Did National Tight Ends Day come early this year? It certainly felt like it if you were glued to NFL action all day on Sunday. In fact, tight ends accounted for 20 of the touchdowns scored across the 13 games on Sunday, which was the most touchdowns scored by tight ends across the league on a single day in NFL history.
Unfortunately, for all the tight ends that scored over the weekend, only one of them can make our All-Star Team for Week 3. As we pick our top standouts from each position and the top team offensive line performance over the weekend, here are our Week 3 All-Stars. For all the talk of the 49ers' injured receivers, Brock Purdy has been amazing to open the season.
He has nine touchdown passes against one interception for a league-best 133.1 passer rating, 17 points higher than anyone else. He threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns without a pick as the 49ers held off the Cardinals to improve to 3-0. Mike Evans is injured now, so there's even less talent to throw to.
It wasn't a huge week for quarterbacks, though. Marcus Mariota (three touchdown passes, no picks) was perhaps the next best option, filling in for Jayden Daniels and leading the Washington Commanders to an upset win over the Seattle Seahawks. These were seemingly the top two picks in every fantasy football draft, and this week was a reminder why.
Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson had huge games with 25-plus touches each. Gibbs rushed 20 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns while catching seven passes for 65 and another score in the Detroit Lions' victory over the New York Jets. That came after Robinson had a huge Thursday game, rushing for 194 yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns to help the Atlanta Falcons stun the Green Bay Packers on the road.
Kenneth Walker III nearly landed on this list for a third straight week, rushing for two touchdowns in the Kansas City Chiefs' win over the Miami Dolphins. Derrick Henry also rushed for two touchdowns this weekend, helping the Baltimore Ravens beat the Dallas Cowboys in Brazil as he nearly earned his second weekly All-Star nod of the season. Not a ton of obvious challengers here, just like there was at quarterback.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba actually lost, so his 10 catches for 128 yards and two scores might be vulnerable, but the biggest yardage games were zero-TD types. It marks the third straight game that Smith-Njigba has logged at least 120 receiving yards, too. And it's wild to have two Falcons on this team, but Drake London put up 194 receiving yards in Thursday's rout of the Packers, clicking with Michael Penix Jr. in the third-year quarterback's first start of the season.
So, even without a score, London gets the nod over the Cincinnati Bengals standout Tee Higgins (six catches for 90 yards and a touchdown in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers). As we mentioned earlier, it was a monster day for tight ends across the league, with a record 20 touchdowns caught at the position. The Las Vegas Raiders-New Orleans Saints game had six tight end touchdowns!
But we'll give the nod to George Kittle, who had six catches for 82 and two scores. It was tempting to look at Cleveland Browns second-year standout Harold Fannin (51 yards, two touchdowns in a win over the Carolina Panthers) or the healthy return of Raiders star Brock Bowers, who had 10 for 116 and a score as Las Vegas improved to 3-0. It was a proud week for tight ends everywhere, though.
Let's just say we gave real consideration here to going 12 personnel and doubling up on tight ends instead of receivers. There were actually quite a few zero-sack showings from offensive lines this week, as we could have easily gone to the Ravens, 49ers, Chiefs or Falcons that way. For sheer dominance, we'll go with the Jacksonville Jaguars and their starting five (left to right) of Anton Harrison, Emmanuel Pregnon, Robert Hainsey, Ezra Cleveland and Cole Van Lanen, in controlling the line in a 35-6 rout of the New England Patriots.
The Jaguars rushed for 137 yards on 30 carries and Trevor Lawrence had only one sack in 30 dropbacks. Jacksonville has the second-best point differential in the league at plus-46 behind only San Francisco, and its line has been a solid part of that. Greg Rousseau continues to put up big numbers every week, with two more sacks to give him a league-leading six on the season.
He also had four tackles for loss and three QB hits in the Buffalo Bills' win over the Los Angeles Chargers, so he leads the position here. There were also lots of compelling games from defensive linemen and edge rushers in losing efforts. Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, Houston Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. and New Orleans Saints defensive end Chase Young all had multi-sack days, with Anderson leading that group with 2.5 sacks.
But we'll go with Mason Graham, who now has four sacks in three games after totaling 0.5 sacks as a rookie. He had two sacks in the Browns' win over the Carolina Panthers. That defense is a surprising part of Cleveland's 2-1 start, showing they can create pressure without Myles Garrett.
The Raiders continue to validate their success with each win, and Nakobe Dean was all over their win on Sunday. He had 12 tackles, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble, with that fumble serving as the game-sealing play in their win over the Saints. You could make a case for 49ers star Fred Warner piling up 17 tackles in San Francisco's win, but 12 of them came on gains of 5 yards or more.
Also considered: Vikings lineback Eric Wilson, who had 10 tackles and 1.5 sacks as a key part of Minnesota's six-sack day. Talanoa Hufanga is the runaway winner here. He had the game-sealing interception in the end zone after a pick-six in the final five minutes to put the Denver Broncos ahead.
To do that against the Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford is no easy task, and if the Broncos are able to get back atop the AFC West, this is the kind of comeback win that will be remembered, with Hufanga at the center of that wild finish. Minnesota won with its defense in Tampa on Sunday, but Price's 86-yard touchdown on a punt return gave the Vikings a 10-0 early lead and helped put the Bucs in an early hole. Special teams had been a strong suit for the Bucs in their first two games, but Price's score was ultimately the difference in a hard-fought, six-point final margin of victory.
