Fantasy Football: Top waiver targets and your first look at Chris Towers' Week 4 rankings

Here's a good lesson in why you don't want to bet against elite talents.

Every Monday night, I go on CBS Sports HQ after Monday Night Football to help wrap up the game, and I have to give my picks for things like winners and losers from the game before it ends so they have time to make graphics and prepare video packages and all that nifty stuff. So, a few minutes into the fourth quarter, I sent my notes to the producer, with CeeDee Lamb listed as my loser for the game. After all, he had just four catches for 39 yards entering the fourth quarter. It was looking like another disappointing effort from Lamb.

And then Lamb took over. On one 11-play drive to put the Cowboys up for good, he caught four of five passes thrown his way for 48 yards, capped off by one of the most impressive catches you're going to see from anyone not named George Pickens this season.

Lamb has been a frustrating player for Fantasy, but he's still an incredibly talented player, and you want to bet on incredibly talented players to figure things out. There are going to be frustrating stretches from Lamb without Dak Prescott, but he's going to have enough flashes to be worth sticking with. Keep that lesson in mind when worrying about guys like Kyle Pitts or Alvin Kamara in the early going, too. Talent doesn't always win out, but it usually pays to bet on it.

And now, we turn our attention to Week 4. In today's newsletter, we've got Jamey Eisenberg's top waiver-wire targets and my first round of rankings for Week 4 for each position, along with my top-150 flex rankings down at the bottom. For more help with what could be one of the pivotal waiver runs of the season, make sure you tune in to Fantasy Football Today on CBS Sports HQ at noon ET today as we talk about the latest injuries and storylines. And for more help locking in your waiver-wire claims make sure you tune into the FFT YouTube stream tonight at 8 p.m., where we'll be taking your questions live for an hour.

Tomorrow, we'll have Heath Cummings' previews for each position plus some trade talk coming out of Week 3 -- email your trade questions to Chris.Towers@ViacomCBS.com to be included. And here's what else we've got on tap in today's newsletter:

➕Top Week 4 Waiver Wire Targets
📈Week 4 Rankings📉

➕Top Week 4 Waiver Wire Targets

This hasn't been a great season on the waiver wire so far -- unless you grabbed Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson when they were available, at least. But Week 4's top options could help change that with one running back who could be both a short-term and long-term starter and some young wide receivers who are looking very enticing -- and that's not even counting Jamaal Williams, who should be viewed as a must-add in the 28% of leagues where he is available, or Alexander Mattison, who could be a top-12 RB this week and is available in the same number of leagues. Here are Jamey Eisenberg's top waiver-wire targets for Week 4:

Jamey Eisenberg's top targets

Khalil Herbert, RB, Bears (59%) -- Herbert looked good in a couple of starts last season, and he's looked great to open this one. We're not sure what the extent of David Montgomery's injury is at this point, but if he has to miss any time, Herbert is going to be close to a top-12 RB. And there's long-term appeal here too because Herbert has looked good enough that it's not unreasonable to think he could cut into Montgomery's role even when healthy -- Montgomery, after all, isn't under contract for next year. If we learn Montgomery is expected to play this week, that dampens Herbert's prospects some, but he's still a very good target on waivers for the long-term potential.
Romeo Doubs, WR, Packers (35%) -- Doubs garnered a ton of hype in training camp, and he started to live up to it in Week 3. Granted, it took a couple of injuries to get the snaps he needed, but this was always the case for investing a late-round pick in one of the Packers young wide receivers -- that they would get an early opportunity and show they were better than the motley collection of also-rans and journeymen the Packers put together. Doubs' eight catches for 73 yards and a touchdown in Week 3 showed he might be good enough to do that, and there's at least a chance he ends up being Aaron Rodgers' No. 1 option moving forward.
Zay Jones, WR, Jaguars (8%) -- The Jaguars are making a lot of people look pretty silly right now because they drew a lot of criticism for their offseason spending spree on Jones and Christian Kirk. Well, Jones has been excellent as Trevor Lawrence's favorite short-area target, with two games of 12.5 PPR points out of three, with 19 catches total through three games. He's playing a ton of snaps and has been heavily involved early, and that may not change with how well he's played.
Greg Dortch, WR, Cardinals (27%) -- It's not clear what is going to happen with Dortch's playing time in the long run, but at least for the next few weeks, he looks like a viable starting wide receiver. He caught nine of 10 passes in Week 3 and now has 20 catches through three games with Rondale Moore (hamstring) sidelined. With DeAndre Hopkins suspended through the first six games, we could have another few weeks of Dortch putting up numbers as the team's primary slot option.
David Njoku, TE, Browns (39%) -- Njoku showed what his upside is in Week 3, as he set a career-high with nine catches for 89 yards and a touchdown against the Steelers. Njoku remains one of the better downfield playmakers at the tight end position when the Browns opt to use him that way, and Jacoby Brissett looked unusually confident and effective. Maybe this is the start of the Browns establishing him as their No. 2 option. There aren't a lot of tight ends with his kind of upside.

📈Week 4 Rankings📉

Here are my initial rankings for Week 4, but you should check out my thoughts on more than 100 players for Week 4 at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end. And those will be updated throughout the week, so make sure you keep them handy for when you're setting your lineups. These are all for PPR leagues: