Fantasy Football: Top Wide Receiver starts and sleepers for Week Three

There are a lot of big decisions fantasy owners need to make for Week Three of the NFL regular season. Here are some of the best matchups for receivers.

The beginning of Week Three has begun as a wild Thursday Night Football game kicked off the festivities. This week there are a ton of tough matchups to gauge as fantasy owners gear up for Sunday.

Wide receivers:

Kelvin Benjamin (Carolina Panthers) VS New Orleans Saints:

The Carolina Panthers wide receiving corps has a fantastic matchup this week as they take on the New Orleans Saints secondary. Benjamin is the Panthers biggest receiving threat now that Greg Olsen is likely done for most of the season, this increases his fantasy value immensely.

Cam Newton will likely look to either a running back or Benjamin in the red zone. Olsen was also Newton’s safety blanket so now that he is gone Benjamin should fill that role which should give him the lion’s share of the targets.

This situation for the Panthers offense comes just in time for Benjamin owners as he should finally find his way into the end zone.

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Jarvis Landry (Miami Dolphins) VS New York Jets:

Landry had 15 targets in the Dolphins opener, 15 targets…that is an unreal amount of targets and only adds to his legend as a PPR stud. Did I mention he caught 13 of them? Now sure he may have only gained 78 yards but 15 targets say a lot about what Jay Cutler thinks about Landry as a receiver.

He is a necessary part of the Dolphins offense as he continues to be highly productive in a contract year. To put Landry’s performance into perspective, DeVante Parker (the supposed number one wide receiver) saw only 9 targets and even worse caught only four of them. Landry is a must-start in cupcake matchup against the Jets.

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Antonio Brown (Pittsburgh Steelers) VS Chicago Bears:

This one is a no-brainer if you have AB you’re starting him every week. The Bears defense has played well against opposing receivers, but with Le’Veon Bell struggling as of late, Brown will be the offense’s best hope at having a dominant day.

He has seen 11 targets over the last two games but has yet to get into the end zone. Yes, currently Tarik Cohen and Marvin Jones have more receiving touchdowns than Antonio Brown, go figure.

He is pretty much obligated to get into the red zone this week and stretch the NFL’s new policy on celebrations to the fullest extent imaginable.

Tyreek Hill (Kansas City Chiefs) VS Los Angeles Chargers:

Hill is coming off of a quiet week and there will be those types of games with a playmaker of his caliber. Much like Antonio Brown, Hill is the Chiefs primary deep threat and fastest player on the field. If quarterback Alex Smith faces pressure or the Chiefs dominate, he will have a pretty mellow game.

This week he takes on the Chargers who have a surprisingly capable defense and a strong offense led by running back Melvin Gordon and quarterback Philip Rivers. The Chargers should score points and keep this game competitive but the Chiefs will eventually unleash an offensive onslaught.

The Chargers could be looking to focus in on Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt and that could open up some room for Hill to make some big plays.

Next: Week One fantasy football recap

Sleeper: Marvin Jones (Detroit Lions) VS Atlanta Falcons:

A touchdown in each game this season has Jones fantasy stock value rising. Typically Lion’s quarterback Matt Stafford looks for Jones in the red zone and that should be a trend that continues for the rest of the season.

Expect wide receiver Golden Tate to draw top coverage leaving an opening for Jones to make some big plays. The Falcons defense will also be without their best pass rusher, Vic Beasley, so that should give Stafford some more time in the pocket.