Week 3 Fantasy Football Projections: Predicting Top Performers

Fantasy football’s Week 3 offers a ton of high-scoring potential.

With fantasy-laden shootouts almost guaranteed in Atlanta-San Diego, Cincinnati-Washington and Detroit-Tennessee, fantasy owners could reap the benefits. It’s all about finding those studs and double-checking that they are in the lineup before Sunday at 1 p.m.

If you’re in a weekly salary cap pool, you came to the right place. Who will be the top point scorers in Week 3? On with the selections.

QB: Robert Griffin III (vs. Cincinnati)

Many fantasy prognosticators have Drew Brees in this spot, but that offense has not been in sync as much as Washington, who averaged a whopping 34 points in its first two games.

If you thought it couldn't get any better for RG3, it does. The Cincinnati Bengals are coming to town, fresh off allowing Brandon Weeden to throw for 300 yards and two touchdowns. The same Brandon Weeden who had a 1.2 QBR in Week 1.

The Redskins have been in shootouts their first two contests, and I don’t see that trend changing. Look for a ton of “Griffining” in this one.

Projected Numbers: 26-39 for 313 passing yards, 3 touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing), 71 rushing yards

RB: Maurice Jones Drew (at Indianapolis)

Jones-Drew has had two games to get back into football shape. The third week will be the charm.

A juicy matchup against Indianapolis bodes well for the Jacksonville running back, who historically has strong fantasy outings against them. In 12 games against the Colts in his career, Jones-Drew has averaged over 100 yards per game and 12 touchdowns.

The Jaguars were behind most of the game last weekend against Houston. They’ll be in it for 60 minutes against the Colts. More rushing opportunities for Jones-Drew, hence a nice fantasy day.

Fantasy owners who took MJD in drafts despite his holdout will be smiling Sunday.

Projected Numbers: 26 rushes, 133 yards, 2 touchdowns. 4 receptions, 46 receiving yards

WR: Calvin Johnson (at Tennessee)

Call me a front-runner for taking the best wide receiver in the NFL, but I don’t even have Johnson in one of my fantasy leagues. His matchup against a porous Tennessee defense is a scary one.

The Titans haven’t been able to generate points on offense, and as a result, their thin defense stays on the field way too long. With Cortland Finnegan now a St. Louis Ram, the Titans no longer have a shutdown corner to blanket top receivers.

Enter Megatron. Fantasy owners are waiting for Johnson to have a statement game and defy the Madden curse. This is as good as it gets.

Projected Numbers: 9 receptions, 146 yards, 2 touchdowns

Mike Shiekman is a fantasy football junkie who loves to give advice to unsure fantasy owners. Follow him @TheRealShiek on Twitter.

Follow @TheRealShiek