Week 3 scouting notebook: DeVon Achane takes fast track to circle of trust, betting on Tank Dell

We have to start the Week 3 scouting notebook with record-setting Miami, who put 70 on the Broncos, including 350 yards rushing, 726 total yards and 10.2 yards per play. Video game numbers. Bo Jackson Tecmo Bowl numbers.

I’m a prototype and draft order person, so there was no way I was going to get swept away with De’Von Achane hype in the summer. But now I don’t care if he’s 80 pounds, never mind 180. When you go for 200 yards and four touchdowns, you’re in the circle of trust until you prove over multiple weeks that this was a total fluke. Obviously, everything worked for the Dolphins, but I’m not going to say we have to discount their players for that reason. That’s madness.

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Miami did this all without Jaylen Waddle. Why, by the way, were the Dolphins trying to trade for Jonathan Taylor, or sign Dalvin Cook? It’s a mystery. I mean, did they even believe in Achane? If they didn’t, why should we have?

By the way, Raheem Mostert had 4 touchdowns.

Courtland Sutton has been the one good pick so far on the Broncos.

You can push the Cowboys around and the Cardinals really played power football and frustrated the Dallas defense. They have a running QB and gadget running with their receivers. It’s amazing that Joshua Dobbs is not a dead zone. I’m not saying he’s fertile ground, but it’s not the dust bowl in the desert. Marquise Brown is 100% playable in Flex 10 formats and is a Top 30 WR. He’s good.

Read more: The 11 most important fantasy football questions we have after Week 3

The Cardinals played really hard. I’m not going to trash Dak Prescott. The interception in the end zone was a bad decision but the game was basically over by then.

Two QB busts from the 2021 NFL Draft were expected to be veteran stars by now but instead are rendering their offenses unplayable in our game. There can’t be enough market share when you’re unlikely to generate even 200 yards of total offense in a week. That’s where we are with Justin Fields’ Bears and Zach Wilson’s Jets.

The major fallout is that Garrett Wilson is sort of a forced play but not really someone you want to play. It was supposed to be Aaron Rodgers directing the Garrett Wilson unveiling as a fantasy star. But here we are.

Dalvin Cook looks like he was bitten by the Le’Veon Bell zombie. He’s turned into a real stiff and runs with zero juice. He used to fly into and through holes, even at times in 2022, when, in fairness, he showed signs he was aging out of peak productivity.

I advised holding on to Ezekiel Elliott for one for week and he looked very good, better than Rhamondre Stevenson. We have to upgrade Elliott to a high end RB3 and make Stevenson No. 20 or so, a lower-level No. 2 back. Stevenson again was bad as a receiver. Elliot ran the way you would have expected Cook to run.

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Deshaun Watson needed to play exactly like he did. He wasn’t great but got the job done against the bad Tennessee pass defense.

Jerome Ford put up the points and I wouldn’t worry about the lack of efficiency against a Tennessee defense that, for some reason, prioritizes stopping the run.

Ryan Tannehill is one of the many problems at the quarterback position now. Half the teams are hopeless, at least.

Derrick Henry needs to show some explosiveness next week or we worry. It’s essentially his age 30 season (he misses the cutoff barely). How many are productive at this stage of their career? Especially tall backs — Eric Dickerson was done by now, for example (the greatest tall back I can think of).

Atlanta snubs their noses at their elite draft talent and asks us to judge them by their record and not by stats. Well, now what? That was a pathetic exhibition against the Lions. Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts and Drake London combined for 122 yards from scrimmage, and that number seriously has to be 250-to-300. So, B-plus for Arthur Smith, meaning “Bad Plus Terrible”.

I would have liked Jahmyr Gibbs to do more as a receiver but he held up with his 17 carries. Why not 10 carries and seven catches, though?

Sam LaPorta — 11 targets — is someone you have to play now (more coming Tuesday on LaPorta). The TD was a blown coverage,unlikely to be replicated, but we’ll take it.

Jared Goff is not remotely one of the problem QBs. What a trade for the Lions.

The Saints collapsed after losing Derek Carr (seems like a multi-week injury has been avoided).

AJ Dillon and Joshua Kelley both have blown their opportunity to excel with their starters down. They cost themselves a lot of money. Neither should have our fantasy trust going forward.

Jordan Love has made some big plays, but not consistent plays. However, we have to reserve judgment on him until his putative No. 1 WR Christian Watson is back, assuming Watson can stay healthy when he returns (unlikely given his history going back to college).

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The Vikings and Chargers were the Spider-Man Meme game, as my podcast partner and The Athletic colleague John Laghezza noted on our Week 3 preview.  Both teams did everything they could to lose, including a failed fourth down attempt in the final minutes by the Chargers deep in their own territory when they were leading. But someone had to win.

Kirk Cousins put up numbers but wasn’t good (not that we’re getting style points). The interception on the goal line wasn’t his fault but he was 4-for-14 on third down and averaged 6.4 yards per pass play — bad.

Justin Herbert was unreal — 41-for-48 for 405 yards and three touchdowns. Kelley, as we said, was invisible. But things are going to get tougher for Herbert if Mike Williams is out for the season with a knee injury, as is expected. Pick up Joshua Palmer.

I make fun of Keenan Allen for being boring, and it is the Vikings, but come on, man, 18-for-215? We don’t care about TDs — although he did have a trick play TD pass to Mike Williams — when you put up those numbers.

Jordan Addison’s market share stunk again. But maybe the Vikings are going to have to throw 40-to-50 times per game. Cousins is great in fantasy as a result, of course. He’s already thrown for nearly 1,100 yards and 9 TDs.

The Bills have thoroughly outclassed decent teams the past two weeks.

I don’t want to be a broken record, but please trade Gabe Davis, whose fantasy ranking is so far above his market share ranking (just four targets in Week 3).

Jahan Dotson…? You can’t drop him, but he’s tied to a fifth-round QB who has yet to prove a thing. It’s a little better in expected offensive yardage than the Jets and Bears, but not much. Sam Howell’s O/U for passing yards is going to be among the lowest in football next week, I suspect.

C.J. Stroud is so much better than Bryce Young. Come on. And, seriously, our grandmothers could have looked at both guys in shorts at the park and said, “Pick that guy,” pointing to Stroud. So when you feel like kicking yourself in the teeth over your fantasy football choices, remember that professionals get paid to pick players and do stuff like that.

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Dameon Pierce had more snaps, barely, but Devin Singletary appears to be a problem. I’d probably try to trade for Pierce though, not that Singletary definitely is not a problem. I’d just take my chances that he’s not a real threat.

The dynasty types loved Tank Dell. He’s the furthest thing from a tank, unless you’re playing with plastic miniatures. But a bet on Dell is a bet on Stroud, and a bet I’d be willing to make. Here are more bettable stats than his actual fantasy numbers:

Tank Dell Week 3 👀

7 targets
5 receptions
145 yards
1 TD
25.5 fantasy points

This isn’t a part-time gadget player.

84% route participation 🔥
56% air yards 😤

Stroud looking great.

Available in 71% of Yahoo! leagues.

Talent + Opportunity –> Be aggressive if available.

— Dwain McFarland (@dwainmcfarland) September 25, 2023

Here’s Dell’s TD:  (Okay, another blown coverage/blitz)

Have a feeling Tank Dell won’t be available in 70% of leagues much longer 👀pic.twitter.com/UTtEx1Rhco

— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) September 24, 2023

Trevor Lawrence is not a bust, but he’s not stepping up into the franchise class. He’s now in the dead middle. Against the Chiefs, he was supposed to make a statement. Against the Colts, he was supposed to get back on track. He did neither.

Where have all the Calvin Ridley victory laps gone? He’s looking like 2021 Atlanta Ridley (bad).

Remember when the Ravens were going to be a wide open passing team due to offensive coordinator Todd Monken? They look exactly the same to me.

Zack Moss is proving why you don’t give all that money to Jonathan Taylor. He even made a great TD catch where he looked like a WR:

Patrick Queen gets mossed by Zach Moss#ForTheShoe
pic.twitter.com/dL9A7HJISB

— Sideline Daily (@sideline_daily) September 24, 2023

I can’t take a thing out of the Panthers given that Andy Dalton is not going to be the QB next week, in all likelihood. So the Panthers will go back to being in that unplayable class.

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Nothing changes in my opinions for any of the Seahawks, either.

Sort of a nondescript game for the Chiefs. It wasn’t a Patrick Mahomes explosion, but he was fine. His ankle is reportedly fine too — that maybe cost him another TD.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire is playable if you have injuries or byes. I like Rashee Rice — he had a TD overturned by replay. He looks like a real player to me. But he’s a rookie, so it’s hard to cast your lot with him.

(Top photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports; pic of Justin Fields: Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

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