Fantasy Football Rankings: 5 most polarizing players for Week 3

We have five Yahoo rankers every week, and this column will look at five of the buzziest names of the week. I’m looking for players where there is real disagreement, and I’m using a little something called “coefficient of variation” to help me find just that. These rankings will be tinkered all the way until kickoff, so please check back in on our weekly rankings pages and Sunday AM sit/start show for the absolute latest.

These blurbs are also in The Blueprint, which is my weekly rankings and analysis column. The RB version is out on Wednesdays, while the WR version and the QB/TE/K/DEF version are each out on Thursdays before Thursday Night Football.

This assumes Nico Collins (hamstring) misses again. Schultz had 16.6 expected half PPR points (TE1 overall) without him last week, and the Texans don’t have a go-to WR that is going to fill the void. Schultz is trusted over the middle, where the Colts have been absolutely crushed because their LBs are arguably the worst in the NFL. It’s a great spot again. He had 73 yards against them last Week 18, too.

Alec Pierce had a setback with his surgically-repaired heel/ankle, and we may not see him again this year. He’ll be replaced by low-volume grinder Laquon Treadwell until newly-signed Darius Slayton gets acclimated, and the early returns from Keenan Allen have been quite suspect. The pass game has been good enough with Daniel Jones early for a consolidated target tree for Downs and Tyler Warren. In five games with Pierce out or seeing one target since 2024, Downs has a very startable 23.5% target share.

Downs did a hop, skip and a jump off the line against slot man coverage and was given some free releases off cheat motions to get him open quickly underneath. He’s the WR21 in expected half PPR points through two weeks, seeing 13.8 expected half PPR points (WR14) last week.

The matchup is a very difficult one, however. The Texans were fifth-best against fantasy WRs last season, and when they’ve been beaten, it’s almost always against big-bodied downfield threats like Pierce, Kayshon Boutte, Michael Wilson, Quentin Johnston, etc. Downs has a history with them himself. He posted 4-109-1 against the Texans in Week 8 of 2024 (hell yeah), but he’s been held to under 50 scoreless yards in his other four games. The Colts won’t have Pierce and will have Daniel Jones this time around, so he should perform better than that. WR1s Ja’Marr Chase and D.J. Moore both had 75+ yards with a score against them this year.

Love remains a clear 1-2 punch committee. He had 13.2 expected half PPR points in Week 1’s upset win and 8.2 expected points in last week’s predictable blowout loss against one of the best rushing defenses of the decade. Arizona had no chance in either phase, and if this happens more often, the Cardinals will have no choice but to get Love more involved. He’s just operating at another speed than Tyler Allgeier, who had the lone goal-line attempt this season.

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(Chart by Hayden Winks/Yahoo Sports)

Love hasn’t been a designed target player in the regular season so far, which is the easiest way to get him going some. All three of his receptions last game were more of the check-down variety. He has an 11% target share this year, yet none of them have been screens. It’s not the best role until proven otherwise, and everything out of the staff’s mouth suggests it’ll be a little bit before we see Love unleashed.

I could see a division game after being shut down on offense the previous week being the time to unleash Love. The 49ers’ game is a big one for the Cardinals, and they are down DTs and depth EDGEs right now. Love catching 4-6 passes in negative game script would not be a surprise to me. He’ll always be up against a lowly 19.5-point team total, but I could see a career-high in touches here.

Through two weeks, Price is the RB31 on RB27 usage, which is very similar to the Kenneth Walker split in the regular season when Zach Charbonnet was stealing the high-value opportunities.

Last week, Price started each half and ended with 11.7 expected half PPR points. He fumbled in a big pile in the second quarter but wasn’t directly benched. Emanuel Wilson played in each half and handled most of the short-yardage and goal-line work, while George Holani played the obvious pass-down snaps. Price picked up a chest injury in the second half, so it was largely Wilson in “run out the clock” mode. At the very end of the game, TE AJ Barner scored on a Tush Push, too.

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(Chart by Hayden Winks/Yahoo Sports)

Price (chest) was limited on Wednesday and this assumes he’s in his normal role. The Commanders aren’t the easiest matchup, despite the large point spread. They’ve been running the Brian Flores chaos defense that’s been historically difficult to run on and prevents RB rooms from getting out in the route as usual. They’ve allowed just 3.9 YPC to the Eagles and Cowboys RBs with 25 total receiving yards combined on just four receptions. The Seahawks project for 24.0 points, the ninth most of the week.

Burden’s role is not that of a Round 4 fantasy selection right now. He’s played 38% of the Bears’ non-3-WR set snaps and has run a route on 72% of all dropbacks. He’s also not in the “Amon-Ra St. Brown” role, as he’s playing more Z-receiver in 3-WR set snaps than slot. That’s leading receiver Kalif Raymond’s job! Burden has a 9.5-yard average depth of target with just one screen on the season, so much of his work falls into the “earn it” category. That’s led to a WR54 on WR39 usage start. There will be better days ahead once we can accept the reset expectations. I still don’t love the mental errors and the occasional dropped pass on film either.

The Eagles have been a top-five defense against fantasy WRs since Week 10 of last year. Burden will see a mix of elite CB1 Quinyon Mitchell, Pro Bowl slot CB Cooper DeJean and size/speed CB2 Riq Woolen. It’s a difficult matchup for a backup QB to step into.