Week 3 Waiver Wire: Early Pickups and Breakout Fantasy Football Candidates
After the chaos that was Week 1 of the NFL season, the Week 2 early action was (somewhat) more stable, with the usual names appearing atop the fantasy scoring lists. (And then there was Tua Tagovailoa scoring six touchdowns for the Miami Dolphins in their 42-38 win over the Baltimore Ravens.)
But just as Week 1 produced some fantasy football breakouts that sent managers scrambling to the waiver wire ahead of Week 2, the same was true this week.
Breakouts managers should plan to target on waivers this week include a promising New York Jets whom many considered the best wideout in this year's draft class and a veteran pass-catcher who's become his quarterback's go-to target.
In order for players to be considered "breakouts" by our rubric, they must be rostered in less than 40 percent of leagues before Monday.
Rostered: 20 percent
Week 2 stats: 8 rec, 102 yds, 2 TD
Heading into the regular season, fantasy managers likely had a good hunch New York Jets rookie Garrett Wilson would break out at some point this season, but in standard redraft leagues, they simply may not have had a spot for him on their benches.
That will likely change after Week 2. Wilson STATS
It became clear in Week 1 Wilson was going to be a big part of the Jets' offense this year. He was targeted eight times, bringing in four of those, including some catches in traffic.
Now, one caveat to Wilson's future potential is that he's currently playing in a Joe Flacco-led offense that's seeing an unbalanced reliance on passing (59 attempts in Week 1 and XX ATTEMPTS this week). Wilson will have to build his chemistry with Zach Wilson when he returns, currently expected to be in Week 4. But while there aren't a lot of bright spots on this rebuilding Jets team, Wilson is clearly one of them.
Rostered: 35 percent
Week 2 stats: 9 rec, 95 yds
After signing with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2019, Jakobi Meyers has been slowly establishing his role as a key weapon in the team's offensive plans. Though not high-scoring, with just two touchdowns, his 2021 campaign saw him post 866 receiving yards.
Through two weeks this season, Meyers has clearly earned the No. 1 spot atop Mac Jones' preferred targets. In Week 1's loss to the Miami Dolphins, led all New England receivers in targets, receptions and yards, with six, four, and 55, respectively.
Given that he hasn't established himself as a red-zone threat, Meyers may not be a solid choice in standard scoring leagues, but in PPR leagues, Fantasy Pros' Andersen Pickard calls him a "stable low-end WR3 option."
Rostered: 0 percent
Week 2 stats: 3 rec, 45 yds, 1 TD
Breshad Perriman had an opportunity for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday with Chris Godwin and Julio Jones sidelined, and he certainly took advantage of it, scoring the Bucs' only offensive touchdown in their 20-10 victory against the New Orleans Saints.
After the game, the veteran acknowledged that he's "just trying to take advantage of every opportunity," per Greg Auman.
He should certainly get more chances. While Sunday was an outlier in the sense that Mike Evans was ejected from the game for fighting, the Bucs have enough question marks due to injury in their receivers room that Perriman is a solid choice to have waiting on your bench, especially given that he's now caught Tom Brady's eye.
Fantasy scoring and rostered percentage via FantasyPros.
