2026 Week 3 waiver results: Fitzmaurice led at RB, Boone at TE
Written and maintained automatically by Fan50 · Published October 31, 2026
Key finding
The clearest finding from the tracked 2026 Week 3 waiver advice is that leadership changed by position. Pat Fitzmaurice of FantasyPros led the general waiver articles at running back, averaging 4.9 half-PPR points, while Justin Boone of Yahoo Sports led at tight end with 10.0. Those results support a position-specific reading of the week—not a blanket verdict on whose pickup advice deserves the most trust. [1][2][3]
What these results actually measure
This report measures target-week half-PPR production from recommended adds, with comparisons kept within the same position and article type. Coverage varied considerably: Nick Mariano’s RotoBaller article recommended 85 adds, with 76 complete results; Andrew Cooper’s Fantasy Alarm article recommended 15, with 13 complete. Those are different-sized recommendation lists, not equivalent samples. The positional counts below describe recommendations, and should not be mistaken for confirmed counts of complete results within every position. [4][5]
Timing also defines the exercise. These articles were recorded after their waiver deadlines, so this is an account of how the advice played out, not a head-to-head contest captured in advance. The supplied scope does not establish a more precise recording sequence relative to the games. For readers choosing sources before their next claims, the useful question is therefore where each article delivered measured production—not whether this retrospective establishes future accuracy. [3]
Quarterbacks: a shared lead among general articles
Among general waiver articles, Maggie Thraen of The Fantasy Footballers and Cooper shared the quarterback lead at 18.7 half-PPR points, each with two recommended QB adds. Fitzmaurice followed at 18.0 with six recommended, ahead of Mariano’s 16.6 with 17. The distinction is between a higher weekly average and a broader recommendation list: the narrower leaders delivered more points on average, but their results describe fewer recommendations. [6][5][1][4]
The week’s highest-scoring individual measured add was Geno Smith, recommended by Mariano, who scored 26.0 half-PPR points. That is an identifiable success within this tracked week, not a fresh player recommendation. Separately, Mike Fanelli’s FantasyPros quarterback-streaming article averaged 18.9 from two complete results among three recommended adds. It stands on its own as a streamer result; the supplied set contains no other dedicated QB-streaming article for a same-type comparison. [4][7]
Running backs: Fitzmaurice’s clearest positional advantage
Running back produced a clearer separation among the general articles. Fitzmaurice averaged 4.9 half-PPR points with 10 recommended adds, ahead of Mariano’s 3.3 with 22. Michael Fabiano of Sports Illustrated Fantasy and Cooper each averaged 1.8, with five and three recommendations respectively. That puts Fitzmaurice’s running-back results ahead of those peers on the supplied weekly measure, without establishing that his broader waiver article was better across unrelated positions. [1][4][8][5]
Thraen’s running-back adds averaged 1.6 with five recommended, while Boone’s averaged 0.7 with four. Those lower averages describe immediate scoring outcomes; they do not measure risk or explain why the recommendations scored as they did. Nor do the supplied positional summaries distinguish immediate-use backs from longer-term holds. The defensible conclusion is limited but useful: Fitzmaurice’s measured RB production led this group in Week 3, while Boone’s lagged on that same weekly yardstick. [6][2][1]
Tight ends reverse the source ordering
Boone’s tight-end results show why the running-back ordering cannot become an overall source ranking. His TE adds averaged 10.0 half-PPR points, with two recommended, ahead of Cooper’s 7.9 with four and Mariano’s 6.1 with nine. Fitzmaurice, the running-back leader, averaged 3.0 at tight end with five recommended. The useful interpretation is positional: the same source could lead one comparison and trail another within this single week. [2][5][4][1]
The dedicated tight-end-streaming result answers a narrower question. Ryan Kirksey’s FantasyPros article recommended three adds, all with complete results, averaging 2.2 half-PPR points. A streamer’s target-week production directly addresses its immediate-use purpose, whereas a stash concerns a longer hold and a handcuff a contingent role. These records supply no separate longer-term or contingent-payoff measures, and no individual result explicitly labeled speculative or handcuff, so neither can be assessed as a distinct category here. [9][1][3]
Receivers were close; defense and kicker samples were thin
Wide receiver offered less separation among the general articles. Fitzmaurice led at 6.8 half-PPR points with eight recommended adds, followed by Mariano at 6.5 with 29. Thraen and Fabiano each averaged 6.2, while Cooper and Boone each averaged 6.0. These averages provide little basis for a sweeping preference: they describe similar weekly production from lists of different sizes, rather than a decisive answer about which source to rely on for future receiver claims. [1][4][6][8][5][2][3]
Defense showed a larger contrast within general articles: Thraen averaged 12.5 with two recommended adds, compared with Mariano’s 6.4 with eight. Jacob Herlin’s dedicated FantasyPros defense-streaming article separately averaged 5.9 across eight complete results. At kicker, Fabiano led the general articles at 8.0 with three recommendations, ahead of Fitzmaurice’s 6.3 with four and Cooper’s 5.5 with two. The small recommendation counts make these outcomes particularly narrow evidence for source selection. [6][4][10][8][1][5][3]
What to carry into the next waiver decision
The practical takeaway is to match the evidence to the job. Fitzmaurice’s running-back lead and Boone’s tight-end lead are relevant records for those positions, while the dedicated streamer articles should remain separate from general pickup lists. Their authors share the FantasyPros name in some cases, but these are named articles with different purposes and results—not a single service accuracy score. Combining them would obscure the distinctions this week actually reveals. [1][2][7][9][10]
What remains uncertain is whether any of these positional orderings persists beyond this slate. One week is a small sample, and a source’s average can swing on a single player; missing complete results also limit the coverage of several articles. Fan50’s waiver-wire hub provides season results by advice type for a longer view. This report supplies a bounded record of Week 3 production, not a promise about whose next recommendations will score best. [3][4][5][7]
Sources
- Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Advice: Players to Add, Stash & Drop (Week 3) · Checked October 30, 2026
- Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups, Week 3: Jonah Coleman, Tre Tucker among top targets to add · Checked October 30, 2026
- fan50.app · Checked October 30, 2026
- Week 3 Waiver Wire Rankings - Fantasy Football Pickups Include Jonah Coleman, Tank Bigsby, Emanuel Wilson, Keon Coleman, Rashod Bateman, Tre Tucker, Oronde Gadsden, more · Checked October 30, 2026
- 2026 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 3: Denzel Boston, Jonah Coleman Top Picks · Checked October 30, 2026
- Waiver Wire Pickups: Week 3 (Fantasy Football) · Checked October 30, 2026
- Fantasy Football QB Streamers & Waiver Wire Targets (Week 3) · Checked October 30, 2026
- Week 3 Fantasy Waiver Wire: Target Denzel Boston, Jonah Coleman · Checked October 30, 2026
- Fantasy Football TE Streamers & Waiver Wire Targets (Week 3) · Checked October 30, 2026
- Let’s Stream Defenses: Week 3 (2026 Fantasy Football) · Checked October 30, 2026