If you think your fantasy team is cooked this season, it might be because you drafted one of these guys. Head over to our IG @upperhandfantasy to see who’s selling through three weeks so far.

• Panthers place veteran WR Adam Thielen (hamstring) on injured reserve, will miss at least the next four games

  • Just as things turn around for the Panthers offense under the direction of Andy Dalton, Thielen is forced out of the lineup with the dreaded hamstring injury. The injury occurred on his touchdown catch last week from Dalton, and it seems as though it’s a severe enough ailment that the Panthers deemed it best for him to spend a stint on IR. Assuming that Dalton is able to hold down the starting job for the foreseeable future, Thielen could realistically have some flex appeal once he makes his return. At 34 years old, though, it’s fair to wonder whether it’ll be a clean four weeks away for Thielen with one of the most finicky injuries to recover from. In the meantime, expect WRs Jonathan Mingo and Xavier Legette to step up in place of the absent Thielen. Mingo’s role in the slot could earn him some easier targets and production than Legette, who will likely be tasked with fending for himself on the outside. Legette was as intriguing a prospect as there was coming out of this draft class, though, and likely has the higher upside between the two players. Fantasy managers interested in a more prospective add can likely scoop up Legette free of charge from the waiver wire, while those looking for a more immediate solution could turn to Mingo for additional depth.

• Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles says he wants WR Mike Evans to be ‘involved more’ in Tampa Bay’s offense moving forward

  • So do we, Todd. So do we. As nice as it’s been seeing Chris Godwin get back to his productive ways operating out of the slot, those valuable targets have come at the expense of the perennial 1000-yard receiver, Mike Evans. Heading into Week 4, Evans has been targeted just 15 times and reeled in ten of those passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns. That sounds more like a single game statline than a three game stretch for Evans, and it’s his lowest statistical output through three games since 2022 when he missed part of Week 2 and all of Week 3 due to injury. The good news: Evans’ struggles to produce aren’t flying under the radar. It would be fair to chalk up last week’s quiet outing to spending the afternoon on an island with Pat Surtain II, and outside of that, Evans has had one bad game and one good game. There’s no reason to panic yet, but with Chris Godwin vacuuming up targets at such a high rate so far this season, Evans will have to be efficient and take advantage of any downfield targets that come his way.

• 49ers HC Kyle Shanahan says that RB Christian McCaffrey met with a specialist in Germany about his achilles injury

  • If it sounds like it’s going to be a while until we see Christian McCaffrey back on the field in 2024, it’s because it is going to be a while. Fantasy football’s best kept secret heading into the regular season just happened to involve the top overall player from each of the past two seasons, and after being a surprise inactive in Week 1, it seems like the 49ers weren’t letting on just how severe the injury was for CMC. Now, the 49ers star running back (and Madden 25 cover athlete, if you’re even a little stitious) is pulling a page out of Christian Watson’s book to see a specialist about whatever it is that’s ailing him. We would assume it’s his achilles since that’s the designation he’s received, but since we also assumed that McCaffrey would play in Week 1 and the 49ers bamboozled us on that one, it seems like you can never be too certain. At this point, it’s unlikely that McCaffrey returns sooner rather than later once his time on IR is served. That means Jordan Mason will continue to be the next man up for the foreseeable future, making him an every week must start moving forward and an excellent asset in trades given the unclear timetable on CMC’s recovery.

If Bucky Irving is still available on waivers, this is your last chance to grab him. Rachaad White was successful as a fantasy RB last year because he was the goal line back and he was a great receiver, and he still is a great receiver. He was a great receiver in college, and he continues to be one in the NFL. But he was the most inefficient runners among qualifying RBs last year – of course, we beat that horse to death this off-season, and despite the bad combine, despite the size, I wasn’t giving up on Bucky during the draft process.

If you had the rookie draft kit, you probably have Bucky on your dynasty team - but the Bucs flipped the script on Rachaad White’s usage in this past game against the Broncos, giving Bucky 56% of the rushing attempts while Rachaad White saw his rushing share drop from above 50% to only 38%. When Todd Bowles was asked why Rachaad White still had a 73% snap share, he said it was because they were down and they were in passing mode - which makes sense. Rachaad White is the pass-catching specialist between himself and Irving.

Catch the latest episode of the Upper Hand Fantasy Podcast: MNF Recap, plus Week 4 Waivers and Streamers!

However, he also said that Bucky has earned more work moving forward - among 34 RBs with 25+ carries so far this year, he’s 2nd to JK Dobbins in yards/carry, 5th in explosive run percentage, 7th in missed tackles forced/attempt, and 3rd in yards after contact/attempt. Now, I wouldn’t expect him to get goal line carries… Rachaad White is still getting all of that, amd White is still going to get the passing Ddwn work. But it was interesting to see Bucky get most of the 2-minute work in the last game - we’ll see if that becomes a trend.

Bucky’s just a flex play right now, but there’s a chance if he remains efficient, he can be a little more than that… Rachaad White is the preferred play in this backfield right now until anything shifts even further, but there’s no doubt that he has taken a hit to his value moving forward.