Week 4 Fantasy Football News & Notes From Around the NFL

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. It’s time for Week 4 of “Fantasy Whiplash!”, where we mash the gas pedal to the floor on Tuesdays and feed you all the fantasy football news and notes you need for your leagues.

We’ll go through all the pertinent fantasy news around the bends and rubberneck at some quick hits and waiver tips on the straightaways. We can talk starts/sits along the way and what to say at work so you don’t sound like a dumbass.

Put your attention span in a car seat; we’re on a mission from God and haven’t got much time. Strap in.

Fantasy Football News & Notes for Week 4

Fantasy Football News

Panic! At The (Fantasy) Disco

I can’t tell you how many times this season (already) I’ve heard some variation of the following: “I fucking hate fantasy football.”

Clearly said in jest, but that about sums up how most managers are feeling this season. I could go on and on (and on!) about injuries, but we know the story. What’s even more concerning is the inability to tell “down” from “up” already, and we’re only three weeks in. Waiver claims are a longshot fix because a player that performed amazingly one week completely Amber Heards it the next week.

It’s as though everyone is streaming every position. Sure, you gotta start your studs and know they’ll come around (see: Ja’Marr Chase on “Monday Night Football”), but for every one of them that does, someone else like Rashid Shaheed busts (sorry, Cooterdoodle) just when he looked like a revelation.

At the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat. Even the 3-0 fantasy teams out there have likely won their matchups due to performing less badly than their opponent. How about when just one dude puts a 30-burger on you, and it means certain death to your matchup? Again, we’re in the same boat.

There’s every reason to believe that you were right when you drafted. Just ride out the storm until everything goes downside-up again. And you don’t have to shuffle your team every week on waivers. Ask yourself if it’s worth dropping someone from a shallow bench to pick up a likely one-hit wonder. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

The TE1 Title Is Up for Grabs

Remember those discussions? How right we were. Who could have predicted that Dallas Goedert would thus far be the Points Per Reception (PPR) TE1? For that matter, he’s followed by Brock Bowers (37.7) which is no real surprise… the man is a unicorn. Of all people, Cole Kmet (33.8) rounds out the top three.

Granted, this early in the season, players are riding the waves of one strong game. For example, Isaiah Likely is still sitting at TE5. Kmet, Mike Gesicki and Zach Ertz are all in the top 10, outperforming the heavy hitters that you know and love. It just goes to show how little consistency there is from the position when we all expected the opposite.

It’s time to start thinking about eliminating the tight end position in fantasy and adding an additional flex spot instead.

— Michael Fabiano (@Michael_Fabiano) September 23, 2024

Maybe. Or maybe we just make a kicker or tight end flex spot. You know, if you want to gamble on Sam LaPorta over Justin Tucker or something.

Water-Cooler News Items

You’re going to have to come off like you know your stuff if you expect to go home with that person at the bar. Or maybe just not look like an imposter around your besties. Take your medicine, put your shirt back on and throw out some of these topics:

Andy Dalton did the unthinkable and made the Carolina Panthers look respectable. “The Red Rifle” completed over 70% of his passes en route to 319 yards and three touchdowns. That ginger glitter rubbed off on his teammates, too. The usually woefully inefficient Chuba Hubbard averaged 5.4 Yards Per Carry (YPC) and totaled 169 yards from scrimmage with a TD. Dalton is notorious for making a No. 1 receiver look good, and he did not disappoint, as Diontae Johnson broke out for 122 yards and a touchdown on a whopping 14 targets in the Panthers’ 36-22 victory.
On the flip side of that same game, Zamir White continued his candidacy for the biggest 2024 flop, gaining 34 yards against the league’s previous worst-rushing defense. White would be out of a job by now if there was anyone other than Alexander Mattison to take it.
The Josh Allen-led Buffalo Bills beat the pants off of the Pantene Jaguars 47-10 on “Monday Night Football.” Oh, and there was another game, too. The Commanders took it to Cincinnati 38-33, dropping the Bengals to 0-3. For a bonus, Jayden Daniels showed Anthony Richardson stans what a few years in college can do.

What to Watch for Around the NFL

Catching On?

Week 4 was expected to be a good fantasy week for wide receivers. As more and more shook off the rust this week (joining Ja’Marr Chase were Amari Cooper, consistency from Rashee Rice, back-to-back weeks of Amon-Ra St. Brown, etc.), we can thank some quarterbacks and offenses finally emerging from their “preseason.” Still, it’ll take a lot of production to catch back up to where we usually are at this point.

Check out the names on this list:

List of WRs with 3 receiving TDs through 3 weeks:

Chris Godwin
Allen Lazard
Justin Jefferson
Jauan Jennings
Jalen Nailor
Quentin Johnston
Malik Nabers
Marvin Harrison Jr
Andrei Iosivas

— The Dynasty Grill (@FFDynastyGrill) September 24, 2024

Three touchdowns in three weeks is pretty good, right? Of course it is. It’s not the number so much as the names. There are some awfully big names missing from this list and a few (*cough* Lazard *cough*) that are pretty baffling.

In waiver wire land, maybe we ought to stop looking for five-catch, 60-yard players and start scouring for whoever is always in the red zone packages. Just kidding, I already did that for you and there’s very little unexpected save for a few surprises (I’ll be damned if Courtland Sutton isn’t on there for targets again after scoring 10 touchdowns in 2023). All I’m saying is if you’re just going to stream a dude for one week, you might as well pick one that might find the promised land.

#FinsDown

The Miami Dolphins have an even bigger problem than they suspected. Everybody seemed perfectly happy with Skylar Thompson starting at quarterback. Head Coach Mike McDaniel even dropped the ever-foreboding vote of confidence in the quarterback amid news that the team had signed Tyler Huntley off the Baltimore practice squad. Then, after an extremely underwhelming start to the game (107 yards, five sacks and two fumbles), Thompson went down with what has been described as a “painful” rib injury.

So What Now?

I was outside having a cigarette at the smoker’s ring, and an “Uptown Girl” with a lot of Dolphins fantasy football stock options asked if now was the time to blow the Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB) wad on Tyler Huntley.

I can’t get behind it. He is certainly the logical choice for the next week or two (incidentally, he was inactive Sunday behind Tim Boyle) but he is not worth more than a modest waiver bid. Huntley offers the rushing upside that fantasy managers covet, but let’s not forget Miami signed him off the Ravens’ practice squad. Baltimore’s backup is 38-year-old Josh Johnson, whose transaction list reads like a CVS receipt.

Huntley should be considered a bridge at best, but we’ll likely see for sure this week. Tua Tagovailoa is running the gamut of doctors’ opinions on whether he should even put himself out there again. That news will result in one of two results: Either he returns to the field after passing protocol, or Miami seeks out a trade.

Much to the aforementioned gridiron goddess’s chagrin, the first name out of my mouth was Bryce Young. Perhaps a trade could be worked out to take over the contract of one Kirk Cousins, though, putting Michael Penix Jr. in the Atlanta spotlight. Jake Browning? Russell Wilson? Only time will tell, but it all depends on how long Tagovailoa will be a mammal out of water.

Quick Hits

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Remember my waiver suggestions from last week? If you don’t, someone else did. Jauan Jennings, Quentin Johnston, Andrei Iosivas and Braelon Allen all contributed to a lot of fantasy victories in Week 3.
If you roster two quarterbacks in your redraft league, I bet your backup isn’t as good as Sam Darnold. Start checking your bye weeks.
Bucky Irving is making the Tamba Bay backfield split more and more each week. He’s rostered in under 50% of leagues on most platforms. Think for the future instead of the flavor of the week.
A game total of 39.5 is really low. If anybody can get under it though, it’s the Steelers and Colts. In fact, there are a lot of low totals around the league this week. As a fantasy manager, you hate to see it.
Gardner Minshew is still the starting quarterback for the Raiders, though he’s on a metal folding chair atop a bustling volcano. All the while, Aidan O’Connell lies in wait. What will happen? You paid for the entire seat, but you’ll only need the edge.
The Rams/49ers game was a thriller that typified the fantasy landscape on Sunday when the Rams came away with a 27-24 victory. Three of the game’s top wide receivers were inactive due to injury, along with a Pro Bowl tight end. Fantasy darling Jordan Mason was ho-hum, and Brandon Aiyuk was MIA. An offensive role player (Jennings) came up gigantic for San Francisco, who managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. There should have been a drinking game where you downed a shot of Rumple Minze everytime someone you never heard of was involved.
The Bengals and Commanders became the first pair of teams since 1940 to combine for zero punts and zero turnovers.

Let’s Do It All Again

For all the joking there is about “hating fantasy football,” this is actually why we love it. Nothing puts your knowledge and dedication to the test than being thrown curveball after curveball. When you win a championship you can tell your grandkids about that one season where you lost five of your starters in Week 1 and wax poetic about how you overcame it all, even though Jalen Hurts laid an egg in Week 17.

“Fantasy Whiplash!” will be back next Tuesday for Week 5! Go forth, my battle-scarred fantasy football soldiers. The wins get that much sweeter every time you’ve decided to play the best lineup, according to your gut.

But if you need last-minute help, I’ll see you on X/Twitter from 10 a.m. ET until the games start to answer your start/sit questions. I probably won’t endorse Jaylen Waddle this week, though.

Check out all of our Week 4 fantasy football content:

Thanks for checking out this week’s fantasy football news and notes! Track me down on X @BuyAndSellYou for more redraft and dynasty fantasy football content.

*Photo Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck – USA TODAY Sports*

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Fantasy Football Whiplash! | Week 4 News & Notes (2024)