Fantasy football sleepers for Week 3

Week 3 of the 2021 NFL football season is days away, and it’s time to fine-tune your fantasy lineups. This includes hunting for solid flex players and sleepers that can pop off and help you win the game.

Each week during the NFL season, this article will highlight some deep sleepers for you to consider when setting lineups. You’ll never see Tier 1 players mentioned in this article, as I’ll look to unearth legitimate deep sleepers — players either low-owned or rarely started.

Here are some of the deep sleepers you should keep an eye on for Week 3.

Week 3 QB sleepers

Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans

The Titans are 5.5-point home favorites against the potentially QB-less Colts. This sets up well for Derrick Henry, obviously, but don’t overlook Ryan Tannehill. Quarterbacks also fare well when home favorites. Those who drafted Tannehill as their QB1 have been disappointed so far this year, with just 1 passing TD through two games. That should change in Week 3 against a Colts D that has coughed up 6 passing TDs so far.

Justin Fields, Chicago Bears

All aboard! Go ahead and start Justin Fields as your fantasy QB1 in his first career start. The rookie was spotty (at best) in Week 2, completing only 46% of his passes for 60 yards and an INT (27.7 passer rating), but he also ran the ball 10 times. The rushing appeal is what we’re going for here. The floor should be enough to give him a top-12 finish at the position. Passing TDs would just be gravy.

Deeper sleeper QBs

Jameis Winston
Taylor Heinicke
Kirk Cousins

Week 3 RB sleepers

James White, New England Patriots

It’s time to put James White into starting PPR lineups without thinking about it too much. The pass-catching specialist has caught 6 passes in both games to kick off the season, adding 9 rushes (and a rushing TD) as well. So let’s call White good for 8-12 touches, with over half of those touches being high-value receptions. The Pats are only slightly favored against the Saints (-3), so it’s highly unlikely White gets gamescripted out of this contest.

Tony Pollard, Dallas Cowboys

It turns out Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott can co-exist. Pollard out-gained Zeke with a great 109-yard, 1-TD rushing performance on 13 carries last week. He also added 3 receptions, giving him 7 on the year. The workload and efficiency are enough to move Pollard into legitimate flex territory.

Cordarrelle Patterson, Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons face off against the Giants in Week 3, a bottom-10 team in terms of fantasy points allowed to RBs. And Cordarrelle Patterson may be behind Mike Davis on the depth chart, but it might already be time to put him ahead of Davis in fantasy. Patterson outgained Davis on the ground 54-49 in Week 1 (despite seeing 8 fewer rushing attempts), scored a short-yardage rushing TD in Week 2, and outperformed Davis through the air in Week 2 as well (5-58-1 receiving line compared to 7-25-0 for Davis). Everything about Patterson as an RB has been better than Davis, and the Falcons are likely to realize it soon — if not already.

Deeper sleeper RBs

J.D. McKissic
Sony Michel
Zack Moss
Trey Sermon (if active)

Week 3 WR sleepers

Emmanuel Sanders, Buffalo Bills

So far in 2021, the Washington defense has not been scary to face for opposing offenses. In fact, they have allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to opposing WRs through two weeks. Emmanuel Sanders ranked 10th among all WRs based on air yards. He’s a screaming BUY at the moment.

Rondale Moore, Arizona Cardinals

Rondale Moore’s Week 2 boom wasn’t an accident. FTN’s Derek Brown put it best in this tweet:

Getting a target on more than one-third of your routes in insane. It’s not sustainable, but it’s clear the Cardinals want to get the ball in his hands. The speedy rookie will get more plays designed for him against the Jaguars, who have given up 30 points per game to offensive powerhouses Houston and Denver.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Green Bay Packers

We had Marquez Valdes-Scantling in this spot last week, and we’re keeping him here for Week 3 despite his goose-egg in Week 2. He recorded 8 targets in Week 1 and 4 targets in Week 2 (3 deep shots and 1 end-zone target). Valdes-Scantling should have had at least 2 TDs in Week 2, if not 3, except Aaron Rodgers’ only bad passes on the night appeared to be passes thrown MVS’ way. The boom is coming soon.

Deeper sleeper WRs

Michael Pittman
Will Fuller
Darnell Mooney
Brandon Aiyuk
Tim Patrick

Week 3 TE sleepers

Austin Hooper, Cleveland Browns

I highlighted Austin Hooper in my splits tool article as a likely beneficiary of Jarvis Landry’s injury. The Bears gave up solid production to Tyler Higbee in Week 1 (5 catches for 68 yards), and it’s not hard to envision Hooper seeing similar work with Cleveland’s receiving room so banged up. If he adds a TD to those totals, he becomes a fantastic play.

Evan Engram, New York Giants

After missing the first two weeks of the season, Evan Engram is ranked outside of the top 15 TEs in his potential debut for Week 3 (he’s finally returned to practice). The Giants draw the Falcons, who have allowed 3 TDs to TEs so far this year and have allowed the second-most fantasy points to the position.