Ja’Marr Chase And Terry McLaurin Headline Week 3 Boom-or-Bust Candidates
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Usually, with our boom-or-bust options, we see a lot of fringe flex options that could be great or could be awful. However, injuries changed the fantasy football landscape over the past week, and now there are massive stars who could suddenly become boom-or-bust players. These are the top players who could be boom-or-bust options in Week 3.
WR Ja'Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals
The fantasy football community is vastly underestimating the steep falloff from Joe Burrow to Jake Browning, and we don't quite understand it. Sure, Browning is a fine backup, but Burrow is an elite quarterback. The general consensus is that Chase will be just fine with Browning. We aren't so sure. There are going to be plenty of dud games that you rarely had to worry about when Burrow was throwing him the ball.
Chase has played 12 games with Browning in his career. In those games, he has averaged 6.0 receptions on 8.4 targets, 66.1 yards, and 0.4 touchdowns. He's only scored five TDs in 12 games, and has only hit the 100-yard mark twice, while failing to reach 50 yards six times. In those six games that he didn't reach 50 yards, which is half of the games he's played with Browning, he only caught one TD.
However, in those two games where he did reach 100 yards, he posted stat lines of 11 receptions for 149 yards and a TD and 14 catches for 165 yards and a TD. Those are massive games. So, based on the data, he should be the definition of a boom-or-bust player from here on out compared to what fantasy owners were expecting out of him when they selected him with their top pick.
WR Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders
McLaurin has started off the season with two duds, and now it looks like his quarterback will be Marcus Mariota this week due to Jayden Daniels dealing with a knee injury. However, he also started last season off with two duds and ended up being a WR1 and having a career year.
At the end of the day, he's an elite player, and a slow start was always on the table after he held out for almost all of training camp due to a contract dispute. No one should be shocked if he plays like the WR1 that he is and has a big game. However, we also wouldn't be shocked if Mariota just dinks and dunks to Deebo Samuel, Zach Ertz, and Jeremy McNichols, leaving McLaurin out in the cold this week.
DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles
We all know that Smith is capable of having huge performances, but there also hasn't been enough volume to go around in Philly for over a year now. Jalen Hurts has only completed 34 passes this season and has only thrown the ball 45 times. Only nine of those targets have gone to Smith. In Week 1, he caught three passes at 5.3 yards per catch, and in Week 2, he caught four passes at 13.3 yards per catch. He has shown he still has the big-play ability, but the Eagles offense has struggled to sustain one high-end fantasy receiver, let alone two.
TE Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders
Bowers is widely considered the top tight end in fantasy football. However, he is coming off a short week and is dealing with a knee injury that was clearly hindering him on Monday Night Football in Week 2. In both Week 1 and Week 2, Bowers caught five of eight targets.
However, when he was healthy in Week 1, he posted 103 yards on 20.6 yards per catch, and in Week 2, while dealing with a knee injury, he totaled just 38 yards on 7.6 yards per catch. If he is healthy this week, we know he can put up elite numbers. If he looks like he did in Week 2, though, it could be another bad day.
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-0e06b43c57ceb063781f337e307e72d4.png "Mark Morales-Smith")
Mark Morales-Smith is a father of five, a former college football scout and semi-pro football player. Morales-Smith is a long-time competitive fantasy football player with well over a decade of professional writing experience at multiple high-level sites, including Sports Illustrated, FullTime Fantasy, FantasySP, and more.
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