NFL Week 3 Fantasy Football Recap: Immediate takeaways from Thursday's game

• Add George Pickens: The Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver made the biggest highlight of the game. Unfortunately, it was his only accomplishment of the game, but he’s still a waiver target.
• The Steelers backfield moves closer to a committee: Jaylen Warren continues to take snaps from Najee Harris and made more big plays.
• The Cleveland Browns‘ star players shine: Three different Browns players reached over 85 offensive yards and a touchdown.

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PFF's fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2022.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS @ CLEVELAND BROWNS

• David Njoku: 9 receptions, 89 yards, 1 touchdown
• Nick Chubb: 23 carries, 113 yards, 1 touchdown

Sell high on Najee Harris: The Steelers running back scored his first rushing touchdown of the season and achieved double-digit carries as usual; however, Jaylen Warren took advantage of his opportunities.

• Warren gained six-plus rushing yards on three of his four carries. Harris only accomplished this twice.
• Warren’s one catch for three yards boxscore wasn't impressive, but he did have a 35-yard reception wiped out due to an ineligible man downfield penalty.
• His only problem was a fumble, which was luckily recovered by a teammate.
• Harris’ snap count is already down from last season and could decrease further if the Steelers like what they continue to see in Warren.

Add George Pickens: The rookie receiver was already one of the top waiver-wire targets before this game, and his highlight-worthy catch only helped his case.

• He continued to consistently play in three-receiver sets as he’s done all season.
• His threat rate was 8.3% over the first two games — the fifth lowest among all wide receivers with at least 50 routes.
• His threat rate was 24.1% against the Browns.
• Ideally, he will start seeing better passes thrown his way if the Steelers make a quarterback change at some point this season.

David Bell is the clear third wide receiver for Cleveland: Bell was the leader for the third receiver job in past weeks but became the clear winner of the job against Pittsburgh.

• Bell played in 42-of-81 snaps in 11 personnel the first two weeks. Demetric Felton was his closest competition with 20, although only three of those were pass plays.
• Anthony Schwartz was the third option for the third spot, playing 15-of-81 11 personnel snaps.
• Felton was a healthy inactive, which was an indication of a bigger role from Bell.
• He played 40 of 43 three-receiver sets this week.
• Schwartz had been the clear backup in one- or two-receiver sets. That remained true Thursday night, but Cleveland ran more plays from 11 personnel than usual.
• This resulted in just one catch on one target for six yards.
• The third-round rookie is worth a pickup in very deep leagues.

Table Notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.