Congrats to all Michael Vick owners! Whether you drafted him as a Kevin Kolb handcuff or a late-round gamble, picked him up off waivers, or thought that you were playing in a league using 2006 stats, you are looking more and more like a genius.
While Vick headlines this week’s Sunday Studs, WRs dominate the list. Anquan Boldin, Brandon Marshall, and Austin Collie were the headliners, but Week 3 saw some major surprise sleepers like Lance Moore, Roy Williams, and Brandon Lloyd. Peyton Hillis rounds up our list as the surprise RB of the day. Congrats if you started one of these guys this week!
Wondering which experts had these Week 3 Studs pegged…and which did not? Read on to find out!
Sunday Stud: Michael Vick (QB), Philadelphia Eagles
Can you say Comeback Player of the Year? Michael Vick continues to sizzle. Last week, Vick made our Sunday Studs list with a top five QB performance. This week, he topped that with 300+ yards of total offense and 4 touchdowns. He came into Week 3 with an Expert Consensus Rank (ECR) of QB #8 and ended up outscoring all QBs. I found it interesting that his Week 2 ECR was QB #7 and he actually ended up dropping a rank this week despite his impressive performance last week.
A number of experts had Vick extremely high on their list. SI.com, Josh Moore of 4for4.com, and David Dodds of Football Guys all had Vick as their #3 QB. WhatIfSports was also high on Vick, rating him as their QB #4. In terms of consistency, Josh Moore and WhatIfSports were also very high on Vick last week.
Pat Fitzmaurice of Pro Football Weekly (QB #13) and Sigmund Bloom of the Football Guys (QB #11) were not as confident about Vick’s ability to repeat his performance in week 3.
Sunday Stud: Anquan Boldin (WR), Baltimore Ravens
Anquan Boldin had over 140 yards receiving and scored 3 touchdowns to lead all WRs in fantasy production. He had an ECR of WR #13 for Week 3. Mike Krueger of FFToday and Dave Richard of CBS Sports both gave Boldin a ranking of WR #7. In case you were wondering, Yahoo Sports Staff Composite was Boldin’s biggest believer during the preseason draft, giving him a Draft Rank of WR #9.
Experts not so bullish on Boldin this week included Fantasy Sharks (WR #32), Fantasy Fanatics (WR #25), and KFFL (WR #22).
Sunday Stud: Austin Collie (WR), Indianapolis Colts
It was announced on Saturday that Pierre Garcon would not play this week and that Austin Collie would replace him in the starting lineup. Collie sure made the best of the situation, racking up 171 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns! Did you know that Collie currently ranks in the top ten for overall WR fantasy production? I’m beginning to wonder if he might be this year’s Steve Smith (NYG).
Collie entered Week 3 with an ECR of WR #24. He ended up as second highest scoring fantasy WR this week. Believe it or not, Fantasy Sharks rated him as their WR #3! No other expert was even close! Dave Richard of CBS Sports (WR #15) and Brad Evans of Yahoo (WR #16) were a distant second and third.
WhatIfSports (ER WR #80) and SI.com (ER WR #67) both rated Collie extremely low for this week. Maybe they were not aware of Garcon’s status.
Sunday Stud: Brandon Marshall (WR), Miami Dolphins
Brandon Marshall had his biggest game of the year, gaining 166 receiving yards and catching 1 touchdown. Marshall had an ECR of WR #10, but he actually ended up a top five fantasy WR this week. Brandon Funston of Yahoo (WR #3) and Dave Richard of CBS Sports (WR #4) were extremely high on Marshall this week. Funston appears to be Marshall’s biggest supporter amongst our experts; Marshall’s highest Draft Rank (WR #4) came from him.
Fantasy Sharks (WR #39) and WhatIfSports (WR #33) both rated Marshall outside of their top 30 for WRs. Maybe these experts did not make adjustments for the absence of Revis Island. Regardless, if you’re in a league with 12 teams and each team needs to start 3 WRs, these two experts seem to imply that starting Marshall was a borderline decision.
Sunday Studs:
Lance Moore (WR), New Orleans Saints
Roy Williams (WR), Dallas Cowboys
Brandon Lloyd (WR), Denver Broncos
I’m going to place Moore (ECR WR #66), Williams (ECR WR #78), and Lloyd (ECR WR #63) all into one group. These guys “sleeper starts” all had huge games this week, each accumulating over 100 yards receiving and at least 1 touchdown. Looking at their ECR ratings, we can see that very few experts consider them a fantasy starter in any format.
So who had the best ranks for these guys? KFFL had Lloyd rated WR #33 and FFToolbox had Moore rated WR #35 so it’s conceivable that Lloyd and Moore could have sneaked into some starting lineups based on their advice. Roy Williams’ highest ER was WR #45 from Josh Moore of 4for4.com. That rank may not be good enough to get him into starter status for a typical league, but you probably had the best shot of starting him if you were following Josh’s rankings.
Sunday Stud: Peyton Hillis (RB), Cleveland Browns
Peyton Hillis took full advantage of the opportunity to start this week, accumulating 180 yards of total offense and 1 touchdown. His ECR rating of RB #34 indicates that most experts did not think he should be inserted into most fantasy lineups. That’s easy to understand considering Hillis plays for Cleveland and he would be facing the Baltimore defense on the road.
FFToolbox (RB #22) and David Dodds of Football Guys (RB #26) were highest on Hillis this week. On the flipside, SI.com and WhatIfSports both had Hillis rated as their RB #48.
Please note that I left guys like Adrian Peterson, Peyton Manning, and Chris Johnson off the list because they’re already expected to be total studs each and every week.
Remember, we’ll be keeping track of the hits and misses all season long. Complete weekly and season-to-date accuracy scores are updated mid week and are available for FREE (for all members). Please sign up for a free FantasyPros membership if you haven’t already done so. Thanks!
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