Fantasy Football Outlook: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Nico Collins, Gabe Davis (Week 3)

Every week we’ll bring you The Primer, a deep dive into every fantasy-relevant player from every NFL game of the week. You can find the full weekly Primer here. Below we dive into a few notable players ahead of this weekend’s games.

Fantasy Football Outlook

JuJu Smith-Schuster (NE) vs. Michael Carter (NYJ)

It’s fair to say JuJu Smith-Schuster has been disappointing so far this season. He’s been averaging 0.36 fantasy points per route run, however he is only running routes 59.9% of the time. This week, Smith-Schuster is up against Michael Carter, who is only being targeted on 12.9% of routes run against him. Also, Carter is only conceding 0.17 fantasy points per route run, which is the 9th lowest in the NFL this season.

This matchup looks really bad on paper, and there isn’t the volume to protect Smith-Schuster this week either.

Nico Collins (HOU) vs. Tyson Campbell (JAX)

Collins has been extremely good this season in a passing attack I didn’t expect to see so much volume. He has been seeing a high volume of targets, with a 23.3% target share on an offense throwing the ball over 45 times a game on average in the first two weeks of the season. Collins is also amassing a healthy 0.47 fantasy points per route run.

However, Tyson Campbell has been exceptional this year. Campbell is only being targeted 10.4% of the time, and only giving up 0.14 fantasy points per route run. This is the third-lowest so far this season. The Jaguars did let Anthony Richardson get his maiden passing touchdown in the NFL in Week 1, however they also kept the reigning Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs to just 17 points in Week 2.

In a PPR league, Collins might hold enough volume to be a start consideration. However, in a standard or half-point PPR league, fantasy managers should consider sitting him this week if they have other options.

Gabe Davis (BUF) vs. Kendall Fuller (WAS)

Gabe Davis had a bounce-back in Week 2, finishing WR14 in PPR scoring. However, that was coming off the back of a WR69 performance Week 1. The boom-or-bust nature of Davis means this should be a week where fantasy managers should consider their options carefully. Although Davis has been averaging 0.30 fantasy points per route run, this is not a matchup where you would expect him to outperform that number.

That is because Kendall Fuller has been brilliant this season. Fuller is only seeing 9.5% of targets being thrown at him per route run, which is the second-lowest in the NFL. On top of that, Fuller is only giving up 0.15 fantasy points per route run, which is tied for the fifth-lowest in the NFL.

Fuller might line up against Stefon Diggs some of the time. However, it is expected he will be up against Davis for the majority of the game. Consider sitting Davis this week and look at other starting options. There are only three matchups on this week’s slate that the sportsbooks are predicting to have a lower score than this one.