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Malik Nabers had a big game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, catching eight passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Expecting Nabers to come out as one of the top receivers of the week, I put together a neat table of the top rookie wide receivers over the first three weeks of the season since the start of the 21st century.

So what a surprise when I ran the numbers this morning and Nabers didn’t come out near the top of the week! He doesn’t make the list of the top rookie wide receivers over Weeks 1-3, either. He doesn’t even lead this year’s rookie receivers in DYAR.

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Nabers ends up with “only” 30 DYAR for the week in part because of four incomplete passes in the second half of the game and in part because the two touchdowns were both short: 5 yards on first-and-goal and 3 yards on third-and-goal. He doesn’t get a degree of difficulty bump in DVOA even though his footwork on the second one was awesome. A couple of his receptions were short, such as 4 yards on third-and-11 as well as 4 yards on first-and-10.

Nabers is second in this year’s strong rookie receiver class in DYAR after three weeks. (Well, technically it is YAR, since there are no opponent adjustments until next week.) Nabers is at 55 DYAR, 14th among qualifying receivers. Marvin Harrison Jr. is at 39 DYAR, which ranks 24th. Ladd McConkey is at 17 DYAR with Rome Odunze at -13 DYAR.

The leader among rookie receivers has only played two games as of this writing: Brian Thomas Jr. of the Jaguars. He has 80 DYAR through the first two games, catching six passes on eight targets with 141 yards and a touchdown plus a 40-yard DPI gain.

I will also note that Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders is currently the No. 1 tight end in total DYAR for the season with 46, just ahead of Isaiah Likely (45) and Cole Kmet (42).

Here’s that rookie wide receiver table, by the way.

Top Rookie WR by YAR, Weeks 1-3, 2001-2024
Player	Year	Team	YAR	Pass	Rec	Yds	TD
Calvin Ridley	2018	ATL	141	15	11	210	4
Anquan Boldin	2003	ARI	131	35	23	378	2
Sterling Shepard	2016	NYG	110	19	16	233	2
Andre’ Davis	2002	CLE	106	17	12	150	4
Roy Williams	2004	DET	100	29	17	277	4
Terry McLaurin	2019	WAS	95	24	16	257	3
Justin Jefferson	2020	MIN	94	15	12	245	1
Ja’Marr Chase	2021	CIN	91	16	11	220	4
Denarius Moore	2011	OAK	84	15	9	180	1
Tank Dell	2023	HOU	82	21	15	251	2
DeAndre Hopkins	2013	HOU	81	26	18	243	1

One of these things is not like the others! Denarius Moore was a fifth-round pick for the Raiders whose big first three weeks also included carries of 25 and 20 yards on the ground. You may not remember, but he was mostly a starter for them for three seasons before his career fizzled out.

Now onto the Week 3 results… These have now been updated with Monday Night Football, and it turns out the top three quarterbacks of the week all played on Monday night.

Quarterbacks

Rk	Player	Team	CP/AT	Yds	TD	INT	Sacks	Total DYAR	Pass DYAR	Rush DYAR	Opp
MNF	Josh Allen	BUF	23/30	263	4	0	0	219	202	17	JAX
MNF	Joe Burrow	CIN	29/38	324	3	0	2	194	190	4	WAS
MNF	Jayden Daniels	WAS	21/23	254	2	0	2	189	179	10	CIN
1.	Aaron Rodgers	NYJ	27/35	281	2	0	2	173	169	5	NE
2.	Lamar Jackson	BAL	12/15	182	1	0	0	163	122	41	DAL
3.	Brock Purdy	SF	22/30	292	3	0	1	162	167	-5	LAR
4.	Andy Dalton	CAR	26/37	319	3	0	2	152	152	0	LV
5.	Dak Prescott	DAL	28/51	379	2	0	3	146	137	9	BAL
6.	Daniel Jones	NYG	24/34	236	2	0	2	111	112	-1	CLE
7.	Matthew Stafford	LAR	17/25	221	1	0	3	97	97	0	SF
8.	Sam Darnold	MIN	17/28	181	4	0	4	95	95	0	HOU
9.	Malik Willis	GB	13/19	202	1	0	3	87	53	33	TEN
10.	Jared Goff	DET	18/23	199	2	1	2	80	76	4	ARI
11.	Bo Nix	DEN	25/36	216	0	0	0	79	59	20	TB

Aaron Rodgers completed 10-of-13 passes on third down with eight first downs… Lamar Jackson added 12 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown, including the 10-yard carry that ended the game with a Ravens win… Surprisingly, Dak Prescott did not have a huge gap between his performance in the first and second halves, with 59 passing DYAR before halftime and 78 passing DYAR after halftime… Daniel Jones, on the other hand, had 138 passing DYAR before halftime and -26 passing DYAR after halftime… Matthew Stafford led all quarterbacks this week with 91 DYAR on passes up the middle. Andy Dalton was second with 79 DYAR… Bo Nix had only one first down on nine third-down attempts.

Rk	Player	Team	CP/AT	Yds	TD	INT	Sacks	Total DYAR	Pass DYAR	Rush DYAR	Opp
12.	Kyler Murray	ARI	21/34	207	1	1	1	75	73	2	DET
13.	Aidan O’Connell	LV	9/12	82	1	0	1	45	45	0	CAR
14.	Patrick Mahomes	KC	26/39	217	2	1	0	45	35	10	ATL
15.	Kirk Cousins	ATL	20/29	230	1	1	2	27	44	-17	KC
16.	Justin Fields	PIT	25/32	245	1	1	2	23	23	-1	LAC
17.	Gardner Minshew	LV	18/28	214	1	1	2	20	23	-4	CAR
18.	Tim Boyle	MIA	7/13	79	0	0	1	8	7	1	SEA
19.	Justin Herbert	LAC	12/18	125	1	0	2	1	1	0	PIT
20.	Caleb Williams	CHI	33/51	363	2	2	4	-3	-8	5	IND
21.	Geno Smith	SEA	27/34	289	1	2	3	-5	-5	0	MIA
22.	Derek Carr	NO	14/25	142	1	1	1	-6	-5	-1	PHI

Kyler Murray only had one first down on seven third-down attempts, plus a second first down on a DPI… Justin Fields is dead last so far this season with -68 DYAR on passes to running backs. That includes Cordarrelle Patterson, who was the intended target on an interception this week… Gardner Minshew had 64 passing DYAR to the left side but -60 passing DYAR to the right side, including an interception… Caleb Williams has a passing DVOA of -61.3% so far this year on deep passes (over 15 air yards); only Bryce Young has been worse… Derek Carr completed 2-of-7 on first down for just 9 yards, plus a 12-yard sack.

Rk	Player	Team	CP/AT	Yds	TD	INT	Sacks	Total DYAR	Pass DYAR	Rush DYAR	Opp
23.	Davis Mills	HOU	7/12	79	0	0	1	-10	-10	0	MIN
24.	Jalen Hurts	PHI	29/38	311	0	1	4	-12	-8	-3	NO
25.	Baker Mayfield	TB	25/33	163	1	1	7	-14	-14	0	DEN
26.	Will Levis	TEN	26/34	260	2	2	8	-24	-27	2	GB
27.	Drake Maye	NE	4/8	22	0	0	2	-46	-45	-2	NYJ
28.	Jacoby Brissett	NE	12/18	98	0	0	5	-49	-49	0	NYJ
29.	C.J. Stroud	HOU	20/30	215	1	2	4	-71	-64	-7	MIN
30.	Anthony Richardson	IND	10/20	167	0	2	1	-75	-70	-5	CHI
31.	Deshaun Watson	CLE	22/37	196	2	0	8	-80	-78	-3	NYG
MNF	Trevor Lawrence	JAX	21/38	178	1	1	4	-93	-86	-7	BUF
32.	Skylar Thompson	MIA	13/19	107	0	0	5	-103	-103	0	SEA

Jalen Hurts managed just 2.4 net yards per pass on second downs, including a sack-fumble… Baker Mayfield had only two deep passes over 15 air yards: an interception in the first quarter and a 16-yard DPI in the fourth quarter… Will Levis had 20 DYAR on first down and then -47 DYAR on second, third, and fourth down combined… Anthony Richardson threw only four passes on first-and-10, one of which was intercepted.

Top Five Running Backs

Rk	Player	Team	Runs	Rush Yds	Rush TD	Rec	Rec Yds	Rec TD	Total DYAR	Rush DYAR	Rec DYAR	Opp
1.	Chuba Hubbard	CAR	21	114	0	5/5	55	1	85	41	44	LV
2.	Kyren Williams	LAR	24	89	2	2/2	27	1	60	32	28	SF
3.	Derrick Henry	BAL	25	151	2	1/1	23	0	59	46	13	DAL
4.	Aaron Jones	MIN	19	102	0	5/6	46	1	38	12	26	HOU
MNF	Zack Moss	CIN	12	58	1	5/6	39	0	37	28	10	WAS
5.	Saquon Barkley	PHI	17	147	2	4/4	9	0	36	51	-15	NO

Chuba Hubbard gained at least 5 yards on 13 of his 21 carries, and didn’t lose yardage once… Derrick Henry only converted one of his three runs on third down, although that was 29 yards on a third-and-1… Saquon Barkley led all backs in rushing value this week and is No. 1 for the year so far… Zach Charbonnet, not listed above, was fourth at 36 rushing DYAR this week.

Bottom Running Back

Player

Team

Runs

Rush
Yds

Rush
TD

Rec

Rec
Yds

Rec
TD

Total
DYAR

Rush
DYAR

Rec
DYAR

Opp

D’Andre Swift

CHI

2/4

-28

-29

IND

D’Andre Swift is the lowest running back in rushing value so far this year at -90 DYAR. No other back is below -55 DYAR. He didn’t have a carry longer than four yards this week, and lost 12 yards on a fourth-and-1.

Top Five Wide Receivers or Tight Ends

Rk	Player	Team	Rec	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Total DYAR	Opp
1.	Jauan Jennings	SF	11	12	175	15.9	3	99	LAR
2.	Tutu Atwell	LAR	4	5	93	23.2	0	59	SF
3.	Chris Olave	NO	6	6	86	14.3	1	57	PHI
MNF	Ja’Marr Chase	CIN	6	7	118	19.7	0	57	WAS
MNF	Khalil Shakir	BUF	6	6	72	12.0	1	44	JAX
4.	Justin Jefferson	MIN	6	8	81	13.5	1	43	HOU
5.	Dallas Goedert	PHI	10	11	170	17.0	0	42	NO

It was a career-best day for Jauan Jennings, who caught his three touchdowns on first-and-10, third-and-4, and third-and-5. He also had a 34-yard gain on second-and-15… Tutu Atwell had four first downs including a huge 48-yard DPI in the third quarter plus a 50-yard bomb that set up the game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter… Chris Olave converted on five of his six catches including three third downs and two second-and-longs… Dallas Goedert had four catches of 20 or more yards and three of those came on third downs including the 61-yard gain that basically won the game for the Eagles.

Bottom Wide Receiver or Tight End

Rk	Player	Team	Rec	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Total DYAR	Opp
1.	Rashid Shaheed	NO	0	5	0	0.0	0	-33	PHI

Rashid Shaheed was targeted on four deep passes (over 15 air yards) but couldn’t catch his one short target (5 air yards) either.