Fantasy football waiver wire: 5 wide receivers to target for Week 3

Man, was Week 2 a forgettable one for wide receivers. With low-scoring games across the board, fantasy football’s best (or at least highest-drafted) receivers struggled to get anything going. Antonio Brown was a non-factor in rain-soaked Heinz Field. Julio Jones was relatively quiet before injuring his leg. Odell Beckham Jr. failed to clear 100 yards again. And Allen Robinson ... well, we don’t know what happened there. At least Dez Bryant and DeAndre Hopkins had big games, so it wasn’t all bad news.

Of course, it’s still too early in the season to blow up your fantasy lineups. “Don’t sit your studs” should be the golden rule until the bye weeks begin. But if you’re trying to upgrade your WR3/flex position, there’s no shortage of intriguing options on the waiver wire. We take a look at five players owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! standard leagues.

The Saints didn’t score as many points as usual, but Thomas looks to be the clear No. 3 receiving option behind Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead. Drew Brees will have better days, and New Orleans’ offense will be explosive enough to make Thomas usable in fantasy more often than not. He’ll have WR3 upside against the Atlanta Falcons this week.

Williams became a hot waiver add last week when Keenan Allen went down, and he paid off the hype with his first NFL touchdown catch. Operating as the No. 2 receiver next to Travis Benjamin, Williams has five catches in two games, turning them into an impressive 132 yards. The Chargers lost another important piece of the offense with Danny Woodhead tearing his ACL, so look for Williams to keep soaking up targets.

There can be no doubt now: Cruz is back. Finally healthy after missing the last two seasons, Cruz had a big day against the Saints, catching four of eight targets for 91 yards. He also played 74 snaps, showing that his surgically repaired knee is no longer a running concern. With his starting slot role secured, Cruz will be back on the WR3 radar for the rest of the season. He’s an intriguing flex option against Washington this week.

Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker are entrenched as the starters, but Enunwa looks like he could be here to stay after grabbing all six of his targets for 92 yards against the Buffalo Bills. The Jets’ offense looks like it could be one of the best in the league this year (even with Ryan Fitzpatrick) and Enunwa is the No. 3 option. He’ll have some down games depending on how Fitzpatrick plays that particular week, but Enunwa is worth an add in 12- and 14-team leagues. He’s setting up as a WR4 play against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3.

Here’s our speculative deep dive of the week. Doctson saw just five targets against the Dallas Cowboys, nearly all of them coming in the red zone. He couldn’t haul in any of those red zone passes with Kirk Cousins having a wildly inaccurate day, but he did grab one 57-yarder and the regular opportunities show that Washington is invested in feeding its first-round rookie. Doctson appears healthy after dealing with an Achilles injury all summer and is worth stashing in deeper leagues. There’s still a good chance he supplants Pierre Garcon before the year is over.