Here’s a look at the studs and duds of Week 3. We’ll look at one stud and one dud from each of the quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end positions. The purpose of this exercise is not simply to identify the best and worst at each position but to find players who had over- or underwhelming performances that warrant discussion.
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Quarterback
Stud: Matt Ryan (ATL)
26/35; 374 Yards; Five Touchdowns
This season is shaping up to be eerily similar to Ryan’s 2016 MVP year, where the team came out flat in Week 1 and went on to explode as one of the league’s highest scoring offenses. After an abysmal showing in the season opener, Ryan now has nine total touchdowns in the past two games. Rookie wideout Calvin Ridley is emerging as the legitimate number two option that the team has been looking for since signing Mohamed Sanu a few years back. Lastly, the Falcons defense is so depleted from injuries that most of Ryan’s games will lean towards the higher end of the scoring spectrum. Remember, in Atlanta’s Week 1 loss in 2016, the fans were calling for Kyle Shanahan’s head too – now Steve Sarkisian is on the way to a second year redemption tour of his own.
Dud: Kirk Cousins (MIN)
40/55; 296 Yards; One TD, One INT, Two Fumbles
Cousins was so, so much worse than the box score would indicate. He essentially spent the first three quarters of the game with negative fantasy points before capitalizing on 15 minutes of garbage time to redeem his value. That being said, it’s hard to say too much about this game except that it was just one of those NFL upsets that happens every year, where a bad team beats a good one. The fashion in which this transpired made it more dramatic, but it would still be presumptuous to over-analyze this one. At the same time, this was not simply a case of bad turnover luck or poor offensive line play: Cousins went for long stretches where he just couldn’t connect with anyone, and that’s on him. He’s little more than a streaming option at this point, but only Stefon Diggs will suffer in games like this where the quarterback loses his confidence to push the ball downfield.
Running Back
Stud: Christian McCaffrey (CAR)
28 Carries for 184 Yards; Two Receptions for 10 Yards
This performance epitomizes McCaffrey’s fantasy value, what with his high floor and low ceiling. His touch count continues to rise each week, hitting 30 this time around, but one problem still remains: goal-line opportunities. The team defers to Cam for punching it in, and to the coaches’ credit, it’s working. It’s working so well that it’s tough to imagine that anything changes in terms of McCaffrey’s opportunities. We’ve reached a point where he probably isn’t going to score unless he busts a long run, which to be fair is entirely within his skillset.
Dud: Kenyan Drake (MIA)
Five Carries for Three Yards; Two Receptions for Seven Yards
Going into this season Frank Gore was expected to be a minor nuisance at worst for Drake, but instead he’s steadily creeping into starter territory. Miami found success with trickery and other big plays in this matchup, so opportunities for Drake were few and far between, but the utter lack volume remains staggering none the less. Even if today’s game flow was an outlier, Drake warrants serious concern going forward, and his timeshare with the ageless Gore requires close monitoring.
Wide Receiver
Stud: Robert Woods (LAR)
10 Receptions for 104 Yards; Two Touchdowns
Jared Goff is never hurting for options in this Rams passing attack. Brandin Cooks has transitioned seamlessly, Cooper Kupp remains one of his favorite targets, and of course Todd Gurley is more than capable of carrying this entire offense on his back. But Robert Woods will not be phased out, and he continues to build upon last year’s breakout campaign. In fact, Woods has led or tied for the team lead in targets in each of these first three weeks of the season. Nine targets a game is good as it is, but nine targets in this Rams offense is worth its weight in gold. Woods is in the starter conversation going forward.
Dud: Amari Cooper (OAK)
Two Receptions for 17 Yards
Just when it seems like Cooper finally got the monkey off his back, he goes and lays an egg like this. Oakland has now blown fourth-quarter leads in two straight games, and their coaching has come into question – deservedly so. Coaching could be the culprit here too, as we saw the team completely fail to get the passing game going outside of a few completely broken plays featuring Jordy Nelson. It’s almost like Derek Carr and company need to be reminded every game that Cooper is an elite talent who deserves and requires feeding. So far it seems as though Cooper is on track for a repeat of last year when his big games were total coin flips and he was impossible to predict. His floor is low and his ceiling is high, so play him according to your team’s needs.
Tight End
Stud: Kyle Rudolph (MIN)
Five Receptions for 48 Yards; One Touchdown
Rudolph was barely involved in Week 1 but has bounced back to be one of the team’s most involved weapons in the ensuing games. He’ll be relegated to the third wheel for as long as Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are healthy, but that’s going to be good enough more often than not. Even on a day as disastrous as this one against the Bills, Rudolph still managed to get the job done, even if it was in garbage time. Given how incredibly shallow the position is this year, Rudolph is basically a premier player at the position.
Dud: Eric Ebron (IND)
Five Receptions for 33 Yards
Ebron caught touchdowns in each of the Colts’ first two games, much to the chagrin of Jack Doyle truthers. Doyle is forced to sit out Week 3 with an injury, and so, of course, Ebron can’t get it done. The tight end actually led the team in targets with 11 but hauled in less than half of them in what ultimately became a modest showing. Look for Ebron to remain a change-of-pace option for the Colts receiving game even when Doyle returns, with his relevance being entirely touchdown dependent. This is one instance where the snap counts truly tell the story, and Ebron’s snap counts don’t bode well for his prospects going forward.
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Shane McCormack is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Shane, check out his archive and follow him @ShaneMcCormack_.