ICYMI: The Best Stories You Missed from NFL Week 3

STEVIE WANDER

The best receiver in the NFL you forgot about is the San Diego Chargers' Stevie Johnson, who is quietly getting himself on the end of a lot of Philip Rivers touchdown passes.

Born in San Francisco, educated in Kentucky, and picked up by Buffalo in the seventh round of the 2008 Draft, Johnson took a uniquely itinerant path to the NFL. When he arrived, he had almost no impact, but in his third year he ended up on highlight reels with 82 catches, 1,073 yards, and ten touchdowns—a fantasy owner's Powerball ticket come good.

Over the next four seasons, he redefined his position. He was Buffalo's No. 1 target despite playing his best ball from the slot position, traditionally reserved for the short, the slow, or the otherwise flawed. Poor quarterbacks and a collection of minor injuries—plus a not-so-minor fractured vertebra—held him back, and he never produced like he did in that 2010 season.

Back home in San Francisco last season, Johnson was a breath of fresh air for a 49ers offense stuck in the doldrums. With just 305 snaps and 49 targets, Johnson was Pro Football Focus's 22nd-best graded wideout out of 110 qualifiers, but it wasn't enough to keep Johnson in town during the 49ers' franchise-rending power struggle. This spring, Johnson took a long drive down the California coast.

Through three games in San Diego, Johnson is getting a full complement of snaps and a steady dose of Philip Rivers targets. Pro Football Reference charts Johnson as catching 14 of 17 throws for 173 yards and two touchdowns; if he keeps this up, he'll finish with 74 catches, 922 yards, and ten touchdowns—almost matching his 2010 production.

Instead of being the toast of fantasy players everywhere, though, the itinerant 29-year-old is an afterthought on a team that's widely overlooked. Really, it's fitting: Johnson's found a home on a team that might be playing somewhere else next season.

THE GOOD PICK

There's that moment in every fantasy football draft when, sometime in the middle rounds, somebody throws out a name and all the sharks in the room look up and go, "Ooooooooh, good pick." Somehow, despite plenty of owners being high on the player, he slid onto the roster of one savvy, happy owner.

Sometimes this happens in the real football draft, too. Half a dozen pass rushers came off the board this past spring before Washington's Hau'oli Kikaha was picked by the New Orleans Saints at No. 44 overall. Nevertheless, evaluators and draftniks everywhere immediately ooh'd and aah'd over the fit: an athletic 6'2", 253-pound linebacker/end hybrid who led the nation in sacks going to New Orleans, where the Dread Pirate Rob Ryan would happily blitz him from everywhere.

Maybe common thinking was that the presence of Junior Galette and Cam Jordan would keep Kikaha off the field for a while, but Galette got sent packing—and to say that the rookie has taken advantage of the opportunity would be an enormous understatement. He and Jordan have been the only good things going on a listless, punchless Saints front seven.

Through three games Kikaha has a whopping 18 tackles, two sacks, and two forced fumbles. As dangerous as it is to play the "on pace" game, 96 tackles would be the most for a rookie outside linebacker, according to Pro Football Reference, since Lavonte David—and David was the first rookie OLB to crack 100 since 1990. Ten sacks would be the most for any rookie since the 2011 debuts of Von Miller and Aldon Smith.

All of Kikaha's impact, though, has been for naught: the winless Saints have the league's 26th-ranked scoring defense.

Major awards don't usually go to under-the-radar players on underperforming units on mediocre teams. But many evaluators who did their homework, like Nolan Nawrocki of NFL.com—who called Kikaha "the most accomplished pure pass rusher in the draft"—wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Hau'oli Kikaha wins the 2015 Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

THE OLSEN WIN

Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Travis Kelce. Martellus Bennett, Jordan Cameron, maybe Delanie Walker. Jason Witten—almost honorarily at this point—Antonio Gates when he comes back, maybe Dwayne Allen when he's healthy…

When you think of the league's best tight ends, how many do you go through before you remember Greg Olsen?

He was a high-profile prospect on a Chicago Bears team that desperately needed one, then a talented young player wasted in a Mike Martz offense that didn't use tight ends. When he got shipped off to Carolina in 2011, he got his groove back—and has caught more passes every season since.

It's been much the same story with yards and touchdowns: Olsen's 84 catches for 1,008 last season were both career highs, by a long shot. He's now a team captain, a Pro Bowler, and the clear-cut No. 1 receiver on a perennial playoff team. Even as free agency and injuries shear the Panthers of any other worthwhile targets, the 30-year-old is playing the best football of his life.

His extraordinary eight-catch, 132-yard, two-touchdown performance in Week 3 was easily the best statistical game of his life. Cam Newton continues to put the Panthers offense on his back, and he's increasingly leaning on Olsen, who has ascended into the very top tier of NFL tight ends.