Fantasy Football 2024 Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickup Advice
Is your fantasy team in need of new blood? Each week I’ll bring to you the best pickups to make ahead of the waiver deadline. All the players I list will be rostered in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the roster percentages coming from Yahoo.com.
Immediately Useful
Jerry Jeudy, WR, Browns (41% Rostered): Jeudy headlines the waiver wire this week that is chock full of decent depth players, but likely no league changers. Jeudy has never lived up to the lofty draft capital spent on him by the Broncos, and the Browns’ passing game has been ugly through two weeks, but he’s involved. Jeudy has earned 14 targets through two weeks, putting up 73 yards vs. Jacksonville on Sunday, and scoring a TD in Week 1. He is on the field a ton, and he’s the clear-cut No. 2 receiver here behind Amari Cooper, as well as a key player while TE David Njoku is out. You could do worse than Jeudy if you suddenly need to replace one of the Rams studs, or if you have a player like Diontae Johnson or Terry McLaurin stinking it up.
Andrei Iosivas, WR, Bengals (7% Rostered): Iosivas is a solid player whose nice numbers in Week 2 are a little fluky. He only caught two passes for seven yards, but both were touchdowns. Don’t expect that kind of efficiency moving forward of course, but Joe Burrow looked much better in Week 2, and the Bengals have Washington up next, followed by the Panthers. Those are absolute cake matchups, and if Tee Higgins remains out, Iosivas will get some volume.
Samaje Perine, RB, Chiefs (4% Rostered): Perine is the more boring of Kansas City’s two RB options behind the injured Isiah Pacheco, but if I had to choose one he’d be the guy I spend FAAB on. Perine doesn’t have a sweet nickname or cool crocodile anecdotes, he just has pass-catching skills. The Chiefs starting RB role is a valuable one for fantasy, provided one player has a big chunk of it. Maybe Perine shares it 50/50 with Carson Steele, but my gut tells me he’s a veteran who has proven he can catch the rock and protect QBs. He’ll be on the field more often than not, and he should be productive enough to serve as a FLEX.
Jauan Jennings. WR, 49ers (3% Rostered): Jennings won’t be a star player, but he could be very usable in this offense with Deebo Samuel slated to miss a few weeks. Without Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk’s role will change to look more like Samuel’s, and Jennings will will serve as a safety blanket option on shorter and intermediate routes.
Alec Pierce, WR, Colts (28% Rostered): I don’t trust Pierce yet, because we have seen him make plays before but not be a consistent fantasy option. With that said, Pierce’s skill set dovetails very nicely with QB Anthony Richardson’s. Richardson is a raw, raw, raw passer with an absolute bazooka of an arm, and Pierce’s primary role in this offense is to streak down the field and big boy DBs for chunk gains. Through two weeks we’ve seen Richardson connect twice with Pierce in the end zone while Michael Pittman and Adonai Mitchell struggle to put up stats, mostly because Richardson’s failed to be accurate on the shorter and intermediate throws. Pierce’s floor is still a goose egg because of how he arrives at his production, but now that he’s actually scored in two straight games, we can at least feel secure that he’s getting opportunity.
Derek Carr, QB, Saints (19% Rostered): Carr is another player whose hot start I do not fully trust, but if you’re struggling at QB it’s not crazy to ride the hot hand. Carr has put up two straight big scoring games, but beware, they’ve been on the strength of TD efficiency. He has thrown for five touchdowns in two games, which is awesome, but likely unsustainable. Carr hasn’t even thrown 25 times in either game due to the blowout nature of the wins, so a dud is coming unless the game scripts become more competitive and he has to throw more. The good news, however, is that we probably underestimated the Saints’ receiving options. Chris Olave remains a stud, Alvin Kamara is an elite pass-catcher out of the backfield, and Rashid Shaheed is proving he’s much more than a gadget player.
Demarcus Robinson, WR, Rams (42% Rostered): Robinson is now probably the Rams’ WR1 with Cooper Kupp getting hurt on Sunday. That absolutely makes him playable, because Sean McVay is an offensive genius and Matthew Stafford is an elite QB, but he’s just not anywhere near the level of Kupp or Puka Nacua as a talent, so please do not equate his elevated status with their expected production. Lower expectations for Robinson, but understand with a week of game planning, he is a viable FLEX.
Tyler Johnson, WR, Rams (11% Rostered): It was a quiet day for all the Rams on Sunday, but Johnson was very disappointing after popping in Week 1 and looking like a capable Puka fill-in. With Kupp now joining Puka in the trainer’s room, Johnson will likely have a pretty large target share and is worth FLEX consideration. Rookie Jordan Whittington looms as someone who could step up and eat into the playing time/target share here, but for now, Johnson is an option.
Justin Fields, QB, Steelers (20% Rostered): Fields is now 2-0 as Pittsburgh’s starter, and while he hasn’t done a ton through the air or on the ground, he has not killed the team with turnovers. Mike Tomlin could decide to not rock the boat and roll with Fields as the starter, and if he does, Fields will have opportunities for big production in games that require more offense. Fields is never going to be an accurate or high-volume passer, but he remains one of the elite rushers at the position and he’s run the ball 22 times in two games. It hasn’t become big yardage or TDs yet, but at that rate it’s only a matter of time. I’m much higher on Fields as a fantasy option than Carr, but he has to be lower because his time as starter could end any time.
Speculative/Deep Cuts
Carson Steele, RB, Chiefs (3% Rostered): Steele got seven carries last night, and some may feel he’s next in line for the Chiefs. Neither Steele nor Perine are going to be dominant pieces for anyone’s team, but Steele just doesn’t look all that great. He isn’t particularly fast, and hasn’t been targeted once in two games. When presented with two middling options, I’m rolling with the one who has shown they can catch passes,
Braelon Allen, RB, Jets (10% Rostered): Allen is a beast of a runner, and he actually got seven totes on Sunday while scoring two touchdowns. As talented as he is, he’s no more than a handcuff because Breece Hall is one of the very best RBs in football, and will dominate snaps and touchdowns every week. But Allen has become a very intriguing speculative add in the event of a Hall injury, because he’s a load to bring down.
Ty Chandler, RB, Vikings (29% Rostered): Chandler gashed the 49ers Sunday for 82 yards on 10 carries, showing he might actually have a little standalone value in addition to being one of the premier handcuffs in fantasy. Chandler has big play ability, and he’s in an offense that, suddenly, doesn’t look as terrible as many expected.
Antonio Gibson, RB, Patriots (16% Rostered): The bad news for Gibson is that Rhamondre Stevenson has looked fantastic as a bell cow for New England in the first two weeks. That has translated to Gibson being on the field for fewer than a quarter of New England’s offensive snaps in both games. The good news is that he still touched the ball 12 times on Sunday in a close loss, and picked up 96 yards on 11 carries on the ground. Gibson has always been an electric playmaker, and while mental lapses have forced him out of favor with coaches, he’s an undeniable talent with the ball in his hands. Should Stevenson get hurt, Gibson would be a difference maker, as the Pats have shown early on they can move the ball on offense.
Tyler Allgeier, RB, Falcons (25% Rostered):
Mike Gesicki, TE, Bengals (5% Rostered): Gesicki is a high-end physical talent, and when given chances to thrive he usually does. He popped off for seven catches and 91 yards vs. the Chiefs, and approached a 50% snap share on Sunday afternoon. Of course the floor is a zero, but there are a lot of players at TE for whom that’s true. Do you want a little upside? Because Gesicki offers that, especially with a top-flight QB.