Week 3's Best & Worst QB/RB Matchups! 🥊

It’s been a long year already dealing with injuries, and it’s only Week 3. Just wait until we need to contend with bye weeks, too! 😵‍💫

What’s in store:

• Jakobi Meyers is back in practice! He’ll look to replicate his Week 1 performance in Week 3 against a tough Steelers D.

• Sparks will fly in Minnesota this week against the Chargers 🎆. Are you taking the over or the under on 56 total points?

• Bounce-back for Travis Etienne? After a tough outing last week against the Chiefs, he draws a favorable matchup against Houston.

• Jonathan Mingo is 1-of-7 in THIS stat… See how the Panthers rookie pass catcher is separating himself from the pack.

• Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers returned to a full practice on Thursday, should be ready to go for Week 3

  • After missing one week of action as a result of being lit up against the Broncos in Week 1, Meyers returns to a Raiders WR corps that had a solid game against the Raiders but cratered against the Bills in Week 2. The matchup for Meyers isn’t necessarily ideal (the Steelers strength is on defense), but his small sample of utilization was absolutely encouraging for what the rest of the season could hold for the former Patriot. He won’t be a slam dunk start by any means, but he’ll make a fine flex in a game that should hopefully be more polished than the mess on Monday night we saw between Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

• Chargers RB Austin Ekeler continues to miss practice, has potential to miss Week 3

  • The star fantasy running back seems to be in clear danger of missing his second game in as many weeks, leaving his fantasy managers scrambling for the second week in a row. Josh Kelley drew the start last week and didn’t look fantastic, but part of that could be attributed to the Chargers running a pass-heavy offense against a vulnerable Titans secondary. It’ll be Minnesota next on deck for LAC, and with the highest point total of any game so far in the 2023 season, Vegas likes this one to be another high scoring affair – and most likely one that features a heavy dose Justin Herbert’s arm. Kelley will be worth the start for the touchdown upside he presents, but expectations should be tempered heading into Sunday.

• Panthers rookie QB Bryce Young declared out for Week 3 vs Seahawks, Andy Dalton slated to start

  • I’m not one to speculate as the writer of the Upper Hand Fantasy newsletter, but this seems like an awfully early time to declare your rookie quarterback with two starts under his belt out for Week 3. Could this be to see just how bad the Panthers offense really is by dropping Andy Dalton into the fray? Potentially. Conspiracies aside, Bryce Young wasn’t a startable fantasy quarterback in your lineup anyway, and it’s likely that the same can be said for Andy Dalton. He was able keep the Saints relatively afloat in his action last year in New Orleans, but the ceiling remains quite low regardless of which of these two quarterbacks are under center.

• LOVE Lamar Jackson vs Indianapolis

  • Lamar Jackson has a fantastic matchup this week - Colts are allowing the 9th most points to QBs through 2 weeks, and Lamar hasn’t played anywhere close to his best game yet. Mark Andrews should also be healthier.

• TAP THE BRAKES on Deshaun Watson vs Tennessee

  • On paper, this is an excellent matchup - the Titans are allowing the 12th most points to quarterbacks and the 3rd most points to receivers. But they’ve played Tua (PFF’s highest-graded passer so far) and Justin Herbert. This isn’t just a set and forget kind of matchup. Definitely keeping an eye on this one, because if Watson isn’t able to get it done here, it might be time to consider finding another quarterback.

• NOT SCARED of Jordan Love vs New Orleans

  • The Saints defense is good, but I’m not sure they’re not able to be taken advantage of. I mean, they’ve played Ryan Tannehill and Bryce Young and two very unexciting offensive schemes - of course they're going to have a low number of points allowed to QBs. Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love can change that this week, especially if Christian Watson is back.

• LOVE Kirk Cousins and Justin Herbert

  • This is easily the best matchup to target in the QB realm in Week 3 – Cousins just crushed the Eagles for 28 points last week, and now he gets the Chargers who are allowing the second most points to QBs at 24 points per game. This is the highest total in a game yet this season at 56, so rev up your Vikings and Chargers players for this one. It’s gonna be haymakers flying.

• LIKE Dak Prescott vs the Cardinals

  • This is the second matchup in a row the Cowboys have been favored in by over 9 points, and that usually means the quarterback is only going to get three quarters of meaningful action. We saw that last week against the Jets. Now, the Cardinals have been competitive this season against the Commanders and Giants – their point differential is just -7 – but the Cowboys are a different animal than either of those two teams. The Cardinals are allowing the fourth-most points to fantasy QBs this season, but that might not matter if the Cowboys can jump out to a big lead.

• LOVE Matthew Stafford vs. Cincinnati

  • Cincinnati is allowing the third most fantasy points to the position, and Matthew Stafford has been tearing it up with the help of Puka Nacua. I know we talked about touchdown regression coming for both of those guys yesterday, and that could very well be the case this week – especially if Joe Burrow is out.

• TOUGH MATCHUP for Jerome Ford & Kareem Hunt vs Titans

  • You’re starting Jerome Ford this week regardless, but the Titans are allowing the least fantasy points to running backs through two weeks. I’m not too worried about Ford from a utilization standpoint, considering he just played very well against a good Steelers defense and saw 20 opportunities, but Kareem Hunt figures to sap some of that away. Even with the matchup and added competition, I’m not buying into that hurting Ford too much. Just tempering expectations here.

• GREAT DEBUT MATCHUP for Kendre Miller vs Green Bay

  • The Packers are allowing the third most points to running backs through two weeks, and the biggest competition for Kendre Miller has removed itself from the picture. Alvin Kamara is back in Week four, so it’s now or never for Miller to establish a role for himself in the Saints backfield - and he can do that in a strong matchup.

• CHANCE TO GET BACK ON TRACK for Travis Etienne vs Houston

  • The Jaguars went pass heavy last week against the Chiefs with a 78% dropback rate, leading to deflated utilization for Travis Etienne (Just 12 rushing attempts and two targets on the day). The Jaguars should have an easier time this week against the Texans, and Etienne’s workload can increase back to his Week 1 levels.

• LOVE Breece Hall vs New England

  • It’s the perfect storm for Breece Hall in Week 3. Not only does he get a division rival in the Patriots to take out his 4-carry frustration on, but New England is also allowing the 9th-most fantasy points to the position. Raheem Mostert just gashed them, and Kenny Gainwell had his way in Week 1. The Jets will be run heavy after getting a taste of Zach Wilson in Week 2.

Let’s be honest with ourselves: the Panthers offense has looked even worse through two weeks of action than even the most pessimistic NFL fan could have imagined. Bryce Young looks like a rookie trying to find his way in the NFL, and now he’s expected to miss Week 3 with an ankle injury. There hasn’t been a whole lot to be optimistic about with Carolina’s O, but if there’s one bright spot for fantasy purposes, it’s been rookie WR Jonathan Mingo’s utilization to begin the season.

The Panthers’ second-round rookie WR has run a route on 91%(!) of his team’s dropbacks, good for the 7th-highest rate in the league. It also places him as one of seven receivers to have a route participation over 90% this season, running behind just Deebo Samuel, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, DeVonta Smith, Davante Adams, and Garrett Wilson.

Granted, that high volume of snaps has come on a bad offense, as mentioned before - and while his route percentage is way up, his target share is not. He’s seeing just 0.18 targets per route run, which ranks 122nd in the league and is tied with a few other players. Whether or not that’s come as a result of an inexperienced rookie at QB remains to be seen, but his usage this week will be something to monitor with veteran backup Andy Dalton drawing the start in Week 3 against the Seahawks.