We’re on to week four, and this is a disastrous season so far for fantasy football teams with regards to injuries. You probably are down to the mat in at least one league, which makes this article even more helpful! Let’s try to breathe some life into rosters by highlighting players available in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues, and one player per position available in at least 90% of leagues!
Quarterbacks
Sam Darnold at Green Bay (49% rostered)
This matchup against the Packers provides a definite heat check for Sam Darnold this week, but he’s passed tests against the 49ers and Texans in back-to-back weeks. Darnold’s deep ball will tell the story in this one, as Darnold has the third-most yards on passes going 20+ yards in the air, and he’s completed 5-of-7 of those passes, with two touchdowns, zero picks, and a near-perfect 153.3 passer rating on those passes. The Packers are boom-bust on those types of passes, as they sit with the most interceptions (4) and the third-most touchdowns (2) on deep passes three games into the season. This will be a test for Darnold, but he’s passed two tests in a row so far.
Justin Fields at Indianapolis (26% rostered)
A strange thing is happening in Pittsburgh: as Justin Fields wins games, the inactive Russell Wilson’s calf gets increasingly injured. Strange how that works. Fields takes on a Colts team this week that has allowed at least 18 fantasy points to two-of-three quarterbacks they’ve played this season. While Fields is closer to Malik Willis than C.J. Stroud, Caleb Williams went off for 363 yards and 2 touchdowns last week. Fields also had his first good fantasy game last week, as he gets more comfortable in Pittsburgh; his 19.4 fantasy points last week are the most scored on the Chargers in a game so far this season. His rushing provides a nice floor, and with a woeful Colts secondary, we could see a massive George Pickens game, as well.
Andy Dalton versus Cincinnati (10% rostered)
REVENGE GAME?! Revenge Game. Andy Dalton was literally the first quarterback in the league to go for 300 passing yards and 3 touchdowns this season, in his one game starting for the Panthers. He’s breathed new life into this team, and he gets to go back to his old digs for his second start of the season. While the Bengals are middle-of-the-pack in fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks, this has a lot to do with playing against Jacoby Brissett in week one. Since then, Jayden Daniels and Patrick Mahomes combined for 473 yards and five total touchdowns; we all saw what Daniels did on Monday Night Football against this defense. Dalton is a fun pick up and stream in a deep league.
Wide Receivers
Jerry Jeudy at Las Vegas (49% rostered)
While I generally do not condone the Cleveland Browns as a general concept and abstract entity, we can’t ignore Jerry Jeudy at this point. Jeudy now has 21 targets across three games, and has 11.5 or more PPR points in two-of-three games this year. The Raiders are godawful against opposing passing games, as they allow the eleventh-most fantasy points to wide receivers, and the twelfth-most to quarterbacks on the year. Through four games, three receivers have at least 13 fantasy points, with the Panthers double-dipping (Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen) last week. While Cooper will have a big game, Jeudy should come along for the ride, as well.
Darnell Mooney versus New Orleans (40% rostered)
The Saints are not a plus matchup, allowing the thirteenth-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers on the season, and when they’re not playing against Bryce Young, they are in the top-ten in yards per target and catch rate, and rank second in receiving yards per game. The only thing keeping them outside of the top-ten in fantasy points allowed is a bend-but-don’t-break defense that has allowed just one touchdown to wide receivers this season (a CeeDee Lamb touchdown in week two). Mooney, like Jeudy, has double-digit days in two of his three games this season. Unlike Jeudy, however, Mooney has gone off in the last two weeks. He has 15 targets, 11 catches, and 154 yards in the last two games as Cousins ignores Kyle Pitts to give the former Bear enough attention to be fantasy viable. If only someone warned you this might happen.
Greg Dortch versus Washington (9% rostered)
The Commanders have the worst pass defense in the NFL, as we all saw on Monday Night Football. Through three weeks, nobody has given up more points to wide receivers than the Commanders, and seven wide receivers in three games have at least 9.8 fantasy points against them, with five of those scoring over 16 PPR points. Dortch’s role on the Cardinals is fairly simple: if someone is hurt, he gets their targets. This pattern goes back years, to when this was true of guys like John Brown and DeAndre Hopkins. Dortch could slide right back into this role with Trey McBride on the shelf.
Running Backs
Bucky Irving versus Philadelphia (50% rostered)
Irving didn’t practice on Thursday, and the fantasy football echo chamber on X, The Everything App! lost their mind. He was tending to a hamstring injury that occurred on Sunday against Denver, but Irving himself says he’ll be out there this Sunday, and that’s enough for me. Irving will take over for Rachaad White on running downs sooner rather than later, as he’s as good a runner as White is a bad runner. Through three games, White ranks (of 51 qualified running backs) 43rd in rushing EPA, and 46th in rushing success rate. On the flip side, Irving ranks 10th in rushing EPA, and 24th in rushing success rate. The Eagles are a team that will let you run on them, as they allow the third-most rushing yards per play. To better explain how much production the Eagles yield to running backs: three backs in three games have at least 12.4 PPR points against them without allowing a touchdown to the position yet this year.
Samaje Perine at L.A. Chargers (23% rostered)
Carson Steele and Samaje Perine are essentially the same back when it comes to running the ball, and Perine is a pass catcher on top of it. So, let everyone else start their glorified fullback, and you can start a glorified fullback who can also catch 4 or 5 passes. Perine and Steele both averaged 4.2 yards per carry last week, with both topping 2.9 yards after contact per attempt. While Steele had many more attempts than Perine, Perine had the catches: he finished with an extra 4.5 PPR points thanks to his receptions, making him a decent floor play. The Chargers allow only 85 rushing yards per game to backs (19th), while allowing the second-most receptions per game to backs (7.3). The defense that Jim Harbaugh will throw at them will force them into more Perine dump offs, and that makes him a nice stream play this week.
Justice Hill versus Buffalo (9% rostered)
Like the Chargers, the Bills running back defense gives up a lot of receptions. They yield the fourth-most catches per game to the position (6.3) while stifling opposing rushing offenses (84.7 rushing yards per game to running backs ranks 19th). Granted, I wouldn’t start Hill over Henry, I still think that he has a lot more in him this week than he did in the last two games. He had just 4 targets, 4 receptions, and 31 yards over the last two games. In week one, the Ravens threw to keep up with the Chiefs, and Hill had 8 targets, 6 catches, and 52 yards. Given that the Bills rank first in points scored this season (37.3 points per game), the Ravens will be in catchup mode.
Tight Ends
Mike Gesicki at Carolina (44% rostered)
Can we make it three-straight for Mike “Greatsicki” Gesicki? Gesicki finished as TE11 last week on the back of 4 catches for 47 yards, and that came on the heels of finishing as TE5 in week two after the Chiefs ignored him enough to get 7 catches for 91 yards in week two. This week, he gets the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers currently give up the third-most fantasy points to tight ends, and they’ve done that without a tight end getting more than four targets against them so far this season. It’s a masterclass in bleeding points to a position, especially considering that they hardly get targets against the Panthers.
Tyler Conklin versus Denver (23% rostered)
The Jets offense is coming around (48 points in two weeks) after the disastrous week one game against the 49ers. In week three, Ty Conkowski and Aaron Rodgers found their groove: Conklin was second on the team in targets (6), tied with Garrett Wilson for first in receptions (5) and led the team outright in total yardage (93). He gets the Broncos this week, who are yet to allow a double-digit game to the position but who reliably allow fantasy points to the position, with three TEs in three games scoring at least 7.5 PPR points against them.
Will Dissly versus Kansas City (0% rostered)
This is the ultimate testing of my “play every tight end against the Kansas City Chiefs’ pass defense” theory. Dissly leads the Chargers in tight end targets, and the Chiefs allowed huge games to Isaiah Likely and Mike Gesicki, two unlikely targets, in the first two weeks of the season. Then, the Kyle Pitts Curse took over, and he failed to have a big game (though that comes thanks to DPI). You probably don’t want to come along for this ride, but it would be a really fun GPP punt play if it comes through.
