Fantasy football projections, Week 3: Buccaneers-Texans featuring Jameis Winston, Mike Evans and DeAndre Hopkins

The Week 3 matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Houston Texans features two teams that want to prove they belong. We've got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

The Houston Texans have allowed the third most fantasy points to quarterbacks so far this season. That's why Jameis Winston has to be happy about his prospects going into Sunday's game. Given that there are some injuries looming at the quarterback position around the NFL, namely to the Dallas Cowboys' Tony Romo and the New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees, fantasy owners may want to gamble on Winston. He still has a ways to go to prove that he can be a starter for the long-term, but he'll definitely be a key to victory for the Buccaneers if they're going to walk into Houston and top the Texans.

Winston will be aiming to get the ball to the team's best wide receiver, Mike Evans. Evans returned to the lineup last week after missing Week 1 with an injury. Against the Saints last week, he failed to catch a pass on three targets but it should be noted he only played 41 of the 66 offensive snaps the Bucs had in the game. His level of involvement should go up against Houston, and even though their secondary has been really good at limiting the fantasy output of wide receivers, Evans must start for owners.

During midweek practice sessions Coach Bill O'Brien didn't seem confident that running back Arian Foster would return to the lineup against the Buccaneers. That means the team will once again lean heavily on wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to move the chains. Hopkins has seen the ball thrown his direction 24 times through two weeks. With those kind of target numbers it is impossible to justify leaving him on your bench. Hopkins is going to be a good bet to find the end zone week to week based on his high level of involvement in the offense and a matchup against the Buccaneers won't do anything to change that story.

Neither will the Texans' shaky quarterback situation. Ryan Mallett is the team's starter for now and although he won't exactly draw interest from a large number of fantasy owners, he did manage to put up respectable totals last week. The only thing that wasn't respectable was his completion percentage. It took him 58 at times to complete 27 passes. That's alarming. On the other hand, since the Texans won't have a running game until Mr. Foster returns, Mallett may be worth a gamble in fantasy leagues where starting quarterbacks are scarce.