keeps meshing, fantasy managers should take notice and buy in.
Jerry Jeudy, WR, Cleveland Browns
- ESPN Rostership: 67.2 percent
- Yahoo Rostership: 41 percent
We close by looking at a player who deserves a bit of credit despite being in a less-than-stellar offense.
Jerry Jeudy leads the Browns with 14 targets in two games and has successfully reached double-digit PPR points in back-to-back contests following his performance in Week 2 where he recorded five receptions for 73 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
However, we’re talking about a player on offense with Deshaun Watson as his quarterback.
Watson hasn’t been good at all this season, ranking 27th in completion rate (58.2 percent) and 28th in passer rating (68.0) through two weeks. As such, trusting any of his targets is a tough ask.
Still, at this stage of the fantasy season, we must continue to chase where the ball is going.
As long as Jeudy continues to earn high quantities of targets weekly, he should be given consideration as a potential fantasy flex option, if nothing else.
