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.

Wide receivers

Troy Franklin , Denve

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