Week 3 Waiver Wire (Preview)

Kalieb Osborne

Connecticut

Third week in a row Osborne makes our Waiver Wire article, and this will undoubtedly be the last after carving up the Southern Miss defense with 246 total yards and four combined touchdowns on Saturday. Against two non-P4 opponents this season, Osborne has now scored a total of 99 fantasy points. Two of Osborne’s next three matchups are against Miami (Ohio) and Temple who rank 121st and 114th, respectively, in scoring defense.

Davian Jackson / Torrance Burgess

Texas State

The Bobcats are 14th nationally in yards per game on the ground (262.3) through three weeks with no signs of slowing down, and a premier matchup against Incarnate Word on Saturday. This is a clear split backfield, but room for both to eat in an elite scoring offense. One clear distinction between Burgess and Jackson, though, is the red-zone usage, which is likely obvious given the 5-0 touchdown disparity. Jackson holds a 16-5 rushing attempt advantage when inside the 20-yard line.

Nolan James

Notre Dame

If you were not an Aneyas Williams believer this offseason, you should feel vindicated after this week with Nolan James stealing away the Notre Dame backfield after rushing for 121 yards and a touchdown vs. Michigan State. The Notre Dame run game isn’t fixed completely – ranked 116th nationally in yards per carry – but inserting James as the RB1 seems like a step towards improving that. Expect plenty of run-heavy scripts for the Irish against upcoming opponents Purdue, North Carolina and Stanford where Notre Dame will be favored by at least three touchdowns, if not more.

Maguire Anderson

Florida International

I guess the Iowa State connection between JJ Kohl and Greg Gaines meant nothing. Anderson is firmly entrenched as the team’s WR1, now with over a third of FIU’s receiving yards (325) for the season after catching eight passes for 139 yards on 13 targets in the loss to Florida Atlantic. That’s the second time in three games Anderson had accumulated double-digit targets.

Chris Durr

Maryland

Especially without DeJuan Williams, which might end up being a few weeks, Maryland cannot run the football. That was the case last year, and there’s no improvements so far in 2026 even with the coordinator change. That’s good news, though, for the passing game components because Maryland was a top 10 team nationally last season in pass rate. Durr has now posted back-to-back 100-yard performances against UConn and Virginia Tech, while targeted 12 or more times in both games. We’re still cautious here to go all-in on the 173-pound Wyoming transfer with the grind of a B1G schedule ahead, but we know Maryland will be chucking the ball around.

DeAree Rogers

Northern Illinois

Finally, NIU’s head coach did away with the ridiculous QB rotation and settled on Taron Dickens as the team’s QB1 moving forward. Hasn’t shown in the win-loss column, but significant boost to Rogers’ fantasy stock with 21 receptions on 24 targets in the last two games alone. Rogers has just 142 receiving yards in that time span, so we’d suggest Rogers only be added in PPR formats, but that is heavy target volume for a WR1.

Eli Finley

Louisiana Tech

Thankfully, Finley’s fantasy stock wasn’t sunk with Trey Kukuk’s noodle arm throwing him the football. 7-60-1 on a team-high 12 targets for Finley in the loss to Baylor. Between Finley and WR1 Jalen Mickens, that duo accounts for 65% of the team’s receiving yards and 52% of the target share.

Kari Ashley

TCU

Always tentative rostering a player who shows up out of nowhere to have 100+ yards and two scores as Ashley did against Grambling in Week 2 considering the opponent. Stacking that with a 5-87-1 performance the following week is confirmation. Sounds like Jordan Dwyer should be back in the lineup next week, so the dynamics of the TCU passing game could change, but we’d still get Ashley on your roster if possible.