If there was any Fantasy silver lining to the postponement of the Steelers and Titans game it's that A.J. Brown and Diontae Johnson have their bye when they may have not been able to play anyway. Hopefully when this game is played in Week 7, as now expected, both will be healthy. But that silver lining is not going to make anyone planning to start JuJu Smith-Schuster or Corey Davis feel any better.
In truth, you're probably not replacing the production of Smith-Schuster in Week 4. Despite a surprisingly low target total, he's scored three touchdowns and is a top-12 wide receiver. Davis is a different story.
We didn't plan on using Davis at all this year and his production has been sporadic. A couple of the waiver wire additions below I already had ranked above Davis. In fact, if I was in a real roster crunch I wouldn't feel all that bad about dropping Davis with Brown expected back in Week 5.
So who do you add? I've got a full list below, but there are a variety of options. In full PPR, I'd start by looking for Golden Tate. Tate missed Week 1 and hasn't scored many Fantasy points yet this year, but I like his Week 3 setup. Darius Slayton should draw Jalen Ramsey in coverage and we just saw Cole Beasley and Gabriel Davis both have their way with the other side of this Rams pass defense. Tate not available? Scroll down for more options.
More Week 4 Previews: QB | RB | WR | TE
Week 4 WR Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 4 at this time. Here's what it means:
Scott Miller would get another chance if Godwin is out.
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The targets would be even more consolidated between Keenan Allen, Austin Ekeler and Hunter Henry for the Chargers.
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Jones and Calvin Ridley are questionable for Monday night but Russell Gage is good to go.
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Numbers to Know
- 37 -- Keenan Allen is now tied with DeAndre Hopkins for the NFL lead with 37 targets.
- 4.1 -- A.J. Green is averaging 4.1 yards per target. That is less than 50% of his career average.
- 11 -- Greg Ward saw 11 targets in Week 3. If DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery are out, he could see another big total against the 49ers.
- 49.2% -- D.J. Moore has seen 49.2% of the Panthers' air yards. Just keep starting him.
- 63 -- Robert Woods already has 63 yards and a score on the ground this season.
- 6 -- Marquise Brown has exactly six targets in all three Ravens games. He needs more than that to be a must-start receiver.
- 158.3 -- Aaron Rodgers has a perfect passer rating when targeting Allen Lazard this season.
Matchups that matter
We're going through every matchup on the schedule for Week 4 on the Fantasy Football Today podcast. Subscribe at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts:
Waiver Wire Targets
With Sterling Shepard out, Tate and Darius Slayton should dominate targets. There's not a lot of long-term excitement for Tate, but he's my highest projected player on the waiver wire in PPR scoring. He's off to a slow start, but he averaged 61 yards per game in this offense last year and some of that was with Shepard on the field.
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Michael Thomas is ruled out for Week 4, so I view Smith as a solid No. 3 receiver with good touchdown odds against the Lions.
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Samuel is a better non-PPR option, with eight carries in his past two games combined. He should be around 10 PPR points without a touchdown, and his touchdown odds are certainly a lot better against Arizona than they were the past two weeks in difficult matchups.
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If John Brown is unable to go this week, I have Beasley too low on the priority list, especially in PPR. He already has 228 receiving yards this season, and his 10.3 air yards per target is a big increase over the past two seasons. The downfield passing game is working in Buffalo, and Beasley is a part of it.
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Bryan Edwards will miss Week 4, and Henry Ruggs is doubtful, which should make Renfrow the No. 1 wide receiver option against the Bills. If they take away Darren Waller like the Patriots did, Renfrow could be in for another large target share.
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Ward was the only wide receiver on the Eagles active roster to fully participate in Thursday's practice. He saw 11 targets in Week 3 and could see a similar total in Week 4 if Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson remain out.
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First and foremost Aiyuk needs to show he can produce with George Kittle on the field. He also has Deebo Samuel coming back this week. This San Francisco passing game won't support Kittle and two receivers, so Aiyuk needs to show he's ahead of Samuel too before I feel comfortable starting him.
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Like Aiyuk, Higgins still has plenty of guys in front of him. But A.J. Green has been historically bad and John Ross has seemingly already been cast aside. Higgins has rapport with Joe Burrow, and it would only take one more week before I'd start to buy into him as a Fantasy contributor.
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DFS Plays
On the one hand, Hopkins has been the best receiver in football and has a 36% target share. On the other hand, all the other elite wide receivers are hurt. This is a no-brainer as long as Hopkins is able to get on the practice field on Friday.
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One of my favorite contrarian moves is to play the popular guy the week after he flops. Shenault will get his hands on the ball six to 10 times against a bad Bengals defense. He just needs to break one of those to pay off at a very low roster rate.
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Heath's Projections
So who should you start and sit this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 4 rankings for every position, plus see which QB is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that out-performed experts big-time last season.
