This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
Better Than Expected
It's pretty safe to say that the beginning of Carson Wentz's NFL career is going about as well as anyone could have expected. In fact, it's way better than anyone expected. Wentz completed 23 of 31 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-3 rout of the Steelers on Sunday, as he connected with seven receivers, led by running back Darren Sproles, who caught all six of his targets for 128 yards and a touchdown (Jordan Matthews scored the other). Wentz is the first rookie in NFL history to throw his first 100 passes without an interception, a pretty remarkable feat given the second overall pick in this year's draft wasn't even supposed to start this early, as the Eagles fully planned on going with Sam Bradford until the Vikings gave them an offer they couldn't refuse following Teddy Bridgewater's season-ending injury.
Unfortunately for fantasy owners ready to jump on the Wentzylvania bandwagon, the Eagles are off in Week 4 before coming out of their bye with back-to-back road games to Detroit and Washington. Neither of those games are ones to shy away from, but it's still disappointing that the rook won't be able to keep the ball rolling.
Wentz's Eagles are one of two NFC teams undefeated through three games, the other being the Vikings thanks to Bradford's good-enough play. The absence of Adrian Peterson is obviously a huge hit to the Minnesota offense, but Bradford has done just enough
Better Than Expected
It's pretty safe to say that the beginning of Carson Wentz's NFL career is going about as well as anyone could have expected. In fact, it's way better than anyone expected. Wentz completed 23 of 31 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-3 rout of the Steelers on Sunday, as he connected with seven receivers, led by running back Darren Sproles, who caught all six of his targets for 128 yards and a touchdown (Jordan Matthews scored the other). Wentz is the first rookie in NFL history to throw his first 100 passes without an interception, a pretty remarkable feat given the second overall pick in this year's draft wasn't even supposed to start this early, as the Eagles fully planned on going with Sam Bradford until the Vikings gave them an offer they couldn't refuse following Teddy Bridgewater's season-ending injury.
Unfortunately for fantasy owners ready to jump on the Wentzylvania bandwagon, the Eagles are off in Week 4 before coming out of their bye with back-to-back road games to Detroit and Washington. Neither of those games are ones to shy away from, but it's still disappointing that the rook won't be able to keep the ball rolling.
Wentz's Eagles are one of two NFC teams undefeated through three games, the other being the Vikings thanks to Bradford's good-enough play. The absence of Adrian Peterson is obviously a huge hit to the Minnesota offense, but Bradford has done just enough to keep the Vikings in games. That said, Bradford is probably a better real-life quarterback than fantasy option most weeks, and he'll face a tough test in Week 4 against the Giants to keep the undefeated streak going.
More Than Expected
Broncos rookie quarterback Trevor Siemian did his best 2012-2014 Peyton Manning impression Sunday, completing 23 of 35 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns against the Bengals. Manning and Brock Osweiler were unable to throw for 300 yards and four scores in a game last season, but Seimian needed just three games to reach those marks, as he leaned heavily on his elite wideouts Emmanuel Sanders (nine catches on 13 targets for 117 yards and two touchdowns) and Demaryius Thomas (six catches on seven targets for 100 yards and a score). Siemian isn't likely to get as many opportunities to shine as Wentz, but it's encouraging to see he can take advantage of his weapons, while leading the Broncos to a perfect 3-0.
But wins don't matter as long as you're racking up fantasy points, right? That's what people who went out on a limb and rostered Browns wideout Terrelle Pryor were saying Sunday, as the former college quarterback showed just how big of an impact he can have when given the opportunity. Pryor, who had 64 receiving yards in his first four years in the league, finally put it all together Sunday against the Dolphins, catching eight of 14 targets for 144 yards, while also rushing four times for 21 yards and a touchdown (he was under center for the score), and he completed 3 of 5 passes for 35 passing yards. While the passing yards are a nice bonus to his fantasy potential, it's worth remembering that they are usually the least valuable for fantasy purposes. Nevertheless, any future passing touchdowns will be welcome (but again, many leagues award fewer points for passing touchdowns than receiving or rushing ones).
Pryor is not the first college quarterback to convert to another position in the NFL (Julian Edelman, Denard Robinson, Brad Smith, Josh Cribbs and Antwaan Randle El come to mind), but he may have the best opportunity to use his versatility to accumulate fantasy points across multiple categories. With Corey Coleman out a number of weeks due to injury and Josh Gordon not cleared from his suspension until Week 5, there's every reason to believe Pryor will be a focal point of the Browns' offense in Week 4 at Washington.
What Should Be Expected
Speaking of focal points, Marvin Jones finally had the breakout game many were expecting, catching six of eight targets for 205 yards and two touchdowns against the Packers. However, it's not that Jones is the focal point of the Lions' offense, but rather the passing game as a whole, as Matthew Stafford threw 41 times for 385 yards versus just 20 running back carries, with Dwayne Washington and Theo Riddick combining for 47 yards. Stafford has thrown 39, 40 and 41 passes in the Lions' three games this season, respectively, while they've only given their running backs 21, 21 and 20 carries. Even against weak run defenses, there seems to be little reason to think a Lions running back is worthy of serious fantasy consideration other than maybe Riddick because of his targets, though he'll have to break a number of tackles after the catches to make them worthwhile, as seven catches for 39 yards doesn't move the fantasy needle much.
A few wideouts have been about as reliable as you could want. While T.Y. Hilton, Antonio Brown, Jarvis Landry and Larry Fitzgerald are the only players to be targeted at least 10 times in each game this season, Mike Evans and Jordy Nelson are the only to score a touchdown in three consecutive weeks. Both had big games in Week 3, as Evans caught 10 of 13 targets for 132 yards and a touchdown, while Nelson had six catches on seven targets for 101 yards and two scores. However, don't let early success make you think it can last forever, something fantasy owners of Kelvin Benjamin were shockingly reminded of Sunday.
Benjamin had 13 catches on 21 targets for 199 yards and three touchdowns after the first two games of the season, but he was a total non-factor Sunday against the Vikings, as he was targeted just once (he didn't catch it) despite quarterback Cam Newton throwing 35 times. Benjamin will surely bounce back, but it's always a tough pill to swallow when a top wideout produces such a shockingly low fantasy total.
In fact, Benjamin was so bad that he overshadowed a number of other poor outings, with Brandon Marshall (three catches for 27 yards), Eric Decker (one catch for 31 yards), Randall Cobb (one catch for 33 yards), DeAngelo Williams (12 touches for 44 yards), DeAndre Hopkins (four catches for 56 yards) and Amari Cooper (four catches for 62 yards) also putting up duds, though if there's one player who may have matched Benjamin's disappoint, it was Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who completed 20 of 44 passes for 188 yards while getting picked off six times. If Fitzpatrick wants to feel better about his feat, he at least has this:
Prior to today, the only Jets quarterback to throw 6 INT in a game was Joe Namath (3 times)
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) September 25, 2016
