Should we start considering Trevor Siemian as a viable fantasy football option?
He totaled the most fantasy points among quarterbacks in week 3 with 28.98, hurling four touchdowns and more than 300 yards passing against Cincinnati. He’s improved every week and he has tremendous weapons around him.
But I’m not there yet in considering him as a bonafide waiver wire option yet for fantasy football owners. We’re only in week 3, and sure, he’s looked far more advanced than I believed entering this season, but it’s still only three weeks into the season.
I’ll let another fantasy owner use up a roster spot for the possibility that Siemian will continue to light up the NFL.
Here’s the rest of the week 4 start/sit quarterback options in fantasy football.
Start
Matthew Stafford vs. Chicago Bears
I’m riding the hot hand with Stafford.
He’s been extraordinary against teams that he should be pretty good against. He’s leading all fantasy football players in points for the year and has more than 300 yards passing in two of three games to go along with seven touchdowns and two interceptions.
Detroit’s defense isn’t good, so Stafford and company are going to be involved in plenty of shootouts. And the matchup works again in his favor.
Part of the reason Stafford has been the best quarterback in fantasy this season are the defenses he’s playing against. Indianapolis and Green Bay have been two of the worst pass defenses in the NFL this season, allowing Stafford to shred them with six touchdown passes.
In his only other game, Stafford looked pretty average against a Tennessee team that ranks in the top-10 against the pass.
So, not it’s time for Stafford to play against the Bears, which although don’t allow a ton of yards per game, they haven’t played pass-heavy teams yet.
The Bears only allow 214 yards per game through the air. That’s really good and ranks in the top-10. However, when teams do pass on them, they go for decent gains at 7.2 yards per pass. What’s even more concerning, though, for Bears fans is that among the top-12 pass defenses, only two teams allow quarterbacks to have a higher QBR than 76.
The two teams are Jacksonville and Chicago at 96 and 97 respectively.
The Bears have faced Dallas, Houston and Philadelphia this season, all teams focused on running more than passing. This week, they’ll see the pass and will fail against that, too.
Joe Flacco vs. Oakland Raiders
Flacco isn’t doing much, so this may be a reach. However, if your quarterback situation is a little murky, Flacco offers some upside with this matchup.
Flacco’s turnover rate is alarming with five turnovers compared to just four touchdowns in three weeks. But, his production level is high enough that if he can limit those turnovers and sneak in a few touchdowns (which we’ve seen in the past), he can go for high numbers.
He has 774 yards passing already this season and chucked it 40 times against Jacksonville on Sunday. The Ravens have no running game, so Flacco is the main option for moving the chains.
What I get this week is a quarterback that will generate a lot of volume against a pass defense that is the worst in the NFL. They didn’t look bad against Marcus Mariota on Sunday, but let’s face it on the Titans — that offense is putrid.
I get a favorable matchup with Oakland, not only in terms of a defense allowing 340 passing yards per game, but I also get a West Coast team playing back-to-back road games in the eastern United States. That matters with a Raiders team that is known for inconsistent play on a week-to-week basis.
Andy Dalton vs. Miami Dolphins
I’ve seen it too many times to ignore it. Road teams on a Thursday night don’t generally fare too well, especially as the season progresses. The Dolphins have been road warriors so far this season, traveling from Seattle to New England to Miami and now to Cincinnati on a Thursday night.
That’s three ridiculously hard road games in the season’s first four weeks. That could lead to a blowout, allowing fantasy owners with Dalton at the helm a nice reprieve from Sunday’s rough outing.
Even though he’s missing some of his weapons from last year, he’s still been a competent fantasy quarterback. He tallied 366 yards passing in each of the first two weeks with two touchdowns.
He’s not finding the endzone enough for my tastes, but that could change easily against the Dolphins.
Miami doesn’t do much on the defensive side of the ball. It owns the fourth-worst defense in the NFL, allowing 415 yards per game, with 267 of that through the air.
Putting Miami in a difficult Thursday night spot with no defense could open up the endzone for Dalton and the Bengals.
Sit
Marcus Mariota vs. Houston Texans
I don’t believe Mariota is this bad. His rough start has more to do with the absolute void of talent at the skill positions for the Titans than anything else.
I’d be willing to bet that the majority of NFL fans would fail to name two wide receivers on the entire Tennessee roster without Googling it. There’s just nobody available for Mariota to find on the outside.
I’ve been waiting for him to put up some points, but this team is pretty much what they were from last year. The defense is good enough to keep the games close, but the offense can’t move the ball. It’s painful watching this team on offense and this week won’t get any better.
Houston has been dominant for the most part against the pass, allowing 151 yards per game. That’s an insane number.
They’ve been doing it against a bunch of bad quarterbacks, but the Titans are definitely not an upgrade to any offense Houston has seen thus far.
The Texans won’t allow much out of Mariota, limiting his opportunities at scoring fantasy points.
Tyrod Taylor vs. New England
You can’t start a quarterback consistently who can’t register even 120 yards passing. I don’t care that he found a way to tally 76 yards rushing yards against Arizona in week 3 and totaled 16.36 fantasy points.
Taylor is fool’s gold. He has two games in which he’s passed for 230 yards…total. That’s a bad outing for many quarterbacks in the NFL.
He’s made up for it with an extreme garbage time effort against the New York Jets in week 2 and some timely running against the Cardinals in week 3.
However, with a new offensive coordinator and Sammy Watkins on the shelf, Taylor just can’t be trusted, especially against New England’s defense.
The Patriots have allowed 271 yards passing per game this season, but don’t pay too much attention to those numbers. Most of that came in garbage time against Ryan Tannehill in week 2 and then also Carson Palmer during catch-up mode in week 1.
As long as this game doesn’t balloon to a 30-point advantage early, then the Patriots can keep Taylor in check and not allow him to eat up garbage time fantasy points.
Eli Manning vs. Minnesota Vikings
That Vikings defense is nasty. That’s a bad sign for Manning, who is coming back to Minnesota after going for three interceptions in last year’s week 16 matchup.
At times, Manning looks really good. And then there’s those instances like week 3 against Washington where he looks like he’s almost trying to give the opposing team the ball.
He went for a big yardage total against the Redskins again, but I doubt that will happen this week against Minnesota.
The Vikings have played Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton and Marcus Mariota in the first three weeks of the season. And they still rank in the top-10 as a pass defense and are limiting opposing quarterbacks to a QBR of 69.5 through the first three weeks.
They’re creating turnovers with five interceptions (tied for second-most in the NFL), and own the most sacks in the NFL with 15.
I’m staying away from Manning with every bone in my body in week 4.
