Thursday, September 27, 2018

Week 4 Fantasy Football: Wide Receivers Start'em, Sit'em

Ultimately, the decision of which player to start is largely determined by the composition of your roster (as well as your league's settings).

As an example, Tyler Lockett is listed below as a "start" for Week 4. And I'd feel comfortable going into Week 4 with him as one of my starting wide receivers.

That said, he may be a sit for your team.

In other words, if you owned Julio Jones, Davante Adams and Lockett, you should start Jones and Adams -- and in turn, bench Lockett.

So while you won't find absolute start-sit recommendations below (use my Week 4 Fantasy Football Rankings for that instead), the goal here is to highlight some players that I like (and would feel comfortable starting) as well as some players that I dislike for this week (and would prefer to keep on my bench).

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Week 4 Fantasy Football WR Start'em

 

WR - JuJu Smith-Schuster, Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. BAL)

Taking a big step forward in his second season, Smith-Schuster has eclipsed the 100-yard mark in all three games this season and the streak extends to four games counting Week 17 last year. On the year, Smith-Schuster has 27 catches for 356 yards, both of which are third-most amongst wide receivers, and a touchdown on 38 targets.

Although the Ravens have been middle of the road in terms of limiting opposing fantasy wide receivers (17th), Smith-Schuster is a bonafide WR1 (top-12) fantasy option this week. Of course, he won't have 100-plus yards every week, but it's also likely that the lack of touchdown production reverses itself in the near future as well.

WR - Will Fuller, Houston Texans (at IND)

Fuller and Deshaun Watson have played in six games together over the past two seasons. Granted it's a relatively small sample size, but Fuller has scored in all six of those games. In fact, he has a total of nine touchdowns in the six games that the two have played together. Missing Week 1, Fuller has not only scored but he has exceeded 100 receiving yards in back-to-back games.

As one of the faster receivers in the league, Fuller has tons of big-play potential. Even more important to his fantasy success, however, Fuller has a total of 20 targets in two games with 29.03% and 28.95% target share in Weeks 2 and 3, respectively. With DeAndre Hopkins drawing so much defensive attention, Fuller has the potential to have productive outings even without scoring if he continues to receive that type of volume.

WR - Robert Woods, Los Angeles Rams (vs. MIN)

You could argue that all three of the team's top receivers are viable starts this week. Through three weeks, Woods, Brandin Cooks and Cooper Kupp rank 17th, 19th and 29th in fantasy points scored amongst wide receivers (standard scoring).

Heavily-targeted on a consistent basis, Woods is one of eight players to have at least nine targets in all three games this season. While he was relatively quiet in the first two games (3/37 and 6/81), Woods exploed for 10/104/2 and the second-most fantasy points last week.

WR - Tyler Lockett, Seattle Seahawks (at ARI)

With Doug Baldwin sidelined to begin the season, Lockett has stepped up. Even though the Seahawks rank in the bottom 10 in pass attempts (95) and Lockett has yet to exceed seven targets in a game, he has scored each week and has finished with a minimum of 59 yards in each game.

In standard-scoring formats, Lockett has finished as the weekly WR21, WR26 and WR10, respectively, so far this season. If Baldwin sits one more game, Lockett is in the WR2 conversation for Week 4.

 

Week 4 Fantasy Football WR Sit'em

 

WR - Amari Cooper, Oakland Raiders (vs. CLE)

Yet to score a touchdown this season, Cooper has had one productive game (10/116 in Week 2) and two duds (1/9 in Week 1 and 2/17 in Week 3). Talented enough to perform (at least) as a WR2 in any given week, it's also difficult to trust Cooper given his inconsistency. Until/unless we see more consistency from Cooper, he's more of a WR3 than a top-25 option.

WR - Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals (vs. SEA)

The anemic Cardinals offense will go in a new direction as rookie Josh Rosen will make his first career start. The good news is things can't go much worse as the Cardinals have scored a league-low 20 points through three games. In fact, the Cowboys rank 31st in scoring offense and have more than twice as many points as the Cardinals. Through three games, Fitzgerald has 7/76 (WR40), 3/28 (WR85) and 2/9 (WR100), respectively.

WR - Chris Hogan, New England Patriots (vs. MIA)

Even though Hogan scored a pair of touchdowns against the Jags in Week 2, he has yet to exceed three receptions or 42 yards in a game this season. Teammate Julian Edelman will serve the final game of his four-game suspension this week and perhaps Josh Gordon will be inactive once again. That said, it's a difficult matchup for Hogan as Xavien Howard has developed into one of the better young corners in the league.

WR - Marquise Goodwin, San Francisco 49ers (at LAC)

After sitting out Week 2, Goodwin returned to post a 3/30/1 stat line in Week 3 against the Chiefs. Given the injury to Jimmy Garoppolo (ACL), it downgrades the outlook for all of the offensive options in the 49ers offense. In addition to the downgrade with C.J. Beathard at quarterback, the matchup against Casey Heyward isn't a good one either.

- More Fantasy Football Start'em, Sit'em for Week 4

Week 4 Fantasy Football Rankings:
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