Week 4 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em

Sports Illustrated

Senior fantasy analyst Michael Fabiano joins Jen Piacenti to give fantasy managers his top starts and sits for Week 4 of the 2023 NFL season.

Transcript

00:00 It's week four of the fantasy football season and who better to talk to about who to start in your

00:05 fantasy football lineups than our senior fantasy analyst at Sports Illustrated, Michael Fabiano.

00:10 Favs, let's kick it off with the quarterback position. Who are we definitely starting this

00:14 weekend for our teams? Gotta like Brock Purdy. Right now he's averaging right around 17 points

00:21 per game, which is not great, but it's good. It's respectable, but he's got a really good matchup

00:25 this week against the Arizona Cardinals. Purdy's the guy who beat them for nearly 20 points in

00:30 their last meeting. I think he's a top 15 option at worst, the quarterback spot. And then let's go

00:35 to Daniel Jones. I get it. Two of his first three games this year have been dreadful, but he's got

00:41 a really good matchup on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks. Their defense has allowed more

00:45 than 20 points per game to quarterbacks this year, including 23 and a half to Andy Dalton just last

00:50 weekend. And who are you going to sit at the quarterback position this weekend? I'd be where

00:57 Deshaun Watson. I know he's had two 20-point games in the first three weeks, but he's kind of

01:01 matchup-based. And this week's matchup is not great against the Baltimore Ravens. We think this is

01:06 probably going to be a little more of a low-scoring game, maybe leaning on the run a little bit more.

01:10 When you look at the numbers, the Ravens have really been tough on quarterbacks. The three

01:15 quarterbacks they have faced, well, nobody scored more than 17.3 points to this point. So Watson's

01:21 a fade, and so is Dak. I keep getting Dak wrong. I didn't like him against the Jets. He had a big

01:26 game. I liked him against the Cardinals. He didn't have a big game. I don't love him this week

01:30 against the Patriots, so I guess time will tell if I'm right or wrong. But looking at the numbers,

01:35 the Patriots defense has allowed an average of fewer than 11 fantasy points per game to

01:40 quarterbacks so far this season. So Dak is going to be on my bench if I have depth at quarterback.

01:46 Yeah, until they figure out their red zone issues, I have issues starting

01:50 Dak. So I'm with you there. Running back starts, who you got?

01:53 I'm starting Javante Williams this week, and I get it. I mean, he's averaging fewer than 10

01:58 points per game. He has scored single digits in every single game this year. But this is the

02:02 Bears. I mean, their defense is awful. They've given up seven total touchdowns and the second

02:07 most fantasy points to running backs this year. So I think this could be a breakout game for

02:11 Javante Williams. I'm also going to start James Cook. Could be a high scoring game. The total is

02:16 53 and a half right now between the Bills and the Dolphins, who scored 70 last week against

02:21 the Denver Broncos. This is a good matchup for Cook as well. Miami's defense has allowed three

02:26 running backs to score more than 15 fantasy points so far this season. I imagine you're

02:31 probably also starting Devin Aiton if you got him on the waiver wire. Don't expect 51 points,

02:38 but yeah, I mean, that was a crazy game. Anyway, who are you sitting at running back this weekend?

02:43 And again, this is more stardom and stardom in prey, I guess you could say. But Rashad White

02:49 is a matchup based starter. We love the volume. He's playing all the snaps, getting all the

02:53 touches in the Buccaneers backfield. But he's not a guy that's going to put up great numbers

02:57 every week. Just look at last week against the Eagles. I don't love the matchup against the

03:01 Saints this weekend. They've given up just seven touchdowns and an average of fewer than 20 points

03:05 per game than running backs since the start of last season. And I don't love my J. Pacheco. I

03:10 told you to play him last week. He had a really good game, but he's got the Jets this week and

03:15 the Jets have been really tough against running backs at home, allowing just two touchdowns and

03:19 fewer than 20 fantasy points in the position since the start of last season. So Pacheco is a fade for

03:24 me or a risk reward flex. OK, moving over to the wide out position, you've got a guy here that might

03:31 be in a revenge game narrative and then and then a young pass catcher in Houston. Yeah, Houston's

03:38 wide receivers have been really good in fantasy. As a group, they have scored the fourth most

03:42 points, which is just unbelievable thinking how we came into the season and our projections for

03:48 that group. But I like Nicole Collins. Now, last week he had a stinker and it was Tank Dell. And I

03:52 think you can start Tank Dell this week as well. But I still like Nicole Collins, even though the

03:56 numbers were not great last week. And you look at the matchup against the Steelers. They've allowed

04:00 the sixth most points to perimeter receivers, including 33 catches. So Nicole Collins is a

04:06 good flex. And I also like Adam Thielen. You mentioned the revenge game narrative. He's playing

04:11 his old team, the Minnesota Vikings. And oh, by the way, he has scored fifty one point nine fantasy

04:16 points in his last two games combined. That's crazy. The Vikings defense also giving up the

04:21 fifth most fantasy points to slot receivers this year. And Thielen's running about 70 percent of

04:26 his routes inside. Yeah, Thielen went absolutely off last week to be quite.

04:31 Andy Dalton, at least for right now, so I kind of hope Andy Dalton starts if I have

04:38 Adam Thielen. All right. As far as wide receiver sits, who you got?

04:42 New Hopkins is found a spot in my sit-em list, unfortunately, for the last couple of weeks.

04:49 Didn't love the matchup this week. Don't love the matchup going forward here. And it seems like

04:55 he's fallen into the Julio Jones and Andre Johnson and Randy Moss category. Let's hope that doesn't

05:01 continue a veteran wide receivers who go to Tennessee and their stats go into the toilet.

05:06 But I don't love the matchup against Cincinnati. They've given up the fourth US fantasy points to

05:10 wide receivers over the last 18 games. And I don't love Zay Flowers this week. And this may

05:15 be an unpopular opinion because he's had a pretty good floor. But the Browns defense is really good.

05:21 I mean, they've held perimeter receivers to the second few US fantasy points after three weeks.

05:25 That includes Jamar Chase and New Hopkins not scoring much of anything against Cleveland. So

05:31 beware Zay Flowers this week. He's a flex at best.

05:34 All right. Moving over to the tight end position. Who are we firing up this weekend?

05:39 I mean, is this position not a nightmare or what? I mean, it's just awful.

05:44 But Pat Fryermuth is a play this week against Houston. He had a good game last week against

05:48 the Raiders. When you're looking at the numbers here for the Houston Texans, their defense

05:52 has allowed 10 plus fantasy points to two tight ends in their first three games,

05:56 including almost 14 points to Evan Ingram. So this is a very good play. Start Pat Fryermuth

06:01 and start Dalton Kincaid if you need a tight end this week against the Dolphins. Once again,

06:06 high scoring game, 53 and a half point total. And the Dolphins defense has allowed 12 touchdowns

06:12 since the start of last year to tight ends. That's tight for the most in the National Football League.

06:18 Okay, Fabs, I'm noticing a trend here. I think you're pretty much done with Kyle Pitts.

06:22 I think we all should be. And it's not on him. It's the offense. He just doesn't fit.

06:27 I mean, look at his numbers. He's averaging 6.2 points per game. He scored double digits

06:32 three times in his last 13 games. I mean, that's dreadful for a guy we all thought was a unicorn

06:38 at position. It doesn't even matter what the matchup is. I just can't play Kyle Pitts.

06:42 He's splitting snaps with John O. Smith. It just doesn't get it at all. It baffles me. And then

06:48 finally, Dalton Schultz, who we all thought was going to be a pretty good option, right?

06:53 Maybe a security blanket for CJ Stroud. He's throwing to his tight ends at 16 percent clip.

06:59 That is not good. And Dalton Schultz, even though he's playing a lot of snaps and running a lot of

07:03 routes, he's not scoring any points. At this point, Jen, he could be waiver wire fodder.

07:08 Yeah, looks like CJ Stroud just doesn't need that security blanket. I'm just incredibly impressed

07:14 with how good he's looked through the first few games of the season. And he's someone that some

07:18 of you should be targeting on your waiver wires as well. We have all kinds of advice for you over

07:22 at SI.com. Who to start, who to sit, and how to win your fantasy football leagues. Visit us at

07:28 SI.com/fantasy.

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