Fantasy football preview: Week 4

Hey Falcoholics! It’s time to talk fantasy football. Last week, the Atlanta Falcons continued to embarrass by blowing yet another 26-10 lead. Fantasy-wise though, there were some quality performers on both teams.

Before we look at this weekend’s game against the Chicago Bears, let’s review week 3. Although he didn’t score this time, Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley put up another solid day with 5 catches for 110 yards. That makes three consecutive 100+ yard games for Ridley in 2020. He continues to be a must start in all fantasy football formats. Todd Gurley finally had a quality game, as there’s no doubt that his fantasy owners have been waiting patiently. Gurley recorded 80 yards rushing for a touchdown, which has been his best performance this season.

Falcons vs. Packers

There’s a lot of great matchups this week, as both teams have popular fantasy football players. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been one of the best quarterbacks in 2020 so far. This week, he gets a Falcons defense that is allowing the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. Rodgers should do very well.

Someone I consider a very deep flex play this week is Packers tight end Robert Tonyan. Tonyan has had back-to-back games with a touchdown and the Falcons have allowed the 2nd most fantasy points to opposing tight ends. In a game where I expect a shootout, if you need a tight end flier, look no further than Tonyan, who is rostered in only 7% of leagues.

On the Falcons side of things, I really think Gurley will take another step in the right direction. They need to run the ball to win this game, so they likely won’t. But if they decide to, the Packers are allowing the 3rd most fantasy points to opposing running backs. I would like to see the Falcons use Gurley in the passing game more to utilize his pass catching abilities. If you don’t have Gurley, now would be the time to make a trade for him. His next five games are against bottom ten teams in allowing fantasy points to opposing running backs, and his usage could take a hike so long as he’s healthy.

League-wide look

Looking at players currently rostered in less than 50% of leagues, how about Hunter Renfrow of the Las Vegas Raiders. Renfrow’s targets have been increasing, and he scored last week. Also it helps that the Raiders other top two targets, Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards are likely out this week. If you’re in the market for a quarterback flier this weekend, Miami Dolphins’ Ryan Fitzpatrick is one I’d look at. Fitzpatrick has 30+ fantasy points in each of the last two games, and this week faces the Seattle Seahawks who are giving up the second most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. Finally, if you need a running back, New England Patriots’ Rex Burkhead available in 55% of leagues. Proceed with caution though, as he’ll likely regress to the mean from his week 3 booming performance of 34.8 fantasy points and the Patriots should be getting James White back.

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. Every week I’ll be doing a fantasy football preview, so send me some questions before every Thursday and I’ll answer them here. You can ask in the comments below or on Twitter at @EvanBirchfield.

As always, when it comes to fantasy football – always go with your gut!