Fantasy football preview: Week 4

Greetings, Falcoholics! As many of you know, the Falcons fell to the Indianapolis Colts this past week in a devastating loss on the road. Hopefully though, your fantasy team(s) did well – and if they didn’t, there is always this week!

Before we move on to this upcoming week, let’s review last week.

The Falcons player I expected to have a solid performance against the Colts, as mentioned in last week’s article, was running back Devonta Freeman. Freeman had struggled in recent weeks, and had his best performance of the season, finishing the day with 16 carries for 88 yards and 3 receptions. He should continue to improve this week as the Tennessee Titan have allowed an average of 137.4 rushing yards from scrimmage per game, over the last 8 games.

Nationally, week 4 marks the first week in which teams have bye weeks. The teams who are off this week are the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers. You may be looking for some replacements, so I’ll name a few that are currently owned in less than 50% of fantasy leagues.

You probably don’t have a quarterback on a bye this week, but if you do, don’t worry. If you do...now don’t laugh...but go get Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.

I’m not saying he will solely deliver a victory this week, but he has a great matchup against the struggling Pittsburgh Steelers. Dalton not only has 20+ fantasy points in each game this season, he’s also facing a Steelers secondary which has allowed the 7^th most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks this season. He’s only rostered in 33% of leagues, and should fill in nicely this week.

Another guy I like is Carolina Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen. Of course, he’s only started one game this season, and it was against the struggling Arizona Cardinals, but he still threw 4 touchdown passes. This week he will face the Houston Texans who you would initially think are a tough against the pass, but they’re actually allowing the 6^th most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks in 2019. Allen’s only rostered in roughly 15% of fantasy leagues, and is potentially worth a bench spot at the bare minimum.

There’s not a lot out there in terms of running backs, but a player currently rostered in only 23% of leagues is Minnesota Vikings running back Alexander Mattison. Mattison is a rookie, and obviously plays behind starter Dalvin Cook, but if you’ve watched him play, he looks the part. I’m not saying you should start him or anything, but if the Vikings continue to increase his volume, he could be useful.

A wide receiver I find intriguing is Pittsburgh Steelers’ Diontae Johnson. Aside from apparently being told by the coaching staff that he was now a starter, Johnson finished last week with 14.8 fantasy points against the San Francisco 49ers. This week he gets a decent matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football and he’s only rostered in 5% of fantasy leagues.

Well that does it, folks. I wish everyone who took the time to read this the best of luck in their Week 4 fantasy matchups. If you have any fantasy questions for me, you can ask in the comments below, email me at TheFalcoholicEvan@yahoo.com or find me on Twitter at @EvanBirchfield. Remember, when it comes to fantasy football – always go with your gut!