NFL Week 3 Review for FanDuel and DraftKings

Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NFL optimizer for FanDuel and DraftKings, our MLB Optimizer, and our new Player Lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below.

First time with NFL? Be sure to read our free MLB and NFL Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.

Impressive Performances

Todd Gurley - 40.8 FP - 113 rushing yards, 36 receiving yards, 3 TD

This was one of the more fun Thursday Night Football games in quite some time, and we saw plenty of fantasy goodness make it's way out. Gurley led the bunch, going for over 40 fantasy points. He's been over 18 in each of his 3 games and it looks like Gurley is going to be one of the bigger touches-hog at RB. You can't even really name the Rams backup RB. In week 4, the match-up with the Cowboys is interesting. They have shown some flashes on defense, but if the Rams are just going to feed him all-game long, they aren't good enough to keep him out of the endzone. He may end up with high ownership and I'm fine with the fade in that case.

Stefon Diggs - 40.3 FP - 8 catches, 173 yards, 2 TD

Well, basically the entire industry was wrong on this one. With Sam Bradford out, Case Keenum was expected to struggle and diminish the value of Diggs and Thielen. However, this week gave us a much different story. Keenum looked just as good as Bradford and peppered Diggs with 11 targets. He may finally have taken a step forward, which is great news for the Vikings, as you can't count on Bradford for more than a week at a time. Diggs is going to continue being a target monster and he has one of the friendliest-schedules in the league. He will see Darius Slay next week, so it might not be the game you want to target him in.

Chris Thompson - 33.8 FP - 38 rushing yards, 150 receiving yards, TD

This is a guy who can hurt you on the ground and through the air. He's not just a pass-catching RB, he's a receiver. He can catch it from the slot, backfield, or split wide. He can also run between the tackles and has done a good job of staying away from the hard hits that used to knock him out every week. Remember, this is a guy who broke his entire back just a couple years ago. Kirk Cousins loves dumping it down to him and as long as he's getting snaps, I don't see a way his workload drops. As for the rest of this season, he's going to be very match-up dependant until Rob Kelley is back. Against teams that stuff the run and struggle against the pass, I'll have plenty of Thompson. The Chiefs aren't that team.

Brandin Cooks - 35.1 FP - 131 receiving yards, 2 TD

There were some quiet whispers about Brandin Cooks not being a perfect fit for the Patriots, but those are now far and gone. That was just another typical over-reaction after 2 weeks of football. Still, we're only 3 weeks in and a lot of things are yet to stabilize. Cooks was finally leaned on by Brady and he made 2 huge 4th quarter grabs to put the Pats over the top. With receivers like this on the Patriots, they are nearly match-up proof. It's hard to get a good read on the Patriots each week and then you also have to consider how the defense will respond. If Brady feels like COoks will have a good game, he will. I don't necessarily love the match-up with the Panthers as Munnerlyn will be in the slot and is probably the best DB for the Panthers.

Under-achievers

Travis Kelce - 0.6 FP - 1 catch, 1 yard

It can be frustrating to see Kelce put up a performance like this. Especially when the Chiefs have a good game and he's out there all day. You'd almost rather have an injury, or a real reason for such a horrid game. Instead, the Chargers just took him out of the game and the Chiefs were fine with that. Alex Smith threw the ball just 21 times, with 8 of them going to Tyreek Hill and 7 to Wilson/Conley. Kelce is one of the best tight ends in the league and the Chiefs know that. They will get him involved in the coming weeks and I like him against the Redskins. They have a few decent cover linebackers, but struggle over top with any safety help. We know Kelce can push it downfield and make things happen. He held the 3rd highest YPC of any TE in 2016.

Jay Ajayi - 3.5 FP - 16 rushing yards, 9 receiving yards

I think we can chalk this one up to injury. COming into the game, Ajayi was banged up. He then left in the first quarter again and came back after the Dolphins were 14 behind. Ajayi is still the same RB and we have to target him when we think the Dolphins will play a close game. They feed him the ball a ton and he can also catch it. They play the Saints this week in Miami, so it'd be nice for him to get to full health pretty quickly. It's a match-up where I would like 110% Ajayi in all formats. I will be staying away if the injury nags him all week and there are reports of him coming in with any type of injury. If Ajayi gets held out of this game for some unforeseen reason, Kenyan Drake is the man to watch.

Derek Carr - 7.2 FP - 118 passing yards, 1 TD, 2 INT

The entire trio of Carr-Cooper-Crabtree was one a lot of people were into. Personally, I was off of Crabtree as he did see a lot more Norman. However, it didn't matter. Cooper was silent as well and let Breeland bully him for the majority of the game. We know this isn't normal for these guys, but it does worry me. For a guy like Amari Cooper to catch just 1 pass against the porous Redskins shows that nobody is safe. Anything can happen in football and this was just an overall bad game for them. Derek Carr struggled to stay in the pocket and didn't look anything like the guy who threw 4 passing TD's the week before. He will surely bounce-back and end up as one of the best QBs of 2017. Next week may be one to stay away from. They head into Denver.

Any Injuries?

Darren Sproles - Out for Season
Kelvin Benjamin - Questionable
Matt Forte - Probable
Michael Crabtree - Questionable
Melvin Gordon - Questionable
Doug Baldwin - Questionable

Looking Forward to week 4

Highest and lowest over/unders

49 - Redskins @ Chiefs
49 - Saints @ Dolphins
48 - Bills @ Falcons

39 - Jaguars @ Jets
40 - Bengals @ Browns
42 - Colts @ Seahawks

3 Match-ups to exploit

Russell Wilson Vs Colts 28th Pass D

LeSean McCoy Vs Falcons 32nd ranked RB pass defense (dates back to start of 2016)

Jordy Nelson Vs Bears 31st WR1 Pass D

Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NFL optimizer for FanDuel and DraftKings, our MLB Optimizer, and our new Player Lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below.

First time with NFL? Be sure to read our free MLB and NFL Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.