Kelce’s been an expert favorite since the preseason. Will the hype pay off this weekend?
It’s only week 3 and the chances are your team is already battling a few roster woes. That tends to happen when this occurs. And if you’re someone who relies on (any) Tampa Bay player to carry their weight, you may be suffering from early Start/Sit remorse.
Either way, it could be time to roll the dice on a player with high upside to get your squad on track. To help out, we’ve asked our Featured Pros to tell us which players are poised to exceed expectations this week. Read on to see who the experts are touting to come up big on Sunday and Monday.
[Get more advice: Who Should You Start? | Lineup Picks for Your Team]
Q1: Give us a RB outside of our top 25 consensus that is most likely to step up as a RB1-caliber player.
“Not that it wouldn’t be a hard thing to put Gerhart in your lineup after his week two disaster, but I believe he has a shot to bounce back this week at home. Indy is not a scary defense by any means and have allowed the 4th most fantasy points to opposing RBs. They are also coming off a short week. Gerhart should have a great shot to score in this one. ”
“For the record, had this been posted a day earlier, I would’ve gone with Bobby Rainey in the Thursday-night game. (So I might look like a complete fool already). With Rainey off the table, I’ll go with Ivory. At the rare times when he’s healthy — like now, for instance — Ivory is a pretty formidable runner. He has a Monday-night matchup against the Bears, whose dilapidated run defense is still under repair.”
“Many top draft pick rookie RBs are ‘hitting the ground running’, but Sankey has not been one of them. Somehow Tennessee is relying on Dexter McCluster to carry the team along with Shonn Greene. That plan cannot last long. Sankey is the one true talent in that backfield, and it’s only a matter of time before he takes over. For fantasy football, you want to be in front of this, because once he pops, everyone will be after him. McCluster is dinged up (and stinks as a RB), the Titans face a tough Cincy-D, and they might turn to the homerun Sankey…and then never look back.”
“Have you seen Sproles over the first two weeks? I don’t think he’ll finish the season as a top-five back, but when looking for a potential gem outside the top 25 running backs, going with the No. 2 overall back over the first two weeks makes a lot of sense. He’s been on my bench for two weeks in my dynasty league, and I’m not going to make that mistake a third time.”
Q2: What WR outside of our top 25 consensus has the best shot of putting up WR1 numbers this week?
“Despite the Cowboys improvement on defense in Week 2, they still have a defense fantasy owners should be targeting this season. Quick has emerged as the No. 1 option in St. Louis and could be in for a nice line if the Rams have to throw 50 times to try and keep up.”
BRANDIN COOKS (NO vs. MIN)
“Gimme some Cooks. At 0-2, after having their noses bloodied in Cleveland, the Saints are going to be breathing fire this week, and Drew Brees is going to turn it loose in the Superdome against the beleaguered Vikings. Cooks didn’t do much in the passing game last week, but he had a nice 28-yard run. The Saints will figure out ways to get him involved this week.”
“It was a brutal week two for the Saints wide receivers when they all combined for 9 catches and 79 yards, and no touchdowns. They are back at home this week, and I would have Cooks in as many lineups as possible if I were you. The way they use him is Sproles-esqe and that will lead to big things when they are at home in the dome. With Mark Ingram out and two losses to start the season, fire up ALL Saints pass catchers. ”
“The Saints finally get to play at home in Week 3, where they typically destroy the opposition. Cooks has led Saints WRs in targets in each of his first two games, plus he is taking carries (three so far), with two of them for 18 or more yards. He is fully integrated in this offense. He looks more like an experienced veteran than rookie. Last week, he struggled a little with Joe Haden on and off. Minnesota has no Joe Haden. Cooks can/will do what Darren Sproles has been doing for the Eagles. Get him the ball in space, and it’s ‘goodbye’ at any moment.”
Q3: What TE outside of our top 15 consensus has the best shot of putting up TE1 numbers this week?
TRAVIS KELCE (KC at MIA)
“Some of us have been loudly banging the Kelce drum for weeks now, and if I’m not the Neil Peart of that group, I’ll settle for being Stewart Copeland or Jimmy Chamberlin. Kelce still isn’t playing as many snaps as he should, but he managed to crank out 81 yards on 32 snaps against a good Denver defense last week, and he should be good for at least two or three big plays this week against the Dolphins.”
“I know there has been some buzz around his name since preseason, but I think this may be the week where Kelce has his coming out party. After a week one that totaled just 3 catches for 49 yards, Andy Reid came out and said he needs to get Kelce more involved. Week two brought 4 catches for 81 yards. This week he will play a Dolphins team that is missing a couple linebackers and will have to concentrate on he Chiefs ground game. “Mini-Gronk” could explode any game now. ”
“The Cowboys have been atrocious against Vernon Davis (44 yards, 2 TDs) and Delanie Walker (142 yards, 1 TD) in the first two weeks, and that puts Jared Cook on the radar as an interesting sleeper option in Week 3. He’s consistently disappointed in St. Louis, but against a soft defense, we could see him catch six to eight passes for 80-plus yards and at least one touchdown, putting him in TE1 territory.”
“If Vernon Davis misses Week 3, and with their backup TE hobbled with a knee issue, the 49ers will turn to Carrier like they did in the 2nd half last week (he had 3 receptions for 41 yards on 4 targets). Here’s the kicker: Carrier is nearly the athletic specimen that Davis was coming out college. Carrier was a WR/TE hybrid for Beloit College…a 4.5+ runner with a 38″ vertical and off-the-charts (for a TE) agility. He could start for many NFL teams today, and he might be for the 49ers this week. He’s not a lumbering, no-name TE. He’s physically gifted. If Davis plays, disregard everything I just said…”
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Thanks to this week’s Featured Experts for sharing their insight with us. To get more advice from the experts, please visit their sites (click their names below) and follow them on Twitter.
