Fantasy football last-minute pickups for Week 3 – Troy Franklin,
At various points during the fantasy football season, injuries, bye weeks and breaking news can cause you to need reinforcements for your fantasy lineup. Every Friday throughout the 2025 NFL season, Matt Bowen will offer up some late-week pickup options to help fill those holes, with an emphasis on deeper leagues.
Because of that, this column will focus mostly on players rostered in fewer than 50% of ESPN leagues, with occasional exceptions.
Heading into Week 3, I see deeper-league targets at the wide receiver position who are flashing on the tape and producing numbers. And we’ll start there. Plus, there’s a rookie tight end getting consistent volume in the pass game and a defense that is making plays — with a really positive matchup this week.
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Wide receivers
Troy Franklin, Denver Broncos (38.7% rostered; at Chargers): With 15 targets over his first two games and in an offensive system that caters to his skill set, Franklin fits here as a deeper-league WR3 for this week against the Chargers. Last week in the loss to the Colts, Franklin caught eight of nine targets for 89 yards and a score (24.0 points). He scored on a schemed boot concept in the low red zone, and the Broncos will set him up on catch-and-run targets off RPO reads. Expect Franklin to see more high-percentage throws (screens, slants, crossers) Sunday in Los Angeles.
Elic Ayomanor, Tennessee Titans (17.0% rostered; vs. Colts): Ayomanor has seen at least six targets in each of his first two pro games, and the I really like how he is being deployed in the Titans’ pass game. At 6-foot-2, with the long speed to separate on fade routes, Ayomanor can win as an…
