Fantasy Football Week 3 Recap: Biggest Surprises and Busts

Week 3 gave us some amazing fantasy performances including Josh Allen and Justin Herbert’s dominant games and then there were players who were MIA that killed our fantasy weeks. We’ll be breaking down the biggest surprise and biggest bust at each position. 

Biggest Fantasy Surprises in Week 3: 

Quarterback: Josh Allen – Buffalo Bills

It’s no surprise that Josh Allen had a bounce back week as we predicted this would happen. Josh Allen lands on this list for how much of a bounce back he had. Josh Allen had 5 total touchdowns against a good Washington defense. Josh Allen was the #1 fantasy quarterback this week and looks to be back on track.

Running Back: Peyton Barber – Las Vegas Raiders

We expected a big running performance out of the Raiders running backs, but we expected Kenyan Drake to take the lead with Jacobs out and not Barber. Barber was clearly the lead back as he got nearly triple the carries of Drake and outperformed Drake. Barber looks to put himself in contention for the #2 spot on this committee. Barber had a great performance and could be named starter if Jacobs misses more time.

Wide Receiver: Mike Williams – Los Angeles Chargers

Justin Herbert is capitalizing on his breakout rookie season by leading his Chargers to a week 3 victory against the Super Bowl runner up Kansas City Chiefs on the road. Herbert is connecting with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams even more. Both Williams and Allen are looking like weekly starts in fantasy as Herbert is spreading the ball very well. 

Tight End: Mike Gesicki – Miami Dolphins

There were no standout performances from tight ends in week 3 outside of the weekly Travis Kelce dominance. Kelce is in a league of his own and any of his performances are not surprises at this point. Of the rest, Gesicki gets the nod after being shut down completely by Buffalo, he got back on track with a respectable game. Gesicki is a factor for the Dolphins and should contribute more depending on the severity of Fuller’s injury. 

Biggest Fantasy Busts in Week 3:

Quarterback: Justin Fields – Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears had one of the worst offensive performances we’ve ever seen. To put it in perspective, Justin Tucker’s field goal was more yards than the whole Bears offense had. Justin Fields got his first career start and was atrocious from the start. Fields did get a little banged up but should be healthy to play next week and the Bears are already thinking about not sticking with him as the starter which shows you how bad he performed against the Browns.

Running Back: Damien Harris – New England Patriots

The Patriots look a lot different than they did just a couple seasons ago in the Post-Brady era. Mac Jones has been mediocre with only one win so far against fellow rookie Zach Wilson. Jones did have to thank support from his running backs in that win, but this past week, Harris was a non-factor and didn’t play much of a role in helping the offense as they got steamrolled by the Saints. 

Wide Receiver: Rondale Moore – Arizona Cardinals

With DeAndre Hopkins being limited due to injury, this was the perfect opportunity for Rondale Moore to step into the lead role for the Cardinals. This didn’t end up being the case as not just Moore struggled, but the whole Cardinals passing offense. The Jaguars did a good job limiting Kyler Murray and almost beating the Cardinals in this one. Moore didn’t benefit at all from this matchup and was rather disappointing when a big game was anticipated.

Tight End: TJ Hockenson – Detroit Lions

This was a toss up between both TJ Hockenson and Noah Fant for who was the bigger disappointment, but we are giving this one to Hockenson. Hockenson was better through the first two weeks and looked to be on path for a top 3 fantasy tight end season which still isn’t out of reach, but his 2 point dud was one to forget. Hockenson was more disappointing as he started in more leagues than Fant despite Fant having the easier matchup against the 0-3 Jets.