Week 4 Fantasy Football Winners, Losers, and Takeaways

By Corbin Young | October 4, 2021

Fantasy Football Winners, Losers, and Takeaways

Unfortunately, we have another week where key players suffered injuries that looked worrisome. On a positive note, Daniel Jones set a career-high in passing yards, and the Titans keep throwing to their running backs. Say what? We also have some high-end fantasy players struggling in recent weeks. On the flip side, the Cordarrelle Patterson breakout season keeps happening! We’ll highlight injuries to monitor and the potential impact. Then cover several of the Week 4 fantasy football highlights, wonders, and disappointments. 

Injuries to Monitor

  • D.J. Chark (ankle) fractured his ankle and is likely out for the season. Unfortunate news for Chark and the Jaguars. It should lead to more opportunities for Laviska Shenault and Marvin Jones. We should also monitor deep sleeper in Dan Arnold at the tight end spot, although it could mean a more concentrated target tree with Shenault, Jones, and James Robinson. 
  • Amari Cooper (hamstring) left Sunday’s game then returned to haul in all three targets for 69 receiving yards and one touchdown. 
  • The Washington Football Team ruled out Logan Thomas (hamstring) on Sunday. Unfortunately, Thomas didn’t record a target or catch. Hopefully, Thomas doesn’t miss much time as a TE1 by default.  
  • Unfortunately, Tony Jones Jr. (leg) was carted off the field with a leg injury on Sunday. That eats into the already slim depth for the Saints. 
  • Will Fuller (hand) left Sunday’s game. Fuller only caught one of two targets for six receiving yards. We know Fuller’s talent exists, but the Dolphins’ offense looks rough to start the season. 
  • David Montgomery (knee) received help off the field late in Sunday’s game. Hopefully, it isn’t a significant issue since Montgomery ran well against the Lions for over 100 yards and two touchdowns. Montgomery will undergo an MRI on Monday. 
    • A sneaky pickup involves Khalil Herbert, the 6th round rookie out of Virginia Tech. During Herbert’s final college season, he rushed for over 1,100 yards with nine rushing touchdowns. None of Herbert’s workout metrics jump off the page, but it’s like Royce Freeman from last week. Pick him up and stash to see what happens. 
  • Jimmy Garoppolo (calf) will undergo an MRI on Monday after leaving with a calf injury. Trey Lance filled in nicely with two passing touchdowns, although it came on 9-for-18 with 157 passing yards. Lance added 41 rushing yards on seven carries. Make sure Lance isn’t hanging around on the waiver wire because of the rushing floor plus the above-average 49ers passing game options. 
  • Teddy Bridgewater (concussion) left Sunday’s game against the Ravens due to a concussion. Drew Lock filled in and completed 7-for-16 with 65 passing yards and one passing touchdown. However, the poor accuracy plus weak 4.1 yards per attempt aren’t great. It’s a slight downgrade for the Broncos pass-catchers if Lock starts at quarterback. 
  • Ty’Son Williams and Rhamondre Stevenson missed Sunday’s games as healthy scratches. The Ravens backfield included veterans and old friends in Latavius Murray, Le’Veon Bell, and Devonta Freeman. Hold onto Williams for now, but the outlook doesn’t look hopeful. Keep stashing Stevenson, especially since Damien Harris left Sunday night’s game with a brief injury then returned. Take it with a grain of salt, but the Patriots running back coach raved about Stevenson in practice last week. 

Week 4 Highlights

Just What The Bears Offense Needed – The Lions Defense

The buy-low window on David Montgomery closed quickly on Sunday after he rushed for two touchdowns in the first quarter. Even Darnell Mooney caught all 93 receiving yards from Justin Fields through the first quarter. Mooney eventually led the Bears in receiving with five receptions on seven targets for 125 receiving yards. Justin Fields barely needed to pass with only 18 attempts, which gave Mooney a 38.9% target share. 

Unfortunately, Montgomery left the game with a knee injury after rushing for 106 yards on 23 carries and two rushing touchdowns. Damien Williams filled in a compiled 55 rushing yards on eight carries for one touchdown as well. Assuming Montgomery misses a game or two, Williams looks like the top Week 4 waiver wire pickup where available. Put a waiver wire claim in for Khalil Herbert in deeper leagues too. 

Tyreek Hill Explodes

After a couple of down games, where opposing defenses kept Tyreek Hill in check, he exploded for 11 catches on 12 targets for 186 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Hill showed us why fantasy managers draft him in the first round with the week-winning type potential. 

Daniel Jones Throws For Over 400 Yards

Believe it or not, Daniel Jones threw for over 400 yards against the Saints with two passing touchdowns and one interception. That’s the first time in Jones’ career that he surpassed the 400-yard mark. He already hit career highs in rushing yards (95) and passing yards (402) in 2021. 

The most passing yards the Saints allowed through three games involved Aaron Rodgers in Week 1 with 151 passing yards. With the rushing floor by Jones, he pushes himself into the high-end QB2 near back-end QB1 territory.

Running Back Targets For The Titans Continue

Without A.J. Brown and Julio Jones, the running back targets for the Titans continued. Backup running back Jeremy McNichols led the team with 12 targets and 74 receiving yards. McNichols hauled in eight receptions and 74 receiving yards – that’s flex-worthy value if we could rely on that more consistently. Derrick Henry also caught both targets for 20 receiving yards. 

Before Week 4, the team’s running backs garnered a 22.5% target share. Then in Week 4, Henry and McNichols combined for a 28.6% target share to their running backs by Ryan Tannehill. A trend I wanted to monitor heading into Week 4 continued. However, when Brown and Jones return, let’s see how the running back target share shakes out. 

Ravens Running Game

With Ty’Son Williams a healthy scratch, Latavius Murray led the Ravens with 18 carries for 59 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. Murray didn’t factor into the passing game with zero targets. However, Lamar Jackson aired it out again with 316 passing yards and 37 attempts against a tough Broncos defense. Jackson only ran for 28 rushing yards, but the Ravens giving Murray most of the running back touches intrigues us.

Week 4 Wonders

Dawson Knox in 2021 Shaking Hands With Robert Tonyan of 2021

Remember last season, where we thought Robert Tonyan couldn’t keep up the ridiculous touchdown scoring efficiency? Last year, Tonyan caught 52 of 59 targets for 11 receiving touchdowns or a 21.2% touchdown rate. Well, Dawson Knox boasts similar efficiency through four games. 

Heading into Sunday, Knox caught ten of 12 targets for two touchdowns (20% touchdown rate). Then on Sunday, Knox caught five of eight targets for 37 receiving yards and two more receiving touchdowns. Although Knox landed as a Week 4 sleeper, it seems unsustainable for these touchdowns to continue. For now, ride the Knox wave if you’re hurting at the tight end position. 

Cordarrelle Patterson Breakout SZN

Oh, my goodness, Cordarrelle Patterson turned into a scoring machine on Sunday against the Washington Football Team. Patterson caught five of six targets for 83 receiving yards and scored touchdowns on three of those catches. Admittedly, I have zero Patterson on my fantasy squads, but the touchdown and efficient scoring can’t maintain right. Even if the touchdowns fade, Patterson showed the efficiency that keeps him locked in as a flex or RB2 position in PPR leagues. However, the usage makes him risky.

D.J. Moore Scores Touchdowns

It’s great to see D.J. Moore (finally) score touchdowns. The one knock on Moore the past two seasons involved only four touchdowns each in 2019 and 2020, with the 8th and 9th most receiving yards both years. However, defenses can’t keep an elite talent like Moore down for long with eight catches on 12 targets for 113 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. You love to see it. In the offseason, I expected Moore to leap into the WR1 territory like Stefon Diggs in 2020.

undefined

Before Week 4, Moore’s peripherals look wonderful with a 30.7% (No. 7) target share and 40.9% (No. 13) Air Yards Share. Moore’s average target distance dipped to 10.7 (No. 48), which translated into receptions and receiving yards early on. 

Trey Lance Takeover Time?

The question during the offseason about Trey Lance and Justin Fields surrounded a matter of when not, if, they would take over. With Fields, it happened sooner than we expected. For Lance, he played in spurts to start the season with a pass or rush attempt. However, with Jimmy Garoppolo injured – is it Trey Lance takeover time? Sunday’s game gave us a snippet into the skills Lance possesses, which means fantasy managers should pick up Lance and stash him in 1QB leagues if not already doing so. 

Week 4 Disappointments

CeeDee Lamb With Only 13 Receiving Yards

If someone told us the Cowboys would score 36 points, one would presume that CeeDee Lamb produced well. Unfortunately, Lamb only garnered five targets (22.7%) with two receptions and 13 receiving yards. Don’t panic because the Cowboys established the run game with 34 rushing attempts compared to 22 pass attempts. Attempt to buy low on Lamb if you can, but it seems the game plan involved the run game and involving Dalton Schultz at tight end with 6-for-8 with 58 receiving yards and one touchdown.  

Is It Time to Panic With Allen Robinson?

The receiving opportunity for Allen Robinson looks decent with a 25.3% (No. 21) target share and a 32.6% (No. 25) Air Yards Share heading into Week 4. However, in a friendly matchup, Robinson caught all three targets for 63 receiving yards. Unfortunately, the Bears’ defense kept the Lions’ offense in check, so Justin Fields only attempted 17 passes with some efficiency given the 12.3 yards per attempt. 

The downward trend to have concerns about involves the lower Average Target Distance. Through three games, Robinson’s 6.8 Average Target Distance ranked 88th compared to 9.9 (No. 61) in 2020 and 11.5 (No. 48) in 2019. Robinson doesn’t thrive on separation, with it sitting at 0.62 (No. 98) through three weeks. That said, he’ll need to rely on volume like previous years unless he can boast some uber-efficiency in the coming weeks. It’s worth tossing a buy-low offer on Robinson, but don’t expect the offense to take a massive leap, especially if David Montgomery misses time. 

Is Ronald Jones Droppable?

Through three weeks, Ronald Jones logged snap shares of 7.8%, 39%, and 14.1%, all while amassing a 25.4% (No. 54) opportunity share. Meanwhile, Leonard Fournette garnered a 53.5% (No. 28) opportunity share through three weeks. In Week 4, Fournette dominated the snaps and opportunities with 20 carries for 91 rushing yards. Fournette also caught three of five targets for 47 receiving yards.

Back to the headline – is Ronald Jones droppable? Well, low opportunities and snap shares lead us to consider dropping in shallow formats (10-12 team leagues). However, any roster move questions involve league context, so if there isn’t someone exciting on waivers, then hold Jones, but the situation isn’t looking great. 

Corbin Young
Corbin is passionate about fantasy baseball and football. He loves diving into and learning about advanced metrics. Corbin is a Mariners and Seahawks fan living in the Pacific Northwest. Corbin's other hobbies are lifting weights, cooking, and listening to fantasy sports podcasts.
Sidebar banner
Kyle Filipowski C UTA
Alexander Romanov D NYI

Latest Articles

Week 16 Start’em, Sit’em: Fantasy Playoffs Round 2!
12/26/2024
NFL Week 17 Injury Roundup
12/26/2024
Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Week 17
12/26/2024
Start Em’ Sit ‘Em Week 16
12/20/2024
Injury Forecast – Thursday Night Football NFL Week 16
12/19/2024
LEGEND
✕