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SuperFlex & 2QB Rankings for Week 3 (Fantasy Football)

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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields (2) celebrates after a victory over the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Welcome back FootClan, and happy Week 3!

After an improbably successful Week 1 – with five QB finishes in the top 13 – we were humbled back to the mean in Week 2 (cough…thanks a lot, Matt Stafford). We‘ve been running the numbers, and it turns out there is in fact a negative correlation between fantasy performance and losing your entire offensive line and two best skill players. We will be sure to temper expectations moving forward, even in a Sean McVay offense.

Player Highlighted Week 2 Ranking Week 2 Finish
Baker Mayfield 13 5
Matthew Stafford 14 31
Justin Fields 18 24
Justin Herbert 19 23
Daniel Jones 24 6

But that comes with the territory in this article. We’re betting against the odds here. We’re swinging for the fences. There will always be risk, but you trust in your process, and when it pays off, it pays off big.

Meme from The Office

Last week, we noted that in 2023, there were 46 different QBs finish as a QB1. This encouraged me to start a running list for 2024, and hopefully save Kyle a little work at the end of the season. So far, through the first two weeks, we’ve had 19 different QB1s (see below):

Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Jalen Hurts, Jayden Daniels, Anthony Richardson, Lamar Jackson, Derek Carr, Geno Smith, CJ Stroud, Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love, Matthew Stafford, Kyler Murray, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, Kirk Cousins, Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers.

Today we’ll identify four QBs (ranked outside the Ballers’ top 12) that display QB1 upside based on their matchups. To reference the Ballers Week 3 QB Rankings, be sure to click here! 

15. Baker Mayfield

What will it take for Baker to earn our respect?

This is the QB1 overall we’re talking about, yet this is also the third straight week he’s headlining our QB2 series. Fresh off a playoff rematch and road upset in Detroit, Baker comes into Week 3 with yet another favorable matchup at home versus Denver.

Although I mostly credit the Tampa defense for shutting down the Lions (specifically in the red zone), it’s hard not to be impressed with Baker’s recent resilience. This guy has been tossed around from team to team, played through serious injuries, and just lost his OC to a head coaching gig – yet here we are today. He has found himself a happy, healthy (and well-paid) home, while Dave Canales is benching Bryce Young and Browns brass bring back their paper bags. 

Although his passing performance was nothing to write home about (12/19 for 185 yards, one touchdown, one interception), Baker put the team on his back when they needed him, taking five carries for 34 yards, including what would be the game-winning 12-yard touchdown run at the end of the third quarter. 

If Baker can continue to build on this weekly ground floor, (27.5 yards/game through the first two weeks), we could be in store for another low-end QB1 season. If you’ve had him as your QB2 so far, you should be ecstatic.

Despite their 0-2 start, Denver’s defense (particularly secondary) has kept them in each of their first two games. However, this week they will have to take on a much taller task than Justin Fields‘ Steelers, with a Bucs team averaging 28.5 PPG.

The Buccaneers’ WR duo have two of PFF’s top three most favorable matches at the position. Although we can expect shutdown corner Patrick Surtain II to shadow Mike Evans for most of the game, he still comes in ranked third overall on the list. The extra attention necessary to contain Evans makes Chris Godwin an excellent start once again, ranking as PFF’s second-highest WR on the slate.

With a solid team-implied point total of 23.5, the Baker-led Bucs look prime to start their season 3-0.

*Keep an eye out for starting T Luke Goedeke’s status after missing Week 2 in concussion protocol. 

18. Gardner Minshew

Look, we know who Gardner Minshew is at this point. He’s somewhere between a low-end starter and one of the best backups in the league. He’s never going to lead a team to a Super Bowl, but he is one of the most entertaining and easy-to-root-for players year after year. He is essentially Gen Z’s Ryan Fitzpatrick, and as someone who also spends a lot of their year living in tents & vans, one of my favorite players in the league.

Last week was the perfect example of this. In a game most deemed a blowout before it even began (including Raiders talk-show hosts), Minshew silenced critics, leading three fourth quarter scoring drives to upset the Ravens on the road. This just goes to show you that anything can happen in this league, and that’s what makes it so dang fun.

This resulted in a modest QB17 finish against Baltimore, but this week, we are targeting a pathetic pride of Panthers, who have been outscored 73-13 by the Saints and Chargers through the first two weeks. 

The Panthers entered the season with a bottom-five secondary, and have not shown any sign of improvement this season. The dynasty community had almost finished their collective chalk outline around Quentin Johnston‘s body when he was resuscitated on the spot, snagging his third and fourth career touchdown grabs against Carolina last week. If he is able to revive his career in this spot, there is no reason to think they will be able to shut down Davante Adams and emerging superstar Brock Bowers. 

Minshew is ranked appropriately at QB19 this week, but with a lot of tough matchups for QBs in this range, he holds low-end QB1 upside if the touchdowns can fall his way. With a team-implied total of 22.5, I’ll be rooting for him to do so.

When you’re stuck in the weeds, who do you call?

The Gardner. 

Picture of Gardner Minshew

19. Deshaun Watson

Watson quietly enters week three as the most inefficient QB13 in recent memory.

What is extremely discouraging from Watson thus far is that despite an average of 39.5 pass attempts/game, he’s posted just 177.5 yards/game through the air, with a 1:2 TD/INT ratio. 

That is, how you say, bad.

Amari Cooper has been a ghost, and the remaining smorgasbord of Cleveland’s WR3/4s have all been relatively quiet as well. But this is SuperFlex we’re talking about, and in our game, Watson is still producing (technically) at a high level.

Although he hasn’t done anything exciting (at all) in real life football, Deshaun has shown a safe QB2 floor due to his rushing ability, averaging 29.5/game yards on the ground, adding a touchdown last week against Jacksonville.

While we don’t know who will get the “start” at RB, what we do know is that Watson will be under center this week against the lowly Giants defense. Maybe it’s just my disdain for the self-inflated ego of GM Joe Schoen, but this is certainly a “get right” spot for Watson.

My fear is as -6.5 point favorites, with one of the league’s elite defenses, the Browns could get an early lead and decide to run the clock by feeding their RBs. This would be the smart thing to do under normal circumstances – however, Watson hasn’t looked like himself since they started posting his photo on massage parlor windows, and with Cleveland’s “championship window” closing in, the coaching staff know they need to get him on track. This is their opportunity to do so.

With finishes of QB17 and QB11, Watson’s rank of QB19 versus the Giants feels closer to his floor than his ceiling.

20. Justin Fields

Leave it to Arthur.

Leave it to Arthur to take a predictable game script and flip it on its head. Leave it to Arthur to make all of our fantasy heroes useless. Leave it to Arthur to use third string players over starters. Leave it to Arthur to win football games with Justin Fields at QB, but simultaneously bring his YPC from 6.1 to 3.8. 

Leave it to Arthur Smith to make football boring.

But, it’s important in times like these to remember that these coaches are not playing our game. They are playing real football, and not worried about individual stat lines. They only want to win, and credit to Mike Tomlin, because that is literally all he does. Once again, the Pittsburgh Steelers are surprisingly (and unsurprisingly) 2-0. 

Although the Steelers have already announced their plans to switch to Russell Wilson when healthy, as long as Fields is available, we’ll keep trying until we hit.

This week, the Steelers are playing the Chargers, for whatever that’s worth. I don’t even know if it’s necessary to discuss the reasoning here, but I suppose it is my job. 

The Chargers had one of the worst defenses in the league last year and entered this season with PFF’s 20th-ranked secondary. It’s hard to imagine that Jim Harbaugh has single-handedly turned this unit around, but they do currently sit upon the throne against opposing (fantasy) QBs on the season. This is partially thanks to their schedule (playing the Raiders and Panthers so far), but it’s still worth mentioning.

None of this really matters, however, as Fields’ upside is strictly correlated with his rushing numbers, giving him possibly the highest ceiling and lowest floor of any QB each and every week. 

Although it hasn’t translated for fantasy purposes, you’ve gotta be happy for Fields, who was shipped out of Chicago for a newer, younger model this offseason – and against all odds, has led his new team to a 2-0 start. 



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SuperFlex & 2QB Rankings for Week 3 (Fantasy Football) SuperFlex & 2QB Rankings for Week 3 (Fantasy Football) Reviewed by Admin on September 20, 2024 Rating: 5

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