Tre Tucker won Week 3 DFS contests and was the leading receiver for the week, surprising many with a 146-yard, 3-touchdown performance against the Washington Commanders.
Due to the significant decrease in passing yards, wide receivers felt the yardage squeeze in Week 3.
Only 7 wide receivers passed the 100-yard mark, down from 11 the previous week, and no tight end reached the century mark for the first time this season.
In Week 3, tight ends and running backs had a season high in positional target rate, which resulted in a season low 56.3% of targets for the wide receiver group across the league, down from 58.1% and 58.4% in the opening weeks.
Similar to the drop in passing yardage, the shift in positional target rate will be something to monitor with several downgrades at the quarterback position.
NFL Weekly Receiving Leaders, 2025:
| Week | Wide Receiver | Receiving Yards | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zay Flowers | 140 | Buffalo Bills |
| 2 | Malik Nabers | 167 | Dallas Cowboys |
| 3 | Tre Tucker | 145 | Washington Commanders |
| 4 | Puka Nacua | 170 | Indianapolis Colts |
| 5 | Emeka Egbuka | 163 | Seattle Seahawks |
| 6 | George Pickens | 168 | Carolina Panthers |
| 7 | Devonta Smith | 183 | Minnesota Vikings |
| 8 | Tucker Kraft | 143 | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 9 | Jaxson Smith-Njigba | 129 | Washington Commanders |
| 10 | Nico Collins | 136 | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| 11 | Michael Wilson | 185 | San Francisco 49ers |
Most Week 4 Receiving Yards Prediction (Sunday): Amon-Ra St. Brown (+1400)
Over the past two seasons, St. Brown has been targeted on 27.3% of Jared Goff’s dropbacks against man coverage with an 81.8% reception rate on those targets.
St. Brown has also been Goff’s primary target when blitzed over the past two seasons, averaging 2.65 yards per route when the quarterback has been blitzed.
Cleveland's defense is aggressive, near the league lead in terms of man-coverage and blitzes, which sets St Brown up for what could be a very busy week in terms of targets.
The Browns have also held opposing offenses to 2.3 yards per carry, and although the Lions are averaging 5.0 yards per carry, two of their three opponents are amongst the worst rush defenses in the league.
In Week 1, the Lions averaged -0.18 yards before contact and 2.1 yards per carry against the Packers.
In Week 2, the Baltimore Ravens abandoned the run and peppered Zay Flowers with 11 targets against the Browns.
It would not be surprising to see St. Brown reach double digit targets at home on Sunday.
Regardless of the score, Dan Campbell has remained aggressive, which reduces the concern for the need for the Browns offense to push back.
The aggressive nature of this defense makes it susceptible to variance, good and bad, but the Browns allowed 11 different pass catchers to have 100 receiving yard games last season.