Hear me out here: what if you could catch lightning in a bottle before the weatherman even reported the storm?
That’s the idea with this column, which we’ll publish weekly here at DKNetwork. It’s Saturday. Official injury designations for your Sunday DFS and season-long fantasy lineups are writ. In season-long, particularly, you might be looking to gain a late-week edge over your hyena leaguemates.
Maybe you have Cooper Kupp or George Kittle or Deebo Samuel or <insert name of any/all LA Ram/SF 49ers superstar, really> on your teams. Guys you won’t drop, but who are officially OUT for Week 3. You pop them in the IR slot, and now you’ve got a free space on your roster to fill before lineups lock tomorrow.
Why not try to fill it with someone who might be in line for a breakout performance? Someone you could use as trade leverage in the weeks to come? Or—even better—someone who could win you a championship down the line?
There is indeed gold in them there hills somewhere. So let’s go prospecting.
Best Players to Stash Before Week 3
Listed below in the order I’d prioritize adding them. All players available in at least 45% of season-long leagues, and most of them (read: all but one) far more widely-available.
Alec Pierce, WR, Indianapolis Colts (34.6% rostered)
2024 Air Yardage Darling: Alec Pierce. I’ve written about this guy too much, dear reader. May this be the last time. He remains available in over 60% of ESPN leagues. I wish you could have seen the world-weary look on my face as I typed that sentence.
I go into much further depth in my Alec Pierce is a must-add wide receiver for Week 3 column from earlier this week (think I like him?). But here’s a good rundown below.
One last non-exhaustive stat dump to convince you to go get Pierce:
- Pierce ranks second in the league among wideouts in Prime Targets (defined as receivers that are open and likely to convert a first down). He has six; the only person with more is Amon-Ra St. Brown (7).
- Pierce ranks sixth in the league among wideouts with over ten targets in EPA per target (expected team points added per target) with 0.89. Chris Godwin leads the league with a figure of 1.21 EPA/tgt.
- He ranks 15th in the league in average separation score (3.1 yards). Hanging among impressive names like Cooper Kupp, Davante Adams, and Chris Godwin
Pierce is getting open, getting prime looks, and generating elite separation. He’s responsible for impressive team-wide value on every single one of his targets.
Please—just go get him. If the Pierce family ever finds out just how much I’ve written about Alec’s athletic prowess, they might file a restraining order.
Jauan Jennings, WR, San Francisco 49ers (32.9% rostered)
Another wideout whose roster percentage just bamboozles me. Well over 65% available here for Jauan Jennings, about whom it feels like almost everyone at DKN has championed this week. He might be our Week 3 Mascot.
Our fantastic analysts, DK Network’s Meghan Townsley and Steve Buchanan broke down Jennings’s potential on Friday as well in the following video for their Injury Report Live show:
This year, Jennings is averaging his highest-ever yards per target (12.9) and is nearly matching his career-high target share (19.2%) in the Niners offense. But now he has even fewer pass-catchers against whom to compete. He’s already nearly matched half of his total yardage from last season (101 to 265), and has the highest catch percentage of his career (77.2%).
Many attributed Jauan Jennings’s season-long regression in production in 2023 to the spectacular statistical seasons of Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk. So far, one of those two is out for who knows how long, and the other seems bashful and rusty after that ridiculous contract saga that took all preseason.
And now Deebo’s gone, too. Some things don’t have to be overly complicated. Where there was once Deebo and McCaffrey, now there is Third-and-Jauan.
Cam Akers, RB, Houston Texans (23.0% rostered)
I’m going to just quote my colleague Sean Barnard, here, who wrote about Akers (as well as the two other Texans’ backs) in his Cam Akers is a must-add handcuff piece:
Injuries to Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce are opening the door for Cam Akers to hold some of the best value of players still available [on waivers]. As the Texans prepare to face off with the Minnesota Vikings. Mixon suffered a sprained ankle last week and is officially listed as doubtful on the injury report. More concerning reports surfaced later in the week that this may be more of a week-to-week issue which could open the door for Akers to be fantasy football relevant beyond just this week. Backup running back Dameon Pierce has also been officially ruled out due to a hamstring injury after he was held out last week as well.
Enter Cam Akers … There has only been one time in his career in which Akers has received 19+ carries in three consecutive games. This occurred in the final three games of the 2022 season in which he converted 63 carries into 345 yards and three touchdowns. The talent he has flashed to be is still in there with Akers and the 25-year-old is beginning to run out of opportunities to show it. Look for him to make the most of it and deliver in this matchup as the featured back for the Texans.
Whatever good news we got about Mixon’s ankle and Pierce’s hamstring appears, today, to be so much dust in the wind. Sean loves Akers for any and all Week 3 lineups. Same here. I’m in on him for season-long, too—at least for the next few weeks.
Quentin Johnston, WR, Los Angeles Chargers (41.7% rostered)
I’m not going to offer much statistical analysis, here (mercy, am I right?). Simply: the upside is Mike Williams 2.0 on a Chargers offense that will continue to use the play-action the generate vertical offense. The downside is what we saw last season. Herbert’s status is uncertain this week, so he might not immediately be on your league’s radar, depending on how deep it is.
He’s a 6’3″, 208lb WR1 on an NFL team. He’s not-yet 50% owned. Make room for him on your bench, if there isn’t already today.
Jailen Nailor, WR, Minnesota Vikings (3.3% rostered)
Again, let’s not get overcomplicated here. Justin Jefferson is, to some degree, hobbled. Jordan Addison is out. T.J. Hockenson is on IR.
Darnold has to throw to somebody. And Nailor, actually, has been an incredibly valuable target. In my Fantasy Football Trends for Week 3: Diving into air yards and advanced receiving metrics column, I had this to say about the Vikings wideout:
Nailor is second in the league in EPA/tgt at 1.27. How juicy is this, knowing Jordan Addison isn’t going to play? Sam Darnold has been incorporating Nailor into the offense while T.J. Hockenson is out, and Nailor is set to see an even more significant uptick in usage this Sunday. He’s not my favorite DFS play on this list, but he’s close.
Stash him. Start him tomorrow against the Texans.
Brenton Strange, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars (6.1% rostered)
This is not just about Evan Engram. But I don’t like Doug Peterson’s “probably just one more game” tone re. Engram’s availability going forward. Strange simply may continue to be thrust into the starting role in this offense, and that’s enough to be rosterable as a tight end in most leagues.
Having said that, Strange is much more than just the next man up. Trevor Lawrence said as much, per the team’s official website: “I think [Brenton]’s been working in the dark for a while, and he finally had an opportunity … he stepped up and made the plays when his number was called and had a lot of trust in him. Nothing really dropped off as far as my trust in that position. If he’s the guy that’s open, I’m going to get it to him and I’m going to trust him to go win his one-on-ones, all those things and you saw him do that in the game.”
Trust of your quarterback? Check. We know how big that was for Engram’s role in this offense. If you’re not already convinced by his six targets last week, I wrote about Strange’s expected points added per target (EPA/tgt) in my advanced receiving stats column this week:
“Who?” was an appropriate response last week. No longer. Currently third in the league in EPA/tgt at 0.7. He came onto the scene last week such that he’s been generating buzz in Duval all week long—three receptions on six targets for 65 yards last week against Cleveland. Trevor Lawrence loves him. How much are we buying this? (I picked him up in season-long.)
Get him, and consider starting him this week. Another analyst here, Zach Thompson, offered some start/sit advice for Strange this week.
Ray-Ray McCloud III, WR, Atlanta Falcons (3.9% rostered)
My colleague, Zach Thompson—mentioned above with the fantastic Brenton Strange analysis—was kind enough to submit the following blurb about McCloud, who he picked up in his leagues today:
The Falcons offense is still very much “under construction,” but McCloud looks ready to be a big-time contributor. He led the team in targets in Week 1 while only playing 48% of the team’s snaps ,and finished with 52 yards on four catches. In Week 2, he played every single offensive snap and was tied for the team lead in receiving yards before starting WRs Drake London and Darnell Mooney passed him in the last two minutes.
He almost caught the game-winning score on a controversial no-call, but the fact that he didn’t keeps him under the radar. He’s a great sleeper to stash as one of Captain Kirk’s new crew members.
Many folks are all over Mooney (including myself) this week, but Zach is playing poker while I’m playing Go Fish. He sees our Mooney and raises us a McCloud.
Tank Bigsby, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars (9.3% owned)
Speaking of Zach—in his Week 2 Waiver Wire column (Zach writes our weekly Waiver Wire piece here, check him out @zt_sports), he called Bigsby his favorite option among available players:
My favorite of the widely available options, though, is Bigsby, who had a pretty even timeshare with Travis Etienne in the Jaguars’ backfield. Each running back had 12 carries and Bigsby turned his into 73 rushing yards while Etienne had 44 yards and a touchdown.
Bigsby got lots of buzz this preseason for claiming a larger role in the backfield, and that is exactly what happened for at least Week 1. The third-round pick only had 50 carries last year in his rookie season, but had 132 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. He looks primed for a much larger role this season and should be owned in almost all formats.
This isn’t about Week 3, for which Bigsby’s (shoulder) health remains a question. Remember—Zach Thompson is playing poker. This is about stashing Bigsby away for when he’s eventually healthy enough to shoulder (get it?) a full workload. Which could come as early as this week.
Adam Thielen, WR, Carolina Panthers (43.8% rostered)
In the last of our Zach Thompson trifecta, some analysis of veteran Panthers wideout Adam Thielen:
Dalton and Thielen showed a strong connection last year in Dalton’s one game as a starter in place of Young. In their 37-27 loss in Seattle, Thielen racked up 11 catches for 145 yards and a touchdown on a team-high 14 targets. In that game, the Panthers let Dalton throw 58 times. While they’ll hope he doesn’t have to throw nearly that much against the Raiders this week, it does show that Dalton trusts Thielen, and that the two can combine to produce big numbers when given the chance.
The Raiders should be a good matchup for Dalton and Thielen after they gave up one WR touchdown in each of the first two weeks of the season. The game is expected to be fairly high-scoring with an over/under of 40, and the Panthers as six-point road underdogsopens in a new tab. Thielen could be a great value at +300 to score a touchdownopens in a new tab and +135 to get 50+ receiving yardsopens in a new tab. If you really think he and Dalton can get on track, Thielen is a massive +1200 to have 100+ receiving yards, which he did in Dalton’s only start last season.
I’m a bit of a Thielen doubter this year, but he convinced even me.
Mike Gesicki, TE, Cincinnati Bengals (22.5% owned)
Fellow DKN analyst Garion Thorne had this to say about Mike Gesicki in his column about whether to target the Cincinnati tight end on waivers this wee:
The surface stat line looks phenomenal. Gesicki finished the hard-fought loss with seven catches and 91 yards on nine targets — and he could have easily wound up with over 100 yards if not for a back-breaking drop late in the fourth quarter on a crossing route. All told, through two games, Gesicki enters Monday’s action ranking fourth among all TEs in targets (13), fifth in receptions (10) and fifth in yards (109).
Now, Garion might have gone on to caution you about playing Gesicki in Week 3, citing unsustainable production based on Gesicki’s target share. But there’s season-long value to be had, here.
If Gesicki has another standout performance on Monday night, the percentage of FAAB you’ll have to get to secure him on Tuesday will be obscene. Try to grab him now, just in case.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
