2025 NFL Preseason Recap and Fantasy Football Notes: Week 3

**** NOTES FOR EVERY GAME WILL BE UP AS SOON AS I WATCH THEM **** Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

2025 Preseason Notes: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
2025 Fantasy Football Stock Pages: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

Cardinals 20, Raiders 10

Our final preseason game saw one team use their starters. The Raiders played Geno Smith and Ashton Jeanty, while Arizona put its third-stringers on the field.

Smith and company lasted only one drive, which concluded with a touchdown. Jeanty, however, didn’t get to do much. He couldn’t find much running room on either of his carries. This was the second time in three preseason games that the Raiders’ starting offensive line failed to open running lanes against a backup defensive front.

Smith opened the game with an errant pass, but connected on his other two throws. He moved the chains on a third-and-long opportunity and later fired a touchdown to Dont’e Thornton.

Here were Smith’s targets:

Michael Mayer: 1
Jakobi Meyers: 1
Dont’e Thornton: 2 (1 end zone)

Dont’e Thornton saw two targets from Geno Smith in the preseason finale. Smith hit Thornton on a third down to move the chains and later fired a back-shoulder pass to Thornton, which the rookie reeled in for a touchdown. Charlie Campbell, who has multiple sources with the Raiders, has said that Thornton is viewed as the No. 1 receiver on the team despite being a fourth-round rookie.

NFL Preseason Announcers: Arizona’s announcer had this to say: “Ashton Jeanty is the highest-draft running back in NFL history! Since Saquon Barkley…” While he was factually accurate, it was an odd way to just say that Jeanty was the highest-drafted running back in the past seven years. Mentioning “NFL history” when discussing a 7-year span was a bit odd.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

49ers 30, Chargers 23

Trey Lance made his return to San Francisco and started this game for the Chargers. Lance didn’t see much action, but made a couple of brilliant throws. His best pass was when he ripped the ball 17 yards on a slant to his target. Lance had a couple of poor passes as well, so this performance wasn’t a complete success.

Lance didn’t even play the entire opening quarter. He was one of two noteworthy Chargers in this game, with the other being rookie tight end Orande Gadsen II. Gadsen caught a touchdown, but did so with the third-string backup. He has potential, but may not play all that much in the first half of the season.

The 49ers also played their deep reserves, although Isaac Guerendo saw some carries in the opening half, perhaps to make up for lost time spent on the injury report. Guerendo had a nice first carry, but couldn’t get anything going with his other attempts, as the Charger defensive line lived in San Francisco’s backfield.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Dolphins 14, Jaguars 6

Miami’s starters played against Jacksonville’s backups for about a quarter. While some Dolphin players stood out, the offense as a whole was highly disappointing.

The Dolphins couldn’t move the chains at all on two of their three drives. Their offensive line had immense issues blocking Jacksonville’s backups. Tua Tagovailoa was sacked on his initial third down, and then was sacked on a second occasion on the ensuing possession. More pressure forced a poor throw on the next play. Miami finally got the ball moving on the third drive, but Tagovailoa needed to convert a fourth down to keep the possession alive.

Here were Tagovailoa’s targets:

Pharaoh Brown: 1
Tanner Conner: 2
Dee Eskridge: 1
Ollie Gordon: 1
Jaylen Waddle: 1
Malik Washington: 4

I mentioned earlier that a couple of Dolphin players stood out:

– Malik Washington saw a team-high four targets from Tagovailoa. Tyreek Hill didn’t play, but Jaylen Waddle was on the field, so it’s not like Washington was only competing with scrubs for targets. On one of those targets, he caught a short pass and then made a nasty juke move on a defender to score a touchdown. Washington doesn’t have much fantasy value right now, but if Hill were to be injured or traded, he would be worth adding to your roster.

– Ollie Gordon drew the start at running back in the preseason finale and was terrific. He showed nice vision to find the correct running lane and displayed great burst as he charged through those lanes. He constantly plowed over defenders and carried potential tacklers. Gordon has been awesome this preseason and is the handcuff to own for De’Von Achane. Given that Achane is currently dealing with an injury, Gordon must be owned in all leagues.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Bills 23, Buccaneers 19

Both teams sat their starters, so there was only one player of note in this game. That was Sean Tucker, who was handed a grand total of three carries in this game. There’s no need to delve any further into this useless contest.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Packers 20, Seahawks 7

While the Seahawks sat their starters, the Packers had theirs on the field for a couple of drives. Of course, “No Cookie” Jordan Love did not join them because he’s injured. Malik Willis operated under center instead.

The key play in this game was when Willis launched a deep ball to Matthew Golden. The first-round rookie snared the ball, which was good for a 39-yard reception. We didn’t see much more of Golden, but it was nice to see him have a deep connection with Willis because Love is likely to miss Week 1.

The Seahawks had Jalen Milroe on the field for the entire game. He struggled for the most part as a passer and barely used his legs in the opening half. He ran in a touchdown that was negated by penalty, but didn’t really run otherwise until late in the game. Milroe also lost a fumble on a strip-sack because of poor pocket awareness. This turnover appeared to be returned for a score, but this was another touchdown that was wiped out by a penalty. Milroe also had a stretch of futility in the third quarter when he overshot his receiver and then was nearly intercepted.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Browns 19, Rams 17

The danger with having starters on the field in the preseason is that injuries can occur in meaningless games. Joe Flacco told a sideline reporter that “it felt good” to see some action, but the Browns paid the price for feeling good. That price was Ethan Pocic. The Browns center left this contest with a leg injury.

Flacco played three drives and misfired on just one pass. He looked solid, but was going up against the Rams’ deep scrubs. One of Flacco’s best throws was a dart touchdown to Harold Fannin Jr.

Here were Flacco’s targets:

Jerome Ford: 2
Harold Fannin: 2 (1 end zone)
Jerry Jeudy: 1
David Njoku: 2
Dylan Sampson: 1
Pierre Strong: 1

Speaking of Fannin, the young tight end caught a touchdown and later made a spin move on a reception at the line of scrimmage. It appeared as though he would take a 3-yard loss, but the spin move turned that into a 2-yard gain.

The Browns used four quarterbacks in this game. Dillon Gabriel took the field once Flacco was done. Gabriel did not look very good. He sailed a couple of passes over his targets and was nearly intercepted a few times. Even the Cleveland announcers remared, “That was another dangerous pass.” Some of Gabriel’s passes seemed like they took a million years to reach their targets as a result of his horrible arm strength. Gabriel, however, had a couple of bright moments. He made a sharp pass on a third-and-10 to move the chains and later completed a perfect pass to Jamari Thrash to set up a touchdown just prior to halftime.

Shedeur Sanders was next, and he was somehow worse than Gabriel. He took five sacks in this game, most of which were the result of him either holding the ball too long or not stepping up in the pocket. One of his sacks was accompanied by a lost fumble, though a teammate recovered. Another sack saw Sanders take a loss of 24 yards. Sanders also threw way behind his target on a third down, and he displayed horrible body language at times. On one occasion, it looked like he was bored and didn’t want to be in the game.

Perhaps the Cleveland coaching staff recognized this because they benched Sanders in favor of Tyler Huntley. The decision was a good one, as Huntley led the Browns on a game-winning drive in the final mintue.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Broncos 28, Saints 19

Both the Broncos and Saints used their starters in this game. This includes Bo Nix, R.J. Harvey, and the rest of the Broncos, who were on the field slightly into the second quarter.

Nix looked excellent against New Orleans’ starters. He had a terrific back-shoulder pass to Courtland Sutton for a gain of 14 on a fourth down. He then had a great connection to Sutton after bootlegging left, with Sutton spinning away for more yardage. Nix capped off the drive with a touchdown pass to Sutton.

Here were Nix’s targets:

Tyler Badie: 2
Evan Engram: 1
Troy Franklin: 2
R.J. Harvey: 1
Courtland Sutton: 7 (1 end zone)
Adam Trautman: 1

If the preseason finale is any indication, Courtland Sutton is going to get a million targets this year. He was thrown to on seven of Bo Nix’s 14 passes, and no other Bronco had more than two targets. Sutton reeled in a 14-yard back-shoulder pass on a fourth down and later spun away for extra yardage after making a deep reception. He snatched a contested catch touchdown as well.

R.J. Harvey played in the preseason finale, while J.K. Dobbins sat. Harvey had a disappointing output. He barely got any yardage on his four touches, as he once again displayed poor running vision. Even worse, he rotated with Tyler Badie. This is an indication that Harvey won’t be the sole ball-carrier if Dobbins were to suffer another injury.

As for the Saints, they opened the game with Spencer Rattler. He dinked and dunked for the most part, and he also had a very ugly throw that was way behind Rashid Shaheed.

Here were Rattler’s targets:

Brandin Cooks: 1
Kendre Miller: 1
Chris Olave: 3
Rashid Shaheed: 3

Tyler Shough wasn’t much better than Rattler. He lost a fumble on a strip-sack and had some horribly high passes, but he rebounded from his fumble with accurate passes on the ensuing drive.

NFL Preseason Announcers: I posted this on X:

We just had a 10-minute sequence in the Saints-Broncos game that went:

Virtual measurement
Challenge of virtual measurement
QB sneak
Virtual measurement
Official yelling at someone on the sidelines for a minute
Kellen Moore arguing with officials for a minute

As this was happening, the Saints announcers were interviewing Joe Dumars for some reason. This interview lasted 20 minutes.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Texans 26, Lions 7

No starters played in this game, but there were some young players of note:

– Isaac TeSlaa caught another touchdown, hauling in a deep fade pass from Kyle Allen for a 33-yard reception. The Lions have a crowded receiver corps, so it’ll be difficult for TeSlaa to be a consistent contributor this season unless there are injuries at the position.

– Jayden Higgins caught a couple of passes where he ran good routes and hauled in the balls thrown to him from someone named Graham Mertz.

– Woody Marks played behind Dameon Pearce. That’s the bad news for Marks. The good news was that he was involved in the passing game like he was in college. He also scored a touchdown where he showed nice vision and found the correct running lane.

– Hendon Hooker threw a horrible interception where he sailed the ball a mile over his target.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Colts 41, Bengals 14

No starters played in this game. Only one player of note took the field, and that was Colts rookie running back D.J. Giddens. He looked good in limited action.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Ravens 30, Redskins 3

Both teams played their deep backups in this game, with one exception. That would be Washington utilizing Chris Rodriguez as its starting running back. That is potentially a huge development because Jacory Croskey-Merritt didn’t play. That’s an extremely bullish indication for Croskey-Merritt, who could be in line for the bulk of the early-down workload.

NFL Preseason Announcers: Early in the second quarter, the announcer said that Ravens kicker Tyler Loop had already missed a field goal in this game. However, Loop hadn’t attempted a field goal at that point. The announcer was thinking of the Redskins kicker, who missed a field goal on the opening drive.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Bears 29. Chiefs 27

Most teams don’t play their starters for very long, if at all in the preseason games. This contest felt like a throwback to the 1990s when teams would keep their starters on the field for the entire opening half of the third preseason game. That’s exactly what the Bears did, while the Chiefs had Patrick Mahomes operate for three drives.

Mahomes looked terrific. He had ample time to throw versus Chicago’s first-string defense and was able to lead the team on three scoring drives. Two of those possessions ended in touchdowns, while the third would have as well had Kareem Hunt not dropped a potential touchdown. Mahomes rebounded on the next possession with a back-shoulder score thrown to Rashee Rice.

Here were Mahomes’ targets:

Kareem Hunt: 1
Travis Kelce: 3
Rashee Rice: 3 (1 nend zone)
Brashard Smith: 2
JuJu Smith-Schuster: 1
Tyquan Thornton: 1
Xavier Worthy: 2

The Chiefs haven’t possessed a dynamic downfield passing game since Tyreek Hill departed. That may change this year, as Tyquan Thornton has established himself as a factor in the offense. Thornton was a failure in New England, but he seems to have found a home in Kansas City. He caught a 58-yard bomb from Patrick Mahomes versus the Bears. Thornton is worth considering in late rounds of best ball drafts because of his big-play ability.

Kansas City’s running back rotation must be discussed. Isiah Pacheco drew the start, and there was good news and bad news attached to his performance. The good news is that he looked much more explosive than he did in 2024 as a result of being fully healthy. The bad news is that he rotated with Kareem Hunt. This could be a byproduct of trying to keep Pacheco fresh by not running him into the ground during a preseason game, but it was still discouraging to see something like this. Also, rookie Brashard White was used in the passing game. Mahomes targeted Smith twice on a pair of second downs. The announcers made note that the Chiefs were excited to see what they had in Smith as a passing-game weapon.

As mentioned earlier, Caleb Williams was on the field for the entire opening half. Things did not begin well for him, as he fumbled the ball on a broken play on the initial snap. Williams was able to eventually recover, but he did his best work once the Chiefs subbed out their starters in the second quarter.

Here were Williams’ targets:

Brittain Brown: 2
Colston Loveland: 1
D.J. Moore: 1
Rome Odunze: 5 (2 end zone)
D’Andre Swift: 1
Olamide Zaccheaus: 3

There seems to be a changing of the guard as far as Chicago’s No. 1 receiver is concerned. Rome Odunze saw a whopping five targets in the preseason finale, which was four more than D.J. Moore. In fact, there was one instance in the final minutes of the second quarter where Moore was seen slowly jogging back to the line of scrimmage as the clock was ticking. Perhaps I’m making something out of nothing, but Moore looked completely uninterested in playing football. Odunze, on the other hand, made some big catches and was targeted twice in the end zone. Even the Chiefs announcer remarked that Odunze looked special.

Speaking of Bears receivers, Olamide Zaccheaus once again played ahead of Luther Burden in the slot during the preseason finale. Chicago’s coaching staff has been impressed with Zaccheaus, so it might be a while until Burden sees significant playing time.

With Roschon Johnson and Kyle Monangai dealing with injuries, D’Andre Swift handled the entire workload. Swift looked good, even hurdling a defender after catching a pass.

NFL Preseason Announcers: The Chiefs announcer had a horrible lisp. He sounded like a cartoon character. For example: “The Bearththth get a thththack on Mahomeththth.” How could the Chiefs not find someone better than this guy?

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Titans 23, Vikings 13

While the Vikings sat all of their starters, the Titans utilized Cam Ward and some other players of note. The Titans sat some of their starters, including Calvin Ridley and Tony Pollard, we had a brief look at Ward, who was on the field for two drives.

Ward had a shaky first series, but rebounded on the second possession in which he moved his team down the field on a lengthy touchdown drive. On one play, he showed great patience in the pocket and threw a 17-yard dime to Van Jefferson. Ward threw four other passes, with one being nullified by penalty, so there was not a great sample size. However, Ward looked accurate in his limited action. The announcers said that Ward is trying to improve his footwork because he doesn’t step into enough of his passes, so we’ll have to see if that gets rectified as the season progresses.

Here were Ward’s targets:

Elic Ayomanor: 2
Julius Chestnut: 1
Van Jefferson: 1
Tyler Lockett: 1

With Ridley sidelined, Elic Ayomanor served as the top receiver. He caught both of his passes from Ward and then a third from Brandon Allen. He may emerge as the No. 2 receiver in Tennessee, but won’t hold much value this year.

Pollard was out and Tyjae Spears is banged up, so Julius Chestnut saw a bulk of the workload with Ward on the field. Chestnut had an impressive hurdle on one of his runs.

NFL Preseason Announcers: The beginning of the Titans broadcast had an echo of the Spanish telecast, so if you know Spanish, you were able to get the play-by-play in two languages at the same time!

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Cowboys 31, Falcons 13

Neither team played its starters, but we got to see Joe Milton and Jaydon Blue in Dallas’ backfield into the third quarter. I’ll discuss both in this recap.

Jaydon Blue was the most significant fantasy player in this game. There was bad news, which was that Blue played behind Deuce Vaughn. It was his first preseason action coming off injury, however, so that’s understandable. The good news is that Blue looked good. He showed tremendous burst on a gain of 13 and scored a touchdown a few plays later. Unfortunately for Blue and his fantasy owner, there was more bad news. Blue was knocked out of the game with a leg injury. He walked off the field without help, but it’s a bad sign that he suffered another injury.

Milton, meanwhile, struggled in the first two weeks of the preseason, but showed tremendous growth versus Atlanta. He threw some nice strikes toward the sideline, then made a great back-shoulder throw for a gain of 20. He followed that up with a perfect 29-yard fade pass to Jalen Brooks where he put a perfect amount of air under the ball. Milton, who scored a rushing touchdown, made only one bad play in this game where he missed out on a potential deep touchdown because he released the ball too late. Still, Milton showed great improvement and solidified his No. 2 standing on the depth chart.

Last week, Jaguars kicker Cam Little drilled a 70-yard field goal. In this game, Brandon Aubrey hit a perfect kick from 64 yards. The announcers opined that his attempt would have been good from 70 as well.

NFL Preseason Announcers: At one point, the Cowboys color analyst said that the Cowboys were on the 54-yard line. And here I thought it only went up to 50.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Eagles 19, Jets 17

We’re going to skip analysis on this game because no viable players were on the field. Neither team even used its top backups.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Giants 42, Patriots 10

While the Patriots played their deep backups in this game, the Giants featured a couple of players who potentially have bright futures with the team. Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo lined up together in the backfield during the opening quarter.

Dart had a spectacular performance. One of his first throws was a 50-yard connection to Gunner Olszewski where he stepped up in the pocket and located the usual special-teamer. Dart then fired a touchdown to Greg Dulcich soon after to cap off the drive. Dart had a couple of other pretty deep passes, but both were dropped by Jalin Hyatt. In fact, four of Dart’s passes were dropped, which would explain his 6-of-12 accuracy stat line.

Dart’s final play was the only mistake he made all evening. He picked up a first down on a fourth-and-4 with his legs, but instead of sliding, he decided to take on the defender. His head hit the ground, prompting the official to remove him from the field. Dart passed concussion protocol, but never returned to action.

Dart was excellent in this game. I’m sure Giants fans will be excited, but perhaps they’ll temper their expectations because Daniel Jones also enjoyed an amazing preseason in his rookie year.
As mentioned, Skattebo was on the field in the opening quarter. He was given a trio of carries and didn’t look special. He’s well behind Tyrone Tracy and Devin Singletary right now, and according to reports, Tracy is the clear-cut primary back for the Giants.

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

Steelers 19, Panthers 10

The Panthers didn’t play any of their starters. The Steelers had some of their starters on the field, though Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf sat. Mason Rudolph and Lance McCutcheon started over them.

The primary fantasy football takeaway from this game is that Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell saw action with the first team, while Kaleb Johnson did not until the third drive. The good news for Johnson owners is that Warren didn’t look very good. He fumbled, but a teammate recovered. On another run, he slipped and took a loss of two yards.

Johnson looked much better than Warren, displaying much more burst. He showed nice vision on his second run for eight yards. Johnson could overtake Warren and Gainwell near the midway point of the season.
NFL Preseason Announcers: The Panthers broadcast did a promo for a chicken sandwich. They removed the promo, and one of the color analysts exclaimed, “Yo, bring that back up!”

Follow me @walterfootball for updates.

2025 Preseason Notes: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
2025 Fantasy Football Stock Pages: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

Related News

NFL DraftKings Picks: Week 2

Fantasy Football Week 2 Rankings – Quarterbacks

Fantasy Football Week 2 Rankings – Tight Ends

Fantasy Football Week 2 Rankings – FLEX