Week three has officially passed us by in the NFL, and that means the fourth week of college football has gone also. It’s fantasy football time, and today we are going to be talking about weekly strategies, player insights, rankings, and projections. The main premise here is that you should be taking into account all of your player analysis and combining it with insights, rankings, and projections. You never want to leave out information in favor of another, just take it all in and make the best educated decisions you can make on each roster choice. Let’s get right into it by starting with something that many fantasy managers use these days, rankings, and not just generic rankings, but rankings for the season opener.
Weekly Rankings
Weekly rankings are awfully important to figure out the correct rosters to play each week in fantasy football, especially a Campus to Canton league.
College And NFL Rankings
College:
- Ashton Jeanty – Running Back
- Nick Nash– Wide Receiver
- John Mateer – Quarterback
- Jack Bech – Tight End
NFL:
- Saquon Barkley – Running Back
- Justin Jefferson – Wide Receiver
- Dallas Goedert – Tight End
- Josh Allen – Quarterback
Strategic Insights
We just can’t switch Ashton Jeanty away from this top spot again. He’s been too good all season long to make that move. After a week’s break, Jeanty came back and picked up 11 rushes for 127 yards. However, he didn’t score for the first time this season after racking up nine touchdowns in the first two performances. He’s going to continue to get volume, production, and opportunity to score as the season progresses.
There’s a minor switch up at the running back position this week. Saquon Barkley takes over the top spot now that he’s still leading the league in rushing and rushing yards over expected. This upcoming weekend, he gets to face off against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that has given up the third most fantasy points to running backs in the first three games. There’s a chance that Barkley will put up prolific numbers like we saw in the season opener against the Green Bay Packers.
Next, we have Nick Nash again. Similar to Jeanty, Nash can’t be dropped down. The receiver has had at least 20 targets in back-to-back weeks now, which should tell you all that you need to know honestly. Most recently, he had 23 targets and turned them into 16 receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns. On the season, he’s got 68 targets for 50 receptions and 637 yards with eight touchdowns. He’s done that in just four games.
We’re going to have another minor change and talk about Justin Jefferson here at the wide receiver spot. Jefferson has been wildly consistent all season with Sam Darnold at quarterback and it’s apparent that the two of them have found a rhythm together. Jefferson would have put up even bigger numbers on the season had the Vikings not been blowing teams out when they played them. With a (hopefully) tight contest on the way against the Packers, Jefferson should get targets early and often, turning them into more production.
The top players really came out to play again this weekend, John Mateer holds the top spot once more at quarterback. Mateer played a great game of football again over the weekend, throwing for 390 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions. He also rushed 18 times and turned that into 111 yards and another score on the ground. He’s one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks that college football has to offer.
As for the tight end spot, we finally have a change. This week we’ll be talking about Jack Bech, who’s technically a receiver but he’s also listed as a tight end in fantasy leagues. Bech has now surpassed 100 receiving yards in three out of four games this season, getting at least nine targets in each of those performances. He’s only had one dud of a game with two targets and two receptions for 11 yards. Besides that, he’s got over 500 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
For the NFL, the top tight end should be Dallas Goedert. Trey McBride is dealing with a concussion, George Kittle has a hamstring injury, and Sam LaPorta got his ankle rolled up on. The tight end position is hurting, and Goedert is coming off a career-high game in receptions and receiving yards with a touchdown. Given that the Philadelphia Eagles will be without A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith this weekend, Goedert is going to truly be the top passing option.
Finally, we get Josh Allen. This isn’t much of a surprise considering that Allen just dominated the Jacksonville Jaguars. That makes it two out of the three weeks now that Allen has finished with one of the top three fantasy quarterback performances. He’s got a tougher matchup this weekend, though it is finally a game that might not turn into a blowout, so he could have an even bigger day.
Jersey And Bench (Start/Sit)
You all know the drill here, each week there will be players that you want to start, and players that you want to sit. Below are a couple of options and some background information on why you should do either of the following.
Jersey/Bench Picks
Jersey:
- Cameron Skattebo
- Tyler Conklin
- Marvin Harrison
- Jayden Daniels
- Jaylin Noel
Bench:
- Cam Camper
- Dalton Schultz
- JC French
- Tyler Shough
Strategic Insights:
Let’s start with the jersey picks and begin with Cameron Skattebo. Skattebo is owned in the majority of fantasy leagues, but he’s only being started in under 35 percent of them. Last week, he showed that he can rack up production on the ground and through the air. He’s had over 18 carries in three out of four games, and he’s had at least four targets in the passing game in three out of four games as well. It feels like you can safely bet on him to turn that volume into some solid production this weekend.
Next is Tyler Conklin. He hauled in five receptions for 93 yards during the New York Jets victory against the New England Patriots last weekend. With a strong matchup against the Denver Broncos this upcoming week, Conklin could continue to rack up targets. Especially with Patrick Surtain likely shadowing Garrett Wilson for the entirety of the afternoon. This opens the door for other contributors, and Aaron Rodgers is getting used to Conklin in the passing game.
Then we get to Marvin Harrison. Everybody got worried and hit the panic button in the season opener when he didn’t get much production. Since then, he’s done nothing but produce at an extremely high level. This upcoming weekend we’ll see him take on the Washington Commanders. The same Commanders that just allowed Ja’Marr Chase to have over 140 receiving yards and two touchdowns against them. Harrison might just run wild once again in this one.
Speaking of the Commanders, Jayden Daniels deserves a mention himself. Daniels had a historic type of night against the Cincinnati Bengals last weekend, and his ceiling is starting to get awfully high. The great thing about that? His floor is still rising as well. He’s a quarterback that can run with high efficiency and make throws to his weapons down the field. He’s looked better each week that he’s played so far and gets another great matchup with the Arizona Cardinals defense.
And the last of the jersey picks is Jaylin Noel. It’s easy to think that he had a bad game last week, with two catches for 49 yards. However, that doesn’t tell the full story. Iowa State was down by 31 points by the time the first half ended, and the backups stepped into the game from that point onwards. Had that not happened, Noel likely would have extended his streak of 100-plus yard receiving games. He should bounce back next weekend.
Flipping over to the bench picks now, the first is Cam Camper. Camper had two receptions for 70 yards and two touchdowns last weekend. The problem is that he didn’t see much volume, and if he hadn’t scored a 52-yard touchdown, the afternoon would have looked miserable. He’s scored three touchdowns each game but has yet to crack more than four receptions in a single contest. He’s touchdown-reliant at the moment, and it might be better to just wait one more week before tossing him into the lineup.
Dalton Schultz probably shouldn’t step into your starting lineups this weekend. He really just hasn’t been given much volume and hasn’t turned what he is getting into good production. The Houston Texans tight end is unfortunately just buried down the list of weapons in this offense that includes Joe Mixon, Tank Dell, Stefon Diggs, and Nico Collins. With Houston potentially scoring a ton of points against the Jaguars’ vulnerable defense this week, there is a chance that Schultz can provide value. But I’d guess that most of that success will head towards the receivers.
I think it’s about time to just give up on Trevor Lawrence for a couple of weeks. At least until he starts to figure things out again. He’s been abysmal all season long, and even in a blowout defeat against the Buffalo Bills, he couldn’t muster anything in fantasy. He had under 10 points despite the game getting away from the team in the second quarter. That’s a bad omen moving forward, and it spells more disaster with the team possibly falling into that pit again with the Texans up next.
I like what I’ve seen out of Tyler Shough, the quarterback of the Louisville Cardinals. He’s got eight touchdowns without an interception and 850 passing yards. His downsides are that he doesn’t run the football, so there’s no production there, and he gets a stiff matchup with Notre Dame this weekend. That matchup coupled with his lack of rushing volume should keep him on the bench.
Lastly, we have Rachaad White. I liked White coming into the season but knew that he had some issues that would need to get cleaned up in the run game. Not only have they not been cleaned up, but backup rookie running back Bucky Irving has exploited them. Irving is taking snaps away from White every single week, and it’s only a matter of time before he completely takes the job. White also hasn’t even scored, and with his volume decreasing, it’s hard to start him.
Projections
Projections are numbers that estimate how many fantasy points a specific player might get in a given week. They can vary depending on the situation or matchup and need to be monitored weekly to get a good understanding of what experts think of them.
Weekly Projections
College:
- QB – Dillon Gabriel – 34.20 points
- RB – Ashton Jeanty – 26.27 points
- WR – Evan Stewart – 17.36 points
- TE – Mason Taylor – 9.80 points
NFL:
- QB – Patrick Mahomes – 23.81 points
- RB – Breece Hall – 14.69 points
- WR – CeeDee Lamb – 12.95 points
- TE – Travis Kelce – 7.88 points
Strategic Insights
These are the players who are projected to garner the most fantasy points at their position in both college and the NFL. These numbers are calculated by basically estimating the stats that a player might have given their track record and upcoming matchup. If they have an easier matchup and are historically good against that specific team, the projections will be a little higher. If it might be a blowout, the projection might be even higher than that. The reason why it is important to understand these projections is that if you’re ever stuck wondering what to do, they could give you an idea of how a player might perform. Let’s say you can’t decide who to start between two wide receivers, but one is estimated to be 10 points more than the other. That number alone can indicate that the higher projected receiver could be in line for a significantly better day, and you can feel comfortable starting them over your other option. They aren’t guaranteed to be accurate every week, and they do change quite often, because, at the end of the day, they are simply projections, but it’s a good place to start making lineup decisions.
Conclusion
With all of that being said, it is critical to stay on top of your weekly strategies and pay close attention to rankings, and player insights. You never know when you might be caught up between two players and need to figure out how to break the tie in your mind. That is exactly where rankings and projected points play a factor, in helping lay all of the information out for you in an easy-to-read format. Each week is going to be an exciting time for everybody, so before we get ahead of ourselves, just remember to double-check your starting lineups and make sure that you’re happy with the players you have locked in at the moment. I heavily recommend you take some of our listed rankings into consideration, and also for you to check out other projections and rankings as well to get a clear vision of how each week might play out in both college and the NFL.