After a sophomore season as the MVP runner-up posting 4,394 passing yards, 34 passing touchdowns and 113.5 passer rating, Drake Maye has face-planted with 585 passing yards, 1 passing touchdown and 6 interceptions this season. He was benched at the end of last week’s blowout game in Jacksonville, where the Patriots lost 35-6, for Tommy Devito.
According to Mike Vrabel, Maye just needs to “relax,” but after posting a negative EPA per dropback in 6 straight games dating back to last postseason, Graff sees an eerie similarity to Mac Jones. Maye must string together multiple positive performances to regain his confidence, especially after his embarrassing errors have contributed greatly to New England’s 1-2 season start.
During a radio show, Bears head coach Ben Johnson was asked about the quarterback situation this week and replied, “We’ll see how it plays out all week.” This is a murky situation heading into the end of the week as to who will be the signal caller on Sunday against the Jets. Johnson elaborated by saying, “We’ll have a discussion as a coaching staff and we’ll see where we need to go from here … But I said it last week, and I’ll say it again, there was a reason why Tyson [Bagent] ended training camp as our No. 2 quarterback.”
Keenum threw for 247 Yards, 2 passing touchdowns and 1 rushing touchdown last week, reassuring Bears Nation that he can effectively run an NFL offense. However, Tyson Bagent won the QB2 job on the back of a larger play sample throughout training camp and preseason. To maintain a competitive advantage, Johnson is incentivized to wait as long as possible to reveal the name of his Week 4 starter. It is also a nice problem for the Bears offensive weapons Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, and Colston Loveland to have in Caleb Williams‘ absence.
Buccaneers 3rd-year WR Jalen McMillan reinjured his PCL and will be placed on IR and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks, per Rick Stroud. This comes on the heels of QB Baker Mayfield being ruled out for at least 3 weeks with a dislocated thumb.
McMillan has shown some flashes, scoring 7 TD’s in the final 5 games of his rookie season in 2024, but between a neck injury that sidelined him for all but 4 games of the 2025 season and this year’s knee injury, he has been usurped on the depth chart due to his inability to stay healthy. This will hurt rookie QB Jalon Daniels as he prepares to start in Baker Mayfield’s absence, but rookie WR Ted Hurst should continue to see a healthy workload alongside Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin.
Cameron Ward opens the 2026 campaign struggling with efficiency, managing just 504 passing yards and two touchdowns through three games. Head coach Robert Saleh claims to have no plans to bench Ward and notes mechanical flaws with his footwork, which matches advanced metrics showing Ward ranked No. 29 in Expected Points Added Per Dropback, becomes exaggerated as the game goes along.
Saleh went on to say that dropped passes by receivers, as well as uninspired play by the Titans defense, has contributed to Ward’s eroding footwork late in games. Bench Ward in fantasy football until he either fully rectifies his sloppy footwork or Mitchell Trubisky takes over the starting role.
After Brian Thomas Jr. played just 23 snaps, John Shipley has laid out a realistic scenario where Thomas shockingly slides to the fourth WR option in Jacksonville.
With a 13.3 Average Depth of Target and 2.22 Yards Per Route Run, the talent is real, but the declining snap share puts him on the trade block radar in both real football and fantasy football. Keep him benched in shallow formats until his route participation rebounds.
Rico Dowdle missed all practice sessions before getting ruled out for Thursday night. Jaylen Warren will command another elite opportunity share after ringing up 17 carries and three catches in Week 3. Lock in Warren as a high-end RB2 against Cleveland.
