Week 3 · 2026
ESPN Projections
| Projected line | Projection | Call |
|---|---|---|
| Gibbed for your pleasure −5.5 overTrick or Trick It’s Mike Vick | 129.1 – 123.6 | Called it |
| Remember the Nice Guys, ChatGPT −1.9 overI am dead inside | 121.1 – 119.2 | Upset |
| Cornstar −3.9 over2x Runner Up | 118.6 – 114.7 | Called it |
| One Big Beautiful Dillbot −3.5 overReturn of the IDP | 120.6 – 117.1 | Called it |
| God's Commissioner −15.1 overThe ChoSimba Ones | 124.1 – 109.0 | Called it |
| Tuten Your Mother, Respectfully −15.5 overSwift kick in the Dak | 118.8 – 103.3 | Called it |
Captured Sep 24, 2026 · 9:10 AM PDT, before kickoff
The Recap
Week 3 sorted the league into three groups: the ones who can play, the ones who can set a lineup, and Nate. The Household’s joint perfect start is dead, the champ is alone on top, and at least four of you should be rethinking your life choices before Thursday. Matchup by matchup, and nobody gets out clean.
The Game of the Week was a mugging. Gibbed for your pleasure got 37.9 from Jahmyr Gibbs, rolled to 141.6, and Jack owns first place by himself at 3-0. Everyone whispered that his ugly 92 meant the champ was vulnerable, and he answered by winning by 33 with Puka Nacua putting a zero on his bench. One ugly week was a speed bump, and right now everyone else is playing for second. Trick or Trick It’s Mike Vick didn’t just lose, Nate handed Jack the knife. He started Drake Maye (3.6) and left Tyler Shough (27.8) on the bench, a 24-point own goal in a game he lost by 33. The “insurance” QB was the best QB on his roster. Nate, the start/sit button is free.
One Big Beautiful Dill was the feel-good story of the week, and every 2-1 team should be scared of it. Brock Bowers returned to the field (22.6), Brock Purdy went supernova (35.2), and the team that couldn’t find triple digits hung a league-high 161. That’s the team the draft promised. My call: Grant makes the playoffs from 0-2. Return of the IDP just stood there and took it. A week after torching Zach, Josh Allen came back to earth (16.8) and nobody behind him picked up the slack. Jono is 1-2 and running fantasy’s most predictable scheme, one great week and then one embarrassing one. He’s a .500 team pretending to be dangerous.
I am dead inside finally won, and nobody feels like celebrating. Kirk Cousins (25.1) beat Kevin, but De’Von Achane went down with a torn ACL, and losing him for the year stings no matter what the scoreboard says. How hard Trevor works the wire this week decides whether this was a start or the peak. Josh Jacobs Alibi, relax. At 1-1-1 the roster’s still one of the deepest in the league, and Matthew Stafford (22.9) is doing exactly what he was brought in for. The only worry is Justin Jefferson’s 4.2; here’s hoping it’s a cold week and nothing more. Get Jefferson right and nobody wants this matchup. I’m buying.
Cornstar made no moves and dismantled Luke by 60 anyway. Lexi is 2-1, didn’t budge in the power rankings, and the league keeps treating her like a rookie who got lucky. Wake up: two double-digit wins in three weeks isn’t luck, it’s a trend. 2x Runner Up has gone all-in on the Eagles and isn’t getting anything back. Hurts (12.5), Saquon (8.5), and DeVonta Smith (9.5) all no-showed, Luke posted the week’s low score, and he’s dead last in total points. If he doesn’t find some offense outside of Philadelphia, he isn’t seeing .500 before Thanksgiving.
The People’s Commissioner did what the Lock said he would. Jaxon Smith-Njigba went for 30.2, the lineup behaved, and Wade is 2-1 and third in total points. The record is finally catching up to the points. The ChoSimba Ones remain the league’s cautionary tale. Dillon paid $133 of FAAB for Devaughn Vele, and got 5.4 in return. Even Jared Goff’s 21.2 couldn’t save an offense running on fumes. At 0-2-1 he’s the only team without a win. Lexi is next, and if he can’t beat a lineup that hasn’t changed in three weeks, the vultures will be circling.
Tuten Your Mom could be the best team in the league, and it’s time people said it. Zach handed Swift kick in the Dak her first loss behind Joe Burrow (25.5) and a Jeanty-powered core, and he now leads the league in total points. The Jono loss is starting to look like a typo. Shawnee has nothing to hang her head about: 116 beats most of the league most weeks, and she did it without Nico Collins. Get Collins back and this team gets that much scarier.
The receipts: the Game of the Week and the Lock cashed, and so did Trevor off the schneid and Lexi over Luke. I took Jono over Grant, which was betting against a man getting his tight end back, and the Shawnee Upset Alert bricked. The Bold Prediction went half right: Wade’s benched Jordan Love (20.4) did outscore Bryce Young (14.6), but Kevin, of all people, started the right quarterback. Three weeks in, it’s Jack alone on top, Zach quietly the best team in the league, and a basement that’s about to get loud. Next week, somebody’s getting humbled.
🏆 Awards
- 🏆 Team of the Week — One Big Beautiful Dill, 161.0. Bowers came back and so did Grant. The 2-1 teams should be nervous.
- 💥 Stud — Jahmyr Gibbs, 37.9. The champ doesn’t need a hero, he just gets one every week anyway.
- 🤡 Lineup Crime of the Week — Nate benched Tyler Shough (27.8) to start Drake Maye (3.6). He lost by 33. The math on this one is not complicated.
- 🤕 Ouch — De’Von Achane, torn ACL, done for the year. Trevor got the win, but it cost him a lot.
- 💸 Most Expensive 5.4 Points in League History — Dillon’s $133 Devaughn Vele. Every dollar of that FAAB bid is still showing up in the group chat.
- 🦅 Eagles Tax — Hurts, Saquon, and DeVonta combined for 30.5, and Luke’s last in the league in points. Loyalty is a virtue, but it doesn’t score in this format.
The Preview
Week 3 kicks off tonight, and the waiver wire went feral — half the league spent the week panic-shopping for quarterbacks, and the only two perfect records in The League share a mailing address. Jack and Shawnee are 2-0; everybody else is chasing the household. Let’s price it.
Gibbed for your pleasure is the team to beat on paper — the top projection on the board, Puka Nacua back in the lineup, and 23 waiver adds already because the champ treats the wire like a buffet. The problem is who’s across the table: Trick or Trick It’s Mike Vick just hung the league-high score on Luke, and this series is as tight as they come, Jack up 9-8 all-time. Nate even grabbed Tyler Shough off the wire to sit behind Drake Maye, which is either savvy insurance or a QB controversy with a fuse on it. The model likes the champ; I would like if somebody finally takes control of this series. However, a 92-point “win” last week says the champ is more beatable than the standings let on.
Quietly, Josh Jacobs Alibi hasn’t lost either — 1-0-1, third place, the only undefeated team in the league that isn’t married to another one. Nobody’s talking about it, which is exactly how a career .405 owner likes it. Kevin’s QB room took a body blow too: Jaxson Dart, the guy who saved his Week 1 tie, is headed for season-ending surgery, so Kevin cut bait and fished Justin Herbert out of Wade’s trash to sit behind Matthew Stafford. I am dead inside is 0-2 with Jayden Daniels also projecting zero, so it’s the Bo Nix show, but Trevor owns this series 6-4 and the model calls it a coin flip that leans Kevin by a hair. I’m taking Trevor off the schneid.
First meeting: 2x Runner Up vs Cornstar, and the model has the rookie favored. Luke is coming off the league’s low score — a 77 with Saquon Barkley posting a 2 — and his big move this week was swapping Kyle Williams for Malik Washington. Lexi didn’t make a single move: Lamar, Ja’Marr, lineup set, go live your life. I’ve hung my Upset Alert on Luke two weeks running and I’m not going back to that well. Rookie by a touchdown.
One Big Beautiful Dill is 0-2, dead last in the standings, and rostering Patrick Mahomes as a backup — the most expensive clipboard in fantasy. Grant starts Brock Purdy and the model makes him a slight favorite over Return of the IDP, but Jono’s got Josh Allen, the top-projected player on the whole slate and fresh off a 43-point game. The series is 1-1, so somebody settles it Sunday. Until Grant proves he can set a lineup, I’m taking Jono.
The People’s Commissioner looks like a powerhouse — the most points in the league — and acts like a man one bad Sunday from flipping the table. Wade dumped 45 on his own bench in Week 1, scraped together a win with half a training room in Week 2, and this week cut Justin Herbert, grabbed Bryce Young and Jordan Love, and is starting Young while Love projects higher on the pine. Across the field, The ChoSimba Ones are a MASH unit: Caleb Williams, A.J. Brown, Jordan Mason, and Zach Charbonnet all projecting zeros, so Dillon flipped Josh Downs for Jared Goff, is rolling out two tight ends, and dropped $133 of FAAB on Devaughn Vele. Bold strategy, Cotton. Dillon owns Wade 9-5 all-time, but the model has Wade comfortably — so long as the commish doesn’t outthink himself.
The reigning Sacko is 2-0 and the model still has her dead last on paper — partly because Swift kick in the Dak currently has Nico Collins on the bench and Rashod Bateman in the lineup. Either Shawnee knows something or she hasn’t set it yet. Tuten Your Mom is second in the league in points and leads the series 7-5, but Zach just shipped his backup QB, Jared Goff, to Dillon for Josh Downs, so it’s Joe Burrow or bust. The model likes Zach by a lot. I like him by a little.
So here’s the card. Jack vs Nate is the Game of the Week — the champ against last week’s hottest team, in a series separated by a single game. The Lock is Wade, because even a volatile powerhouse should handle a roster held together by a $133 Devaughn Vele and a Tuesday trade for Goff — just set the lineup and walk away, commish. My Upset Alert is Shawnee, projected dead last and 2-0 anyway — and if she and Jack both cash, the household goes to 6-0 and Week 10, when they finally play each other, becomes a very tense dinner. And the bold one, because somebody has to watch the QB scramble: the waiver quarterbacks win the week from the bench.
🔮 Picks
- Game of the Week — Gibbed for your pleasure vs Trick or Trick It’s Mike Vick — the unbeaten champ against the league-high scorer, in a 9-8 series.
- Lock of the Week — The People’s Commissioner — the league’s top scorer against a lineup built from the injury report and a $133 Vele. Don’t overthink it, Wade.
- Upset Alert — Swift kick in the Dak — projected dead last, undefeated anyway. Set the lineup, Shawnee, and this one’s yours.
- Bold Prediction — Jordan Love outscores Bryce Young from Wade’s bench and Justin Herbert outscores Matthew Stafford from Kevin’s — two managers who got the QB scramble right and started the wrong guy.
Power Rankings
Claude's subjective take on how the teams stack up heading into the week — weighing roster composition, recent matchups and scoring trends, key injuries, and any trades or pickups. Set at the start of the week, alongside the preview; the arrow shows the move from last week.
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1
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Back-to-back wins to open, though a pedestrian 92 in Week 2 showed the machine can sputter. Still, 2-0 with the deepest roster is exactly where a champ wants to be. Week 3 brings Nate, a near-even rival (9-8) fresh off a 153-point eruption.
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2
▲1
Leads the league in total points (272) yet sits at 1-1 — the receiver room and McBride keep humming, the schedule keeps punishing. He bounced back with 125.8 after the Week 1 heartbreak. Now he draws Dillon, an owner who's beaten him more often than not (5-9).
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3
▲1
Still without a loss — a tie and a win — behind Justin Jefferson and a steady core. Rookie Jaxson Dart hasn't sunk them, which was the preseason worry. Week 3 looks soft against winless Trevor, though Trevor owns the history (Kevin 4-6).
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4
▼2
The Jeanty magic cooled as Jono hung 137.9 on him, a loss despite one of the league's best rosters. He shuffled the deck again, shipping Jared Goff to Dillon for Josh Downs. He'll try to right it against surging Shawnee, a matchup he owns 7-5.
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5
▲4
Last year's sacko is the surprise of the season, 2-0 and climbing — and the 134.7 outburst came with Nico Collins sidelined, so the depth is doing real work. Momentum from the basement is a scary thing. The reward is a real test: a 1-1 Zach team that leads their series 7-5.
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6
▲4
Josh Allen finally got paid off, torching Zach for 137.9 in a bounce-back win. The pedigree that made him a preseason sleeper is showing up. A dead-even Week 3 date with Grant (1-1) is a chance to climb into the top half for real.
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7
▲5
From a Week 1 dud to a league-shaking 153.6 — Nate's ceiling is as high as anyone's when the cast joins Henry and CeeDee. The volatility is the story, but the trend points up. He gets the champ Jack next in a coin-flip series (Jack 9-8).
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8
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The rookie owner is holding her own, splitting her first two behind Lamar's steady production. No panic, no overreaction — just a solid, unspectacular start. Week 3 is a fresh-slate matchup with Luke, with no history between them.
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9
▼3
Got run off the field by Nate, a 77.4 that exposed how thin it gets behind Hurts and Saquon. The two-time bridesmaid needs more from the middle of his lineup. A get-right spot could be here against rookie Lexi.
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10
▼5
Caleb Williams boomed for 39 in Week 1, then got hurt and cratered the offense in a Week 2 loss, dropping Dillon to 0-1-1. He landed Jared Goff from Zach — insurance with his quarterback banged up. He faces Wade next, a matchup he's historically owned (Dillon 9-5).
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11
▼4
Winless and stuck in neutral: Jonathan Taylor and Achane simply haven't produced like their draft slots. The team name keeps looking prophetic. But Week 3 offers hope — he owns Kevin 6-4 all-time, and he needs it badly.
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12
▼1
Bijan is doing his part, but an 0-2 start with a bottom-tier scoring stretch has One Big Beautiful Dill reeling. The talent says this turns around; the results say hurry. A pick'em with Jono (1-1) is the spot to finally break through.