Week 3 Fantasy Football FAAB Waivers: Derek Carr, Carson Steele, Quentin Johnston and More
Fantasy free agents who are sure to be hot names on the waiver wire and how much you should spend to acquire them.
The waiver wire can be a fun process in basic fantasy leagues, but it gets repetitive at times, especially if others in your league aren’t active early in the week. Find players you want, put in claim, get players Wednesday morning; rinse, repeat.
Leagues with free agent acquisition budgets (FAAB) make the process of adding the hottest free agents a more varied and unpredictable process, allowing all owners the chance at every available player if they are willing to spend the necessary money. It’s a nail-biting process to stare at the screen and wonder if $8 is enough to grab your favorite receiver or if you need to bump your bid up to $12.
Below are players at each offensive fantasy position who will be hot waiver-wire adds heading into Week 3. I’ll look at why each player is in position to succeed and how likely it is that they reach those heights. I will also list a conservative bid, high-end bid, and desperation bid:
- The conservative number is for a player you would like to add to your roster but wouldn’t be upset if you didn’t get him.
- High-end bids are what I would give if I really wanted to get that guy. This is a player I see being a semi-weekly option.
- A desperation bid is a move you make when you need to fill a spot so bad that you’re willing to go above and beyond to grab the player in question. This is a guy you’d be looking at as a weekly starter.
- The dollar figures I give are based on a $100 season budget, so adjust accordingly.
- I picked up a tip before the season that I really like: most owners will bid $5, $10, $15, etc., so you can increase your chances of winning a bid by going a dollar higher, bidding $11, $21 and so on. You will see that reflected in the numbers below.
Quarterbacks
Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints
Derek Carr is officially the best quarterback of 2024. That will probably change in the coming weeks, but Carr is having maybe the best stretch of his career to start this season.
In a very small sample, Carr is completing 77% of his passes at close to 11.5 yards per attempt. Those both blow away his career bests and will come down, as will his 5:1 touchdown to interception ratio (twice his career rate). After two weeks, though, it appears that Carr needs to be rostered in every league in case his hot streak continues.
It’s highly unlikely that he will continue this level of play for even one more game; it totally outshines his career play and has come as his team has been dominating games (against one bad team and one supposedly good team).
In Week 3, they match up against an Eagles team that struggled against the pass in 2023 and gave up 260 yards and two touchdowns to Jordan Love in Week 1 (with one interception). Kirk Cousins marched right down the field at the end of the game Monday night and finished with 241 yards (8.3 per attempt), two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
While there is some value, Carr is more likely to fall back to his usual play, turning him into a middling or worse fantasy player. Because of that, I can’t recommend spending any of your budget on him unless you’re super desperate, and even then, more than $1 is stretching it.
Conservative Bid: $0
High-end Bid: $1
Desperation Bid: $2
Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings
I was pumping up Darnold late in the offseason as a guy with a higher ceiling because he was joining a Minnesota team who had thrown the ball as much as anyone the past two seasons. He was more of a lottery ticket and not a must-draft player, but the results have been positive through two games.
Darnold finished as QB14 in Week 1, cruising as his team dominated the Giants. He was QB4 this week, proving fantasy value by ranking in the top 10 on the season.
While he has been deadly efficient, I’m more interested in his possible volume as the Vikings play more games that they aren’t leading by multiple scores. Darnold will be a guy who finishes between QB5 and QB15 most weeks, possibly averaging out to a top-10 finish.
Justin Jefferson’s health is a major factor in Darnold’s value, so updates there could change the outlook on the quarterback.
Conservative Bid: $0-1
High-end Bid: $2-3
Desperation Bid: $4
Running Backs
Carson Steele, Kansas City Chiefs
Isiah Pacheco has gone on IR and will miss about two months. The featured back spot next to the best quarterback in football just opened up, and several guys have a chance to seize a bigger role.
Steele has been working as a fullback and the RB2 option behind Pacheco, carrying the ball nine times for 27 yards (he lost a fumble in Week 2). Without a major roster move, Steele looks poised to work as the lead back in a good offense led by Patrick Mahomes; that’s an enviable spot.
He hasn’t caught a pass, and the Chiefs have another guy who could benefit more in that phase…
Conservative Bid: $6-8
High-end Bid: $11-12
Desperation Bid: $16-18
Samaje Perine, Kansas City Chiefs
Perine was signed to be a third-down back in KC, working passing downs and catching passes while not carrying the ball often. With Pacheco out, the lack of a proven bell cow might lead the team to funnel some carries Perine’s way, getting a veteran presence on the field and making his play-type distribution less obvious.
More than anything, he’ll likely get more chances to catch the ball, giving him a bump in PPR leagues. Perine probably won’t be the top guy in the backfield at any point, though, limiting his ceiling.
Conservative Bid: $0
High-end Bid: $1
Desperation Bid: $2
Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs?
Hunt is visiting with the Chiefs with a possible reunion on tap. He’s unlikely to break out as a fantasy star, but Hunt could have a few useful weeks depending on what the team decides to do with the roster.
Conservative Bid: $0
High-end Bid: $1
Desperation Bid: $2
Braelon Allen, New York Jets
Antonio Gibson, New England Patriots
Ty Chandler, Minnesota Vikings
These are all backups who got some run in Week 2 and will surely pique fantasy interest. I’m not looking at any of them as consistent fantasy options unless there’s an injury, though, and see them better as free agents than guys to spend any money on.
Conservative Bid: $0
High-end Bid: $1
Desperation Bid: $2
Wide Receivers
Quentin Johnston, Los Angeles Chargers
Many were ready to give up on Johnston after an anonymous rookie season: Can we give these guys more than five minutes to show they can play? After a modest three catches and 38 yards in Week 1, Johnston had five receptions for 51 yards and two touchdowns last week against Carolina. He only scored twice in his entire rookie season.
It’s dangerous to expect Johnston to continue his breakout after not seeing much high-level play over the past season-plus, but he was a first-round pick for a reason, and Johnston has every chance at high volume on a team that lost it’s top two receivers in the offseason.
I’m not counting on WR1 performance, but Johnston turning into a good fantasy player would be far from surprising given his pedigree.
Conservative Bid: $0
High-end Bid: $1-2
Desperation Bid: $6-8
Demarcus Robinson, Los Angeles Rams
Robinson was getting fantasy buzz last week because of the injury to Puka Nacua. He caught two passes for 50 yards, but Robinson’s fantasy value took another jump when Cooper Kupp suffered an injury, positioning Robinson as the top option.
Kupp hasn’t been ruled out, but it’s risky to count on him to play given recent missed time. That means other guys will suddenly have the opportunity to fill the targets left behind by Nacua and Kupp: that’s a lot of volume.
Conservative Bid: $1-2
High-end Bid: $4-6
Desperation Bid: $8-11
Tutu Atwell and Tyler Johnson, Los Angeles Rams
Same story for Atwell and Johnson. The Rams need guys to catch passes, and these two could both be expected to fill starting roles. It’s a lottery ticket and toss up as to who to favor, but there is intrigue. I like both better as free agents with no cost.
Conservative Bid: $0
High-end Bid: $1
Desperation Bid: $2
Alec Pierce, Indianapolis Colts
Week 1 was a fluke. Pierce caught two long passes and totaled three receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown. It was the best game of his career, something he surely couldn’t repeat.
Well, he didn’t repeat it, but Pierce caught five passes for 56 yards and scored again. Those two touchdowns match the total he had in both 2022 and 2023. Pierce had two good games in a row, which might not seem like a lot, but he was off the fantasy radar before the season.
It’s more than reasonable to get Pierce on your roster with the hope he connects regularly with Anthony Richardson and his monster arm. There might be some lightning in that bottle.
The most likely scenario, though, is that Michael Pittman returns to his role as the team’s top receiver and Pierce is more of a boom-or-bust option who isn’t a fantasy player most weeks. He’s entering his third season, a time when he could easily develop and flourish, but Pierce didn’t show a lot during his first two seasons and was seemingly going to be overshadowed by recent draft picks.
I’d rather pick up Pierce as a free agent than spend any budget on him, but there are worse ways to spend a dollar than grabbing Pierce before Week 3 and hoping for continued fireworks.
Conservative Bid: $0
High-end Bid: $2-3
Desperation Bid: $6
Tight Ends
Hunter Henry, New England Patriots
Henry just had possibly his best game as a pro. He caught eight passes for 109 yards; only once in his career had he caught eight passes or gained 100 yards prior to Week 2 (and it was in 2019).
At a tough position to fill, I can understand looking at Henry’s performance and expecting him to finally reach the star level we’ve expected for so long given his conservative quarterback. It’s more likely that Henry continues looking like himself, however, and we see Week 2 as a major outlier.
The average game in Henry’s career has seen him catch 3.2 passes for 37.9 yards; that seems much more likely next week than repeating his breakout performance.
Conservative Bid: $0
High-end Bid: $1
Desperation Bid: $2
Mike Gesicki, Cincinnati Bengals
Gesicki had just three catches for 18 yards in Week 1, but he caught a pass that was originally ruled a touchdown before being overturned. His fantasy day would have looked a lot different with that score.
He led the team with seven receptions and 91 yards in Week 2, with no two players on the team combining to match his yardage total. Gesicki has been part of the offense so far after being anonymous the past two seasons.
Week 3 is another chance at production, as Cincinnati faces Washington, maybe the worst pass defense in the league. They haven’t given up much to tight ends, but the Bengals are likely to move the ball, and Gesicki will be a good low-end option for those without a TE.
