Fantasy Football Week 3 Cheat Sheet: Waiver-Wire Rankings and Flex Projections

Fantasy players have a huge dilemma on their hands this week when the Minnesota Vikings meet the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

This Week 3 game at Carolina features the defending NFC champions and superb quarterback Cam Newton against Minnesota’s ferocious defense that pummeled Tennessee quarterbackMarcus Mariota in Week 1 and was in Green Bay signal-caller Aaron Rodgers’ face throughout Week 2.

The Vikings may well be Carolina’s top challenger in the NFC, and that point was hammered home when they traded for QB Sam Bradford following Teddy Bridgewater’s knee injury late in the preseason. Minnesota has a defense that is capable of slowing down, if not stopping the best quarterbacks in the league, and their offense may be just good enough to win crucial games.

Newton is coming off an MVP season, and there’s no reason why he can’t win it again. But the Vikings held Rodgers, who is generally considered to be the best passer in the league, to 213 yards with one touchdown. Can they do the same thing to Newton?

Ravenous #Vikings defense attacking footballs on Sundays as if they are sundaes https://t.co/1QdosKrUWP

— Brian Murphy (@murphPPress) September 20, 2016

Newton certainly recognizes the Vikings defense as a challenge, and perhaps he will be as ready for Linval Joseph, Everson Griffen, Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr as any quarterback could be. Newton threw for 353 yards and four touchdowns versus the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2, and he is always up for a challenge.

However, he will not reach his usual lofty standards against the Vikings, and he may have his lowest ranking of the season.

With that issue leading the way as the schedule heads into Week 3, we present our cheat sheet with the top 10 players at each position, top sleepers and sharp waiver-wire pickups.

Here are the projections for all 16 games on the schedule this week.

Positional Rankings

David Johnson was a known commodity at the start of the season for the Arizona Cardinals. He was on the outskirts of the top 10 among running backs on some ranking lists and within the top 10 on others.

However, just two weeks into the season, Johnson has put his name near the top of the running back rankings. Adrian Peterson (meniscus) of the Vikings is injured, and his status is up in the air for Week 3. Todd Gurley is getting no help from the passing game with the Los Angeles Rams, and he is being stifled by defenses that make stopping him their top (i.e., only) priority.

Le’Veon Bell has not played a game because of his suspension, and he won’t be back until Week 4 when the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Kansas City Chiefs.

Meanwhile, Johnson has turned into …

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