FanDuel’s Week 3 Main Slate features 14 games and a 3:30 ET start time, which is a change from the Noon ET start the first two weeks.
There are six teams with team totals of 39 or higher: Oklahoma, Clemson, Texas, Alabama, Washington, and Oklahoma State. We want to target these teams heavily and build the core of our rosters around the top players on these top teams.
This slate breakdown will go position-by-position, highlighting the top options and giving an overview of the toughest choices we face this week. The top options are broken down into two categories. Players listed as Core Plays are those who you can play with high confidence in both cash games and tournaments. Players listed as Worth Considering are viable as cost-saving options in your main lineup or high-upside options for tournaments
Quarterback
Positional Overview
This feels like a slate where it makes sense to eat the chalk and cut some corners elsewhere to find the cap space to roster two of the elite quarterbacks. Jalen Hurts ($10,600), Spencer Sanders ($9,100), Sam Ehlinger ($10,300), and Tua Tagovailoa ($10,200) each have 25-point floors with realistic 40-point upside, which is hard to beat.
Top Plays
Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma ($10,600)
It got repetitive listing Kyler Murray as the top quarterback option every week last season but he almost always ended up being the right play. Jalen Hurts may be an even better fantasy option this year. He doesn’t have quite the arm talent of Murray but is an even better runner. Murray could use his elite long speed to break off long touchdowns on broken plays but wasn’t built to handle a bunch of designed runs. Hurts is. He has the physique of a running back and is a punishing rusher who has averaged 12 carries, 111.5 yards and 1.5 touchdowns per game on the ground in the early going. On top of the massive fantasy numbers on the ground (20 fantasy PPG so far), Hurts is also going to be able to rack up big passing numbers in this wide-open Air Raid offense. He has already thrown for 591 yards and 6 touchdowns despite not playing much in the second half of last week’s blowout. UCLA should be just good enough to force Hurts to play four quarters but nowhere near good enough to really slow down this Oklahoma offense. It’s a nice recipe for another huge fantasy day from an Oklahoma quarterback.
Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State ($9,100)
One of the themes of this slate, at least for cash games is trying to find elite $10K fantasy production at a slightly lower price point. Sanders is a perfect example and the $1,000+ savings on Sanders compared to Tagovailoa and Ehlinger provides a big advantage at other positions. Sanders has a great matchup against Tulsa. Not only does Oklahoma State have a healthy 39.5-point team total but this game is expected to be fairly close, with the Cowboys favored by just 14. We are more likely to get four quarters from Sanders than we are from the other top passers on the slate (each of whom play for teams favored by 23 points or more). Sanders has the dual-threat skill set we crave. Through two games, one of which was a blowout, Sanders has averaged 80 rushing yards per game. Oklahoma State’s quarterbacks have also combined for over 600 passing yards and 8 touchdowns.
Others to Consider
Sam Ehlinger, Texas ($10,300)
After what we’ve seen over the last couple seasons, we know Ehlinger is an elite fantasy option every week. In his last 16 games, he has averaged 12 rushing attempts per game and 1.1 rushing touchdowns. He is also averaging about 250 yards and 2 touchdowns through the air. The Longhorns are expected to put up just over 44 points according to Vegas, so it should be easy sledding for Ehlinger. The only concern is the potential for a blowout, given that Texas is favored by only 30 points. It is just a minor concern, however. Tom Herman has played Ehlinger deep into games even once they are in little doubt and we are almost guaranteed at least three quarters.
Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama ($10,200)
Tagovailoa doesn’t have quite as much rushing upside as the other top quarterback options on the slate but does have six rushing touchdowns in his last 16 games. However, his passing numbers are elite. In 17 games over the past two seasons, many of which he only played half of, Tagovailoa has racked up over 4,500 passing yards and 50 passing touchdowns. Despite going on the road to face a decent SEC opponent, Alabama still has a huge team total of 44 points. We should see yet another 300+ yard, 3+ touchdown game from Tagovailoa.
Running Back
Positional Overview
There are some elite plays at the top of the price range. Travis Etienne ($10,200) and Chuba Hubbard ($10,000) stand out as great RB1 options. Given the lack of obvious value on the slate, it is tough to fit both of them into the same lineup, however. Salvon Ahmed ($9,000) is seasier to fit in as an elite RB2 option if you can afford him and gives you some roster flexibility if you roll with him as your RB1. Of the salary-saving RB2 types, Greg McCrae ($7,800) stands out ahead of Lamical Perine ($8,300), Stephen Carr ($8,000), and Elijah Collins ($7,200) as the top value option on the slate.
Core Plays
Travis Etienne, Clemson ($10,200)
Beyond the obvious — Etienne is an elite talent on an elite offense — there are a couple other reasons this looks like a great spot for Etienne. First, we know Clemson can run on Syracuse. Etienne had his breakout performance with 203 yards and 3 touchdowns in a close game against the Orange early in 2018. Syracuse looks even more vulnerable against the run in 2019. They were just pummeled on the ground by Maryland. The Terrapins rushed for 400 yards and 6 touchdowns last week. Second, there is reason to hope Etienne could see a heavier workload than normal on Saturday. This is a nationally televised night game and while it isn’t expected to be close (28-point spread), it is probably the biggest test on the Clemson schedule between now and December. Given Etienne’s explosiveness and the shaky Syracuse run defense, he could have a monster fantasy game if he sees 20 touches.
Salvon Ahmed, Washington ($9,000)
On a slate where cap space is tough to come by, the $1,000 discount on Ahmed compared to the very top backs is significant. This is the exact kind of slate where we need to be aggressive in looking for $10K upside in $9K players. Ahmed has a chance for a huge week. Washington has a 40-point team total as a 21.5-point home favorite against Hawaii. This should be an up-tempo game and Hawaii’s offense is explosive enough that Washington won’t be able to let their foot off the gas too much even with a multiple score lead. The matchup couldn’t be much better. Hawaii allowed 265 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns to Oregon State last week and 178 and 2 touchdowns to Arizona the week before. Ahmed has emerged as the direct replacement for Myles Gaskin and is a player who should see 20 carries and play the majority of the snaps. He handled 22 of the 31 running back touches for Washington last week.
Others to Consider
Greg McCrae, UCF ($7,800)
There just isn’t much to get excited about in the sub-$8K range on FanDuel this week. McCrae stands out as the best option despite some negatives. Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. Stanford almost always has a strong run defense and this year is no different. Through two games, they are allowing just 105 rushing yards per game. UCF will also use a rotation at running back, so McCrae isn’t a lock for 20 touches. We can see why he might have been priced so low. There are also some great reasons to think McCrae can exceed expectations in this spot. The line has shifted heavily towards UCF and the Knights are now 9-point home favorites with an implied team total of 35 points. The passing game has struggled against worst defenses, so it makes sense to assume most of the yards and touchdowns will come on the ground. In their first competitive game of the season, we can also expect UCF to tighten up the rotation at running back and lean more heavily on McCrae (the most talented back on the roster). He has a shot at 100+ yards and at least one touchdown, which would look pretty good considering his price.
Chuba Hubbard, Oklahoma State ($10,000)
Hubbard won’t exactly be low-owned but he could see slightly lower ownership than he should due to the fact that Spencer Sanders is likely to be the highest-owned quarterback not he slate. Hubbard has starred since taking over as the lead back late in 2018 when Justice Hill was injured. His first start, he put up 153 total yards and 3 touchdowns against Oklahoma. He came back the next week with 168 yards and 1 touchdown the next week. After at down game at TCU, he racked up 182 yards and 1 touchdown in the bowl game against Missouri. He picked up where he left off in Week 1, posting 221 yards and 3 touchdowns against Oregon State. He wasn’t needed much in a blowout over McNeese State last week but should again be the centerpiece of the offense in what should be a competitive game (Cowboys are favored by 14 points) at Tulsa.
Wide Receiver
Positional Overview
If you’ve made it this far, you know value is hard to find at QB and RB. Aside from alternative builds in larger GPPs, we want to bite the bullet and pay up for top players at QB, both RB spots, and Superflex. If you start building your roster around the elite options at those two positions, then you will end up with something like $20-22K to fill out your three WR spots. If so, we have to cut some corners at wide receiver. We can simply roster three players in the $7K range. Or roster at least one long shot WR3 option to open up the cap space to squeeze in one true WR1.
We will take a little different approach here in our Week 3 wide receiver write up. It is hard to identify real core plays since we are really building our core at the other positions and then just doing our best at wide receiver with whatever space we have left. Thus, we’ll quickly highlight a few top options in each price range.
WR1 Options
CeeDee Lamb, Oklahoma ($9,000) Yet another example of a player who could give us 10K production at a 9K price. Lamb is the top receiver on the team projected to put up the most points.
Tylan Wallace, Oklahoma State ($9,800) He will be popular, especially stacked with Sanders but we still will want exposure. Since the start of the 2018 season, Wallace has averaged 118 receiving yards and 1.13 touchdowns per game.
Jerry Jeudy, Alabama ($10,300) The nation’s most talented wide receiver has been a target hog (12 per game) early in the 2019 season.
Rondale Moore, Purdue ($10,200) The matchup against Gary Patterson and the TCU defense is scary but Moore always gets his. He has 138 receptions and 23 carries in just 15 career games.
WR2 Options
Tre Nixon, UCF ($7,200) Nixon has seen 15 targets in two games. Almost all of them have come in the first half of the two blowouts. Given a full four quarters, he could see 10 targets against Stanford.
Jaylen Waddle, Alabama ($7,400) A monster talent in his own right, Waddle has taken a back seat to Jeudy through two games. It feels like he is due to find the end zone for the first time this season.
Grant Calcaterra, Oklahoma ($6,900) Calcaterra is a talented move tight end in the mold of Mark Andrews. He is off to a slow start but will be playing near home in Los Angeles and is a good bet to find the end zone for the first time this season.
WR3 Options
In this price range, we know a zero is a possibility. Especially this week with no obvious cheap value options who are likely to see even a handful of targets.. If you go this route, the targets should be big-play receivers who could score a long touchdown.
Jacob Copeland, Florida ($4,800) Copeland is no better than the fourth or fifth option for the Gators. However, he is a dynamite athlete who should get more snaps with Kadarius Toney sidelined.
C.J. Moore, Oklahoma State ($4,000) He is a backup who has only seen a few targets this season but has found the end zone twice. Moore is getting some buzz as the next James Washington or Tylan Wallace, though it could take him a couple years to get there.
Jadon Haselwood ($5,100), Trejan Bridges ($4,000), and Theo Wease ($4,000) Oklahoma has three true freshman backups who should star in the future. If the Sooners build a lead, we could see this trio on the field and each is capable of housing a long touchdown.
