Fantasy Football: 10 Bold Predictions for Week 3

A Stud that Could Flop & A Sub that Could Pop

Odell Beckham Jr. Will Be Held Under 60 Receiving Yards

The New York Giants travel to face the Houston Texans in a Week 3 matchup that pits the Giants' suspect offensive line against the Texans' talented pass rush. The Texans, however, have only registered three sacks in the opening two weeks.

This could be problematic, but I would think small sample size has something to do with their inability to hit the passer. Pro Football Focus ranked the Texans as the fifth-best pass rush in the NFL heading into the season, and they were without the services of Jadeveon Clowney last week. NumberFire's Jim Sannes ranked the Giants' offensive line 24th-best for 2018. On top of that, their starting center and arguably best lineman Jon Halapio is now done for the season.

So, what does this matchup in the trenches have to do with wide receiver Odell Beckham? Quite simply, I can't envision Eli Manning having much time to watch routes develop downfield, prompting another checkdown game like last week's, which led to 14 catches and 80 receiving yards for Saquon Barkley.

On top of that, Aaron Colvin has been a tremendous addition to the Texans secondary and is one of the more underrated cornerbacks in the NFL. I think he could keep Beckham away from chunk yardage in Week 3.

Marcus Murphy Will Have 80+ Yards from Scrimmage

Oftentimes, fantasy analysts will predict game flow in a game with a tight spread and whiff completely. But it is very hard to believe that the Minnesota Vikings do anything but dominate the Buffalo Bills as 16.5-point home favorites from wire to wire.

Given the horrendously negative game script and given the rib injury to starting running back LeSean McCoy, Marcus Murphy becomes a very interesting name for Week 3. Murphy saw five targets in Week 2 in addition to 37% of team snaps. Chris Ivory has yet to top 15% of the team's snaps. Murphy is the clear backup to McCoy and could benefit from a game that gets away from Buffalo, mostly through the passing game.

I like Murphy to top 80 yards while grabbing six or more balls from Josh Allen through the air.