Thursday Night Football is officially in the books, and the Atlanta Falcons are officially in the win column this season, in addition to having several plays in the red zone for the first time this season. Is that crazy or what? A team ran zero plays in the opposing 20-yard line or beyond, and is still capable of having a stud of a running back for fantasy football.
That is correct, ladies and gentlemen, we are back with another fantasy football high-upside plays for Week 3 following a high-scoring Thursday Night Football game. Well, high-scoring for one of the teams, as the Green Bay Packers could not play their way out of a paper bag until garbage time. However, that was just enough time for some key Packers players to not disappoint your fantasy football team if you happened to play them this week.
Some high-scoring studs emerged from Thursday Night Football, such as Bijan Robinson, Christian Watson and Mathew Golden. Conversely, there were some real stinkers to come from this game, such as the ever-present Kyle Pitts special (was it really worth the pain of drafting him again?). Regardless of which end of the spectrum you find yourself on this week, you are here for a reason; so let us get into the fantasy football high-upside plays of the week (for PPR scoring leagues, adjust accordingly if you have different scoring).
High-upside plays at Quarterback
1. Geno Smith
The New York Jets go into a delicious-looking fantasy football matchup this week against a banged-up Detroit Lions defense, and what better way to capitalize on the hurting unit than to plug in a quarterback that just so happens to be playing against it? It is looking like a great game script for Geno Smith on Sunday as long as the Jets can keep the veteran passer upright. If Smith can evade sacks against a good Lions pass rush, the back half of the defense has been leaking points early on this season.
Already, Detroit is without its starting safety tandem and is thin across the cornerback position as well. With Smith being a veteran who has gotten the better of this Lions defense before, he should be able to put up a productive fantasy day against one of the worst defenses in the league right now. As such, Smith is a high-upside fantasy football player this week.
2. Brock Purdy
What is there to really say about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy early on this season? He is playing at an elite level, albeit one of those games is against a jet-lagged Los Angeles Rams team and a putrid Miami Dolphins squad, but you play what you are given on the schedule. It just so happens that the Arizona Cardinals are up next for Purdy and the 49ers.
While the Cardinals are a division rival, and there is never a guarantee that a game is going to play out as expected, this feels like an awesome matchup again for Purdy. Given that he has delivered a pair of fantastic outings for fantasy football against game scripts where the run game could have taken over at any time, Purdy feels like a good option at quarterback once again, especially if you are streaming this weekend due to some of the injuries from last week.
High-upside plays at running back
1. David Montgomery
Following a phenomenal debut game for the Houston Texans back in Week 1, running back David Montgomery fell back to earth last week against the Cincinnati Bengals defense, which suddenly looks like one of the best units in the league, at least early on in the season. However, it looks like a prime opportunity has opened up for the veteran running back to return to the good graces of your fantasy lineups. The Texans go up against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3.
This Colts defense has been nothing short of a disaster against the run during the first two weeks of this young season. That unit has given up an average of 177 rushing yards per game, granted the opposition has been Derrick Henry and Kenneth Walker, but the inability to adjust and plug up any holes has been a concern. With this being the assignment for Montgomery this week, there should not be much of a concern about playing him in your fantasy football lineups this week as a high-upside fantasy football play.
2. Chuba Hubbard
Early this week, an article went out about the injuries coming out of Week 2, but there were a ton of them last week, so not all of them were mentioned. One of the names not mentioned in that round-up was Carolina Panthers running back Jonathon Brooks, who landed on injured reserve due to a groin issue. This means that Chuba Hubbard will once again be the leading running back for the Panthers, with no real backup to speak of (unless AJ Dillon returns to prime Green Bay form after seemingly being missing from the league since leaving the Packers).
As such, Hubbard looks like he is going to be a very good fantasy football option moving forward, for as long as Brooks is out of action, and that starts in Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are a solid defensive unit, but they let the Tampa Bay Buccaneers run all over them last weekend, leaving a sour taste on that running defense. With all of these factors combined into one Chuba Hubbard package, he feels like a great high-upside play in fantasy football this week.
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