FanDuel NFL picks and advice for Week 3 of the 2021 NFL season to help you build the perfect DFS fantasy football lineup.
Welcome back to another weekly installment of FanDuel daily fantasy advice for Week 3 of the 2021 NFL season. If you have been following these articles for the first two weeks, you likely have come out a winner thus far in DFS as well have enjoyed some fantastic football games.
Win or lose, the most important thing in daily fantasy football is taking notes and learning from your mistakes. Week 2 taught us a very valuable lesson: sometimes it is okay to let the salaries control you. What this means is that there will be times like last week where FanDuel will egregiously misprice a player and instead of choosing to fade them because of their likely popularity, it is often the smart move to lock them into your lineup and beat your opponents elsewhere.
Last week, I highlighted Cooper Kupp, Mike Evans, and Tyler Lockett as three outrageously priced players. While I did not know that they would finish as the top three receivers on the slate, I knew that the upside they possessed at their price point was too much to pass up. If you did not manage to get one of these players into your lineup, you were likely unable to cash due to their popularity.
On the flip side, if you managed to get them into your lineup it would have been a challenge to come out in the red in Week 2.
Looking ahead to Week 3, players from the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and Philadelphia Eagles will be unavailable on the main slate. While these teams certainly have some high-powered offenses, there are still plenty of games with high projected totals on the main slate.
When talking about players I will reference the salaries and salary cap of a typical FanDuel tournament. I will also show a complete sample lineup, which consists of nine positions: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, FLEX, and DEF. Note that your individual strategy should change based on the type of contests you enter, though I will reference different strategies for both cash and tournament formats.
Without further ado, here are picks and advice for every position for Week 3 of the NFL season!
FanDuel Week 3 picks and lineup advice: Quarterback
There are plenty of great options at the top of the quarterback position this week, with Kyler Murray ($9,000) and Patrick Mahomes ($8,700) leading the way. Both are off to an MVP start and have matchups that project them as some of the highest-scoring teams of the week.
Russell Wilson ($8,400) has also been on a tear to start the season and has another favorable matchup against the Minnesota Vikings in a game with the highest over-under of the week. Additionally, Lamar Jackson ($8,400) has a good chance to be the highest-scoring quarterback on the slate with his rushing upside against an awful Lions defense.
Looking at slightly cheaper quarterbacks, Tom Brady ($7,800) has been playing incredibly and will likely come in under-rostered due to his perceived tough matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. However, this game actually has one of the highest over-under totals of the week with the Bucs as favorites, so there should be plenty of opportunity for Brady to continue on his rampage.
Justin Herbert ($7,500) is off to a tough start to the season but still has the talent and the weapons to have a fantastic game and easily pay off his price point. I believe the Chargers give the Chiefs a tough time this week, and for this to come true Herbert must have a nice game.
If you are looking to punt the quarterback position this week, Justin Fields ($6,500) needs to be your pick. FanDuel makes the pricing well before injury news is released, so the price on Fields is not properly adjusted. With his rushing upside and relatively soft matchup against Cleveland, he needs to be your quarterback of choice at this price point.