Fantasy football takeaways from preseason Week 3

Week 3 of the NFL preseason is in the books so we can finally start to look towards Week 1 of the NFL season. There weren’t many takeaways during Week 3 of the NFL season but there are a few players to highlight. 

Below, you’ll see a few of my fantasy football takeaways from Week 3 of the NFL preseason. It’s easy to overreact at this time of the year and even more so this season than last as we didn’t have any preseason games to take in. Below are several names who I think the fantasy community will move up and down their ranks based on Week 3.

Gus Edwards’ stock has skyrocketed with the J.K. Dobbins injury in Week 3 and Zach Pascal should see an uptick with T.Y. Hilton sidelined. I discussed both as well as a few others on this list on Mean Streets. 

The positives

Tyrell Williams has upside to be a strong FLEX option

Tyrell Williams didn’t do anything in Week 3 of the preseason but the Lions gave Breshard Perriman plenty of run and then they released him Monday morning. Williams didn’t play football last season but he has a 1,000-yard season on his NFL resume. He had a sky-high 15.3 YPC and he finished with 69 catches and seven touchdowns. He had four games with at least 80 yards and he never had more than seven targets in any game. In 2019, he scored six touchdowns and one in his first five games before cooling off. He opened as the one in Las Vegas that season. 

He’s the WR1 on a very bad Lions team who’ll be playing from behind often. Williams isn’t a sexy name but he’s a solid late-round target. Believe it or not, Quintez Cephus is ahead of Amon-Ra St. Brown as of now. I don’t think either will have much appeal in your standard 12 team league. St. Brown could play a bigger role as the season goes on but he logged zero snaps in 12 personnel during three preseason games. 

Nico Collins is worth a late-round flier 

The Texans’ third-round rookie has played behind only Brandin Cooks during the preseason. Houston is another team who will be forced to throw the football and reports suggest they are listening to offers for Cooks. If he were to get traded or suffer an injury, Nico Collins could fall into a heavy workload immediately. He may regardless.

The negatives

John Brown is nothing more than a wasted spot on your bench

In fact, John Brown may not be worth a roster spot at all and we could soon hear the Raiders feel the same. The Raiders rested their starters in Week 3 and Brown has been playing with the reserves throughout the entire camp. The offense runs through Darren Waller and Josh Jacobs, but I think it’s fair to expect a sophomore jump from Bryan Edwards and Henry Ruggs. Both have looked strong throughout camp. It won’t take much to set career-highs for either wideout.

Giovani Bernard has no value in a 12 team league 

I don’t see the upside in rostering Giovani Bernard in standard 12-team leagues. He’s the third-best option on his team behind Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette. Gio would need a lot to happen for him to receive first and second reps, let alone red zone touches. I don’t expect him to sniff the goal line and while his upside as a passer is high, it’s not a great reason to draft him. This Bucs team should be able to move the ball with ease and there are plenty of passing options for Tom Brady when he’s on third-down. Acquiring Bernard was a great real-life move for the Bucs but it has little value in fantasy.