8 Fantasy Football Sleepers for Week 3
Ian Thomas, TE, Carolina Panthers
With Greg Olsen nursing a broken foot and long-time backup Ed Dickson now a Seahawk, the Carolina Panthers have a big hole at tight end. It looks like that hole will be filled by rookie Ian Thomas, who played 37 snaps after Olsen went down in Week 1 and then saw 95.5% of the team's snaps in Week 2.
His numbers haven't been anything to write home about, turning 5 targets in to 4 receptions and 14 yards, but his playing time leaves him as an interesting fantasy sleeper. His low volume isn't because he's being used extensively as a blocker either, and per numberFire's JJ Zachariason, Thomas ran the second-most routes of any tight end last week.
This week, he's up against a Cincinnati Bengals defense that has allowed the most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends in 2018, giving up double-digit fantasy scores to three players at the position in only two games. They also allowed top-10 production to the position in 2017 and 2016, not inspiring much confidence that they will turn things around this year.
Thomas' lack of targets does leave him with a low fantasy floor, but running a bunch of routes in a favorable matchup leaves him offering a great ceiling, making him a solid option if you're looking for a waiver wire tight end to plug in this week.
