Week 3 showed those early round fantasy football wide receiver draft picks were well used.
A.J. Green led all receivers last week with 34.70 points, while other big names, Julio Jones, Randall Cobb and Keenan Allen were in the top six. Even Steve Smith and Larry Fitzgerald, who entered the season with little fanfare, continue to turn back the clock this season.
There were some surprises toward the top of the leaderboard, too. Miami Dolphins receiver Rishard Matthews continues to collect several targets and Cincinnati’s Marvin Jones looks to be the solid number two man for the Bengals.
Here’s our start ’em, sit ’em guide for wide receivers in week 4 of the NFL season.
Daily fantasy start of the week
Julio Jones vs. Houston Texans
We’re not looking for the steals this week. Jones has been unstoppable this week and the Texans are ill-equipped to stop a strong passing game.
Despite facing three teams not known for their passing attacks — Kansas City, Carolina and Tampa Bay — the Texans still aren’t ranked in the top-10 against the pass. We don’t have to worry about Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan not looking for Jones early and often. The standout has collected 46 targets already this season through only three weeks.
Jones’ daily fantasy price tag is high, but he’s shown the ability to be high above the rest of his cohorts, making his value worth the high price.
Start
Steve Johnson vs. Cleveland Browns
Johnson had his worst day of the year as San Diego’s offense struggled to get much going last week against the Minnesota Vikings.
He nabbed three catches on five targets, netting 4.60 points. But, we’re encouraged that he’s still getting multiple targets, despite a rough outing for the offense, and when his sidekick Keenan Allen had a monster day.
And despite the Browns’ ability to stuff the pass last year, Cleveland has been bad against the pass and the rush this season. The Browns have given up six touchdowns in three weeks and garnered just one interception against the pass. They also are allowing 8.1 yards per pass play, the seventh-worst mark in the NFL.
We expect the Chargers to air it out this week against the Browns as they return home for the first time since week 1. The last time they were home, Johnson grabbed one touchdown and 82 yards receiving for 14.20 points. We anticipate a similar outing for this week.
Nate Washington vs. Atlanta Falcons
Houston Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett has found a nice chemistry with Washington.
With DeAndre Hopkins collecting the majority of the targets, Mallett has utilized Washington as the second option in what has been a pass-happy offense. In two games that Mallett has started, he’s thrown 97 passes. Hopkins can’t be targeted on all those throws.
Washington has stepped up to garner some of the attention, hauling in four catches on nine targets last week against Tampa Bay. Through three games, he has 28 targets.
With Atlanta likely to build an early lead, we could see the Texans playing catch-up, similar to what happened in week 2 against Carolina. If that’s the case, expect Mallett to air it out once again a lot, with Washington seeing enough targets to make him a strong option to start.
Daily fantasy sit of the week
Calvin Johnson vs. Seattle
We weren’t high on Detroit coming into this season. We’re even lower on them now.
That offense has been atrocious so far, and fantasy football owners who took Johnson in the hopes of him being the Meagtron we’re used to, are sadly disappointed.
And it won’t get any better this week.
Granted, last week came against Chicago Bears backup Jimmy Clausen, but the Seahawks forced the Bears to punt on every possession. With the Lions not having much success so far on offense, that’s a bad sign for any offensive weapon on the Lions.
We’re sitting Johnson every week for daily fantasy, especially since his price hasn’t fallen to the level of his production.
Sit
Mike Wallace vs. Denver Broncos
A road game against Denver with the best player on the team as a running back? That should mean a bad day for Wallace.
Adrian Peterson will likely see the most touches in this game, as the Vikings have shown in the last two weeks to run the offense through Peterson. That’s likely a good move for the Vikings, going 2-0 in that period, but it’s a bad sign for Wallace owners.
He has only seven targets in the last two games, and with Denver’s stingy pass defense awaiting him this week, his prognosis for a better week isn’t good.
Minnesota isn’t asking Teddy Bridgewater to do much of anything, which should be concerning for fantasy football owners who drafted him and some of his receivers. Wallace is a boom-or-bust receiver anyway, so if the Vikings aren’t trusting Teddy, then Wallace’s value will continue to trend downward.
Travis Benjamin vs. San Diego Chargers
Fantasy football owners who picked up Benjamin either in the draft or in the early waiver wire, should be satisfied with their investment so far this season.
This week, though, that happy train is about to get derailed.
Benjamin turned in another quality performance last week, with four catches for 45 yards and one touchdown. He did lose a fumble, but we do like the fact his targets were in the double digits at 10.
However, we don’t expect the Browns to air it out that much in the future. Quarterback Josh McCown threw 49 passes last week in a loss to Oakland, and the reason why his attempts were so high, was because Cleveland was down big early.
The gameplan in Cleveland is to mix a heavy dose of run with the pass, so Benjamin’s targets won’t always be that high. And his knack for being a boom-or-bust guy, hasn’t been lost on us, despite his strong start. Currently, he’s the sixth-highest scoring fantasy football wide receiver in the NFL.
This week doesn’t look good for him or the Browns. The Chargers have been pretty good against the pass, ranking third in the NFL in passing yards per game. The Vikings pretty much didn’t even attempt to pass last week against San Diego, opting to run all over the Chargers’ defense.
Cleveland likely took notice of that game plan. Stay away from Benjamin this week.
