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2026 Week 3 Waiver Wire: 14 Pickups and What to Bid on Each · Upper Hand Fantasy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Week three waivers, and I'm gonna be honest with you, this is way better than last week.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: J.K.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Dobbins goes down with a hamstring, RJ Harvey's still banged up, and there's a running back sitting right behind there who benefits no matter which one of them comes back first, or doesn't.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about that.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: He might not even be the best pickup on the board.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a receiver in Cleveland putting up wide receiver one number so far through two weeks, who's available in most leagues, and two tight ends who just walked into big roles because of injuries.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're doing today.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ranking every name worth a bid, telling you exactly what to spend, who you should leave alone.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get right into it.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And let's start with Jonah Coleman.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: J.K.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Dobbins left Sunday's game with a hamstring injury.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: RJ Harvey was already dealing with a hamstring injury coming into Sunday.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, a report came back about Dobbins saying that it's a slight hamstring issue, and there is some optimism that he could be ready against the Rams in week three.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Usually, when there's a hamstring strain, even if it's minor, something like that happens on a Sunday.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Usually that player misses at least the next Sunday.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I have Jonah Coleman as my number one waiver ad of the week.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a slam dunk?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: No, because RJ Harvey could be back, JK Dobbins could be back, and even if RJ Harvey makes it back, but Dobbins doesn't, I would expect Coleman to be the Dobbins one-for-one replacement with a potentially even you know expanded role because of his past catching abilities.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of what happened on Sunday.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Once Dobbins went down, Tyler Bidet kept his role, which is closer to what the RJ Harvey role looks like if he's back.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, Bidet was inactive in week one when RJ Harvey was good to go, which means that Coleman would have the goal line role if Dobbins were to miss, right?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, is the matchup amazing in week three against the Rams?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, so keep that in mind.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: But if Coleman goes off and looks really good, you might not be able to put that genie back in the bottle.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's why we want to go after a running back like Coleman, even with all the ambiguity around who's gonna be back and who's not, because Coleman can take over for Dobbins.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: There is a world where that happens.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, just as a reminder of why I liked him as a prospect, uh, we're talking Coleman here, 96 percentile elusiveness and 96 percentile after contact rate.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: He's a good player, probably spending somewhere between 10 to 15 fab, depending on how badly I need a running back.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you really need to go higher, I understand.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: But because of the ambiguity, it's really hard to bid high in this situation.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Can this just turn into a Dobbins Harvey backfield once again in a week or two?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it can.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you don't want to go crazy with the bids on Coleman.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Next up is Denzel Boston.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's one of the lone bright spots, or maybe the lone bright spot for the Browns offense right now.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: 22% target share through two games, running a route on 95% of dropbacks.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Casey Concepcion isn't too far behind him with 20% target share, but Boston is getting 59% of the air yardage share compared to Concepcion's 13%, who's running routes way closer to the line of scrimmage.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Average depth of the target for Concepcion, 3.9 yards.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Average depth of target for Denzel Boston, 16.5.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The wide receiver 11 so far through two games going into Monday Night Football.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and among the 48 wide receivers who have run 50 or more routes so far through two games, Boston's 2.85 yards per route run ranks fifth.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: First retarget share, 16th.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: First downs per route run, 19th.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I loved him in the draft, thought he was underrated, and he's coming through early.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's worth about 15% fab to me.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go to Adonai Mitchell.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: He was near the top of this waiver list last week, and it's because we saw something like this potentially coming.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Not sure I saw 12 targets coming.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that it was going to go up a little bit given the competition over these next couple weeks, but 29% target share, six catches for 63 yards so far through two games among those same 48 wide receivers that I mentioned earlier with at least 50 routes run, 10th in first downs per route run, 16th in yards per route run, 12th in target share.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: He could be a weekly wide receiver three if he's going to get these type of spike games.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Overall, the usage is really good, so he has to be picked up.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would say him and Denzel Boston are probably in a similar tier, even though Boston has slightly better numbers and has the touchdowns.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Mitchell, however, arguably has the more stable quarterback situation and a quarterback situation that I actually trust more.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can get away with getting Mitchell probably for less than 10% of your fab if you really need a wide receiver.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you need a tight end, I think Dalton Schultz should be near the top of your list.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Without Nico Collins on Sunday, Schultz ranked third in target share with 28% among all tight ends, only behind Trey McBride and Dalton Kincaid.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: And through two games, he's second in target share.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, honestly, I only really feel comfortable starting him and having high expectations with Nico Collins out.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: But if you lost someone like Dallas Goddard, who by the way will miss a few weeks with an MCL sprain, or you don't trust Harold Fannon, or you have some other options that you don't necessarily trust.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, by the way, I don't know if I would necessarily play him over someone like Tucker Kraft, whose route participation went way up this week.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: The underlying usage is there in terms of him running around.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: He's more of a full-time player in week two than he was in week one.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Jane Reed will likely be out.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: He has a back issue now.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know what's gonna happen with him.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I wouldn't overthink that one.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I know he's underperforming, I get it, but it's really hard to ignore 12 receptions for 140 yards on 14 targets for Schultz.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I totally understand if you want to play him again.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: But again, remember, he went up against Cincinnati this week, right?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: A defense that is pretty good at defending the wide receiver position, which opens up the middle of the field for guys like Schultz.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was the same issue last year for that defense, but hey, Schultz did lead the team in first read target share.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Xavier Hutchinson was only at 23.3% compared to Schultz's 26.7% first read percentage.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot closer than I would like.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And when Nico was playing in week one, Schultz's first read share was at 18.2% compared to 26.7% from the last week.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that 18.2 was second only to Nico Collins.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: 5% fab is kind of where I'm comfortable here because I don't know if this is gonna be necessarily a long-term thing.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to overspend on a tight end you might only be able to rely on for a short period of time.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Next up is Rashad Bateman.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like Bateman might be the clear one-for-one handcuff for Zay Flowers with a new OC who actually knows how to scheme him up.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: He mentioned this in the offseason as well, where his new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, will move him around.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we saw in this game.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: He even saw a snap in the backfield too, but he was outside, he was in the slot, and we saw how Zay Flowers was used in week one too.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Bateman to me is someone that should be rostered.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: We only have a one-game sample size of him with Zay Flowers in week one, and given this performance that he just had, you just never know what his usage is gonna be like moving forward.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: He could end up being our true number two target in this offense.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: There is room for that.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's a lot of excitement for the rookie Jacoby Lane, but he's not gonna be back for a few weeks, which is gonna give Bateman some time.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: He saw a 31% target share in week two, seven catches, 88 yards, and a touchdown on nine targets.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: He was the first read on 38% of Lamar's targets in this game.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: He's a talented player, he's an underrated player, and a player that a lot of people hate on.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you hate on him for off-the-field reasons, whatever, I get it, but on the field, he's an underrated player.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if we knew Zay was going to be out, I think 10% of your fab would make sense.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesse Minter did say that Flowers has a good shot of returning next week.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I would be conservative on those bids for Bateman.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: We gotta talk about Emmanuel Wilson because there's a chance Jadarian Price can't go this week because of a shoulder injury.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was initially called a chest injury, but Mike McDonald cleared that up.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: X-rays were negative, and he said that it's intact and nothing's serious.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's good.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So he should be fine, but just in case there's a scenario where he can't go, we saw that Emmanuel Wilson completely took over that early-down role later in the game.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: He had a better role than Jadarian Price did.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's the role that we were hoping Price would have.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, Price so far, he's looked pretty good with his limited opportunities.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, pretty damn good.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So Wilson would be the guy for the Seahawks this week if Price were to miss time for the most part.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that you'd want to start, if anyone, against the commanders this week.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think five to ten percent fab, uh, if you really need running back help.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that's obviously if price can't go.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: If we knew that injury was a little bit more serious, I'd probably move Wilson up the list a little bit.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about a couple quarterbacks.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: First off, Tyler Shug.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: He's a QB five so far through two weeks.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And in week two, and yes, like we'll talk about Bryce Young in a second, but the difference between the two that makes me lean Shug by a hair is that his design rush rate was number one in the NFL in week two among all quarterbacks.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: So the floor is gonna be slightly higher, even in less than ideal passing performances.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But a 25% design rush rate is a ton for a quarterback.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Josh Allen was at 22% on Thursday night.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: For the season, only Allen and Jackson Dart were ahead of Shug.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't new, by the way.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about it all offseason long, and in fact, I got really tired of talking about it.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But Shug had the seventh highest design rush rate last year after he took over, 12th in fantasy points per game last year after he took over.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: His backfield's a mess, so the offense is basically on his shoulders, and he's come through.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: He's thrown for the most yards through two weeks.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Could be a solid low-end QB1 option the rest of the way.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: But now let's talk about Bryce Young.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Similar thing with him, he's a solid pickup too.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: He could be a low-end QB1 the rest of the way if he keeps playing like he is.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: He's second to Shug in passing yards and is tied for the most passing touchdowns in the league.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: One big difference this year is that he could now have a legit full-time one-two punch with McMillan and Coker, right?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: He has his red zone targeting Darren Waller as long as he can stay healthy, so he's playing pretty well.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Overall, QB2 so far in fantasy points through two weeks, only behind Josh Allen so far.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Next up is Trey Tucker.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen this story with Trey Tucker before, which is why he isn't higher in my rankings.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, no Brock Bowers in this game, so can we really expect him to come through moving forward once Bowers is back?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the key difference that could provide a glimmer of hope is that this is Klink Kubiak we're talking about, right?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like things can change for Tucker because of his deployment moving forward.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm not holding out hope, too much hope here, at least.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think max five percent fab for me.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Dontavian Wicks is next up.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: He had a second straight 70 plus yard game, six targets in this one, five catches, 74 yards, a lot better than his two-catch performance last week.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: He did hit 73 yards on only four targets, so his targets did go up.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: However, his route participation did go down in this game.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: 91% route rate in week one, 19% target share, only 65% of routes in week two, 18% target share.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the target share remains steady despite the smaller role, higher target rate overall.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Jalen Hurts did throw it more in this game, leading to a higher number of raw targets.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: But it is still worth noting that Mikhail Lemon jumped him in route share this week.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: 79% for Lemon to Wix 65%.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: In week one, Lemon did run a route on 85% of dropback.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're picking up Wix, just keep that in mind.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know how much this is going to continue and whether this becomes a trend.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Devontae Smith is the clear number one target there.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if Dallas Goddard's gonna miss a few weeks here, I think Wix is definitely more valuable, but don't count out Lemon from starting to see an increase in targets as he gets acclimated to the NFL.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about Jeremy Bernard, man.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: With Michael Pittman out in week two, he went from a 7% route participation in week one, 7%, okay, to 85% in week two and saw a 22% target share.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: That is significant.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: He looked great in this game, he looked really good in the preseason.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: He had one boneheaded play on that screen on Sunday, which ended up resulting in an interception.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: But he's a rookie man, like he's gonna make those mistakes.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Overall, I think his skills are pretty good.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is a pass leaning offense here, and there obviously needs to be another target outside of DK Metcalf.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if Pittman is out again, if that foot becomes an issue, I think Bernard can potentially earn some more targets.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's a talented player, and I think if in his first NFL game with real targets, he's earning a 22% target share.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: That tells you a lot about the player.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's worth taking a shot on with a few Dallas.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about Aronde Gadston.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: David Njoku left the game on the cart, Charlie Kohler left the game in a sling.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Both of them are now on injured reserve for at least four games.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it is very possible that Gadsden is the primary tight end and maybe close to full time.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows for how long, depending on how serious these actually are.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for a tight end, we saw Gadston pop off in his rookie year, basically looking like a wide receiver out there for a stretch of games.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: He caught a touchdown in week two, and we could see more increased usage out of him.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: There is a world where he's the second target behind Ladd McConkey.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: There is.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about Chris Bell too, because Caleb Douglas left the game with a boot on his foot.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like he could have suffered a high ankle sprain, and if that's the case, he might be out for a few weeks.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: We could see Chris Bell take a big step forward in terms of route participation.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And for whatever reason, his route share went down in week two from week one.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, he's the guy on the Dolphins with the most upside outside of Douglas.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you could pick up Malik Washington as well if you're looking for a safer PPR play.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably Malik Washington because Malik Washington was actually already playing on the outside as well and running the most routes among these wide receivers alongside Caleb Douglas.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we could see a combination here of Chris Bell and Malik Washington as the two primary receivers next week.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I do believe that Bell has the longer term upside here and just overall higher upside than Malik Washington, who we kind of know who he is as a player at this point.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna do it for this episode.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't subscribed to the channel, it would mean the world to me if you just hit that subscribe button.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you tomorrow for trades, the next day for matchups.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.