Week 3 Flex Rankings for Fantasy Football

The biggest story to come out of Week 2 was the rash of injuries that continued to hit some of fantasy football’s highest-profile players. Consensus number one overall fantasy draft pick Christian McCaffrey suffered a high ankle sprain on Sunday. Carolina placed McCaffrey on Injured Reserve on Wednesday, which guarantees at least a three-week absence. The news was worse yet for another top-three fantasy pick, Saquon Barkley. The Giants star suffered a torn ACL in Sunday’s loss in Chicago and will miss the remainder of the season. The loss of these two studs will hit fantasy managers hard, as there is no quick fix to replace their production. However, these injuries (and a few others) create an opportunity for fantasy managers to scour the wire for reinforcements. Several running backs who were readily available a week ago are immediately involved in the Week 3 Flex conversation.

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Carolina and New York were supposed to be, in essence, solo backfields. Whereas fantasy managers were drafting handcuffs like Tony Pollard and Alexander Mattison in the middle rounds of drafts, backups for McCaffrey and Barkley went largely ignored. Dion Lewis was drafted well beyond pick 200 in both standard and PPR formats, while Wayne Gallman was often available after the 400th pick. The Giants just signed veteran free agent Devonta Freeman, further muddying the waters. All three Giants backs are worth rostering, but I would not rush to consider any Flex worthy in Week 3. The situation in Carolina appears a bit more fruitful. Mike Davis caught eight passes after replacing McCaffrey on Sunday. Davis should have an easier path to touches while McCaffrey is out. With Teddy Bridgewater’s famously low aDOT (average depth of target), Davis is a viable Week 3 Flex.

Risers and Fallers

Aside from Davis, the biggest riser in this week’s Flex rankings is Jerick McKinnon. Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman both suffered injuries in San Francisco’s Week 2 victory. Neither is expected to play this week, which thrusts McKinnon into relevance. McKinnon was a trendy late-round flier in PPR leagues, and it appears managers who took the plunge are about to be rewarded. McKinnon will not be a 20-plus touch player even with the absence of San Francisco’s top two running backs. However, he has already proven he can excel with less than a full workload. McKinnon has parlayed nine touches into 121 yards and two touchdowns through two games. He should thrive against a Giants defense that has already allowed two backs to exceed 100 total yards against them. Jeff Wilson (rostered in just 5 percent of Fantrax leagues) is also a potential Flex option this week in this matchup.

One of the running backs to surpass the century mark in total yards against the Giants was Benny Snell in the season opener. The second-year running back from Kentucky ran for 113 yards in Week 1 after James Conner suffered an injury. Following that performance, it appeared Snell would see a larger share of the work, even with Conner deemed healthy. But that did not come to fruition. Snell had just four touches in Week 2. He also fumbled for the second time in as many weeks. Fantasy managers should not necessarily cut bait on Snell just yet. After all, it is not as if Conner is the picture of stability from a health standpoint. However, there is no reason to consider Snell for your Week 3 Flex spot unless Conner suffers a late-week setback.

Week 3 Flex Rankings

Check out the rest of our Week 3 Fantasy Football lineup!

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