Kyren Williams
21.80 pts
15 carries for 88 yards and 6 catches for 70. Your only starter who played like a starter.
Week 3 is in the books and it was another loss. You are 0-3, you have allowed more points than anyone in the league, and the waiver wire just produced the single best running back available all season. Both of those facts need action before Sunday.
LordHaveMRSA
88.36
Free Jacobs
133.84
Week 3 final. Record 0-3. Week 4 versus The Daddies (1-2) begins Thursday night for them, Sunday 1:00 PM ET for you.
Drake Maye
5.76 pts
Two interceptions, a lost fumble, no touchdowns in a 35-6 beating at Jacksonville.
Ollie Gordon
Free agent
De'Von Achane tore his ACL. Gordon inherits the job and he is unowned in your league.
Where the matchup stands
Week 3 finished 133.84 to 88.36 in favor of Free Jacobs, who got 41.40 from Jahmyr Gibbs (Detroit Lions) and 27.60 from Brock Bowers (Las Vegas Raiders) and never had to sweat. You are 0-3.
The season-long picture is uglier than the record. You have scored 271.50 points, eleventh of twelve. You have allowed 371.20, the most in the league by fifteen points. Every opponent so far has had their best week against you. That is partly rotten luck and partly a roster with two holes in it.
Week 4 is against The Daddies (1-2, 294.60 scored, 356.80 allowed). They start Quinshon Judkins (Cleveland Browns), who plays Thursday at 8:15 PM ET, so they will be on the board two and a half days before your first player touches the ball at 1:00 PM ET Sunday. Do not read anything into the early deficit.
Your Week 3 starters, best to worst
Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams) - 21.80 points
15 carries for 88 yards at 5.9 a pop, plus 6 catches for 70 yards on 7 targets in the loss at Denver. Twenty-one touches, no touchdown, and he still led your team. He is being used as a genuine three-down back and the receiving work is the part that makes him matchup-proof.
Trey McBride (Arizona Cardinals) - 16.50 points
9 catches for 75 yards on 11 targets at San Francisco. He is your best player and it is not close: 59.10 points in three weeks, 19.70 a game, and he has done it without a single touchdown. When one finally lands he has a 25-point week in him.
Cooper Kupp (Seattle Seahawks) - 14.60 points
4 catches for 46 yards and a touchdown on 5 targets in the 33-31 win at Washington, his first game after missing Weeks 1 and 2. A fine re-entry, but note that Stefon Diggs (Seattle Seahawks) drew 7 targets to Kupp's 5. This is a shared target room, not Kupp's.
Cam Skattebo (New York Giants) - 13.00 points
20 carries for 60 yards - three yards a carry - plus 3 catches for 40 and a fumble he was lucky to recover. Twenty-four touches is a genuinely valuable workload and it is the only reason this was a usable day. The efficiency is bad and has been bad all year.
DJ Moore (Buffalo Bills) - 12.70 points
6 catches for 67 yards on 10 targets against the Chargers, a team-high target count. No touchdown, but ten looks in Buffalo's offense is the number you want to see. Best sign from him since Week 1.
Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) - 4.00 points
Two targets. Two. He caught both for 20 yards in a 24-10 win at Miami while playing 43 snaps, more than any other Kansas City receiver. Being on the field and being thrown to are different things, and he was zero-for-three in the red zone area after seeing three such looks the week before. He is averaging 7.40 points a game and he is the weakest link in your lineup.
Drake Maye (New England Patriots) - 5.76 points
14 of 25 for 199 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, two fumbles with one lost, three sacks taken, and a 19.9 QBR in a 35-6 loss at Jacksonville. Two of the three turnovers turned into Jacksonville touchdowns on the next drive. His week-by-week line reads 12.80, 9.00, 5.76 - that is not a slump, that is a trend, and Week 4 is at Buffalo.
Bench versus starters
Xavier Hutchinson (Houston Texans) 8.50 beat Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) 4.00
Four and a half points you left on the bench at wide receiver. Hutchinson is not the answer - he had scored nothing in the first two weeks - but the fact that a waiver-level receiver beat a starter tells you the problem is Worthy, not the bench. Nobody else on your bench outscored a starter at his own position: Brian Robinson (Atlanta Falcons) put up 11.00 and Braelon Allen (New York Jets) 4.70 behind two running backs who both cleared 13.
Injuries and roster news
Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) - listed Out, targeting a Week 4 return
He has missed two straight games. The Rams are aiming for him to play Sunday at 1:00 PM ET at Philadelphia, but surgery is still on the table if he does not improve this week. Watch Wednesday and Friday practice reports. If he is cleared, he starts over Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) without a second thought. If he is limited or does not practice Friday, leave him on the bench - a half-speed Nacua in a tough road spot is not worth the roster slot in your lineup.
Breece Hall (New York Jets) week-to-week - this one helps you
Hall has a quad injury and is week-to-week, which hands the New York Jets backfield to Braelon Allen (New York Jets), whom you already own. Allen is the second-most added player in fantasy football this week and you do not have to spend a dollar on him. The Jets play at Chicago on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET, a soft run matchup. If Hall is ruled out by Friday, Allen is a legitimate flex option.
Joshua Palmer (Buffalo Bills) - zero points in three weeks
He has scored nothing all season. He is a free roster spot and you need one to fit a waiver claim. Drop him.
No byes in Week 4
All thirty-two teams play. Nobody on your roster is idle, so every decision is a real start-or-sit call rather than a forced one.
Waiver targets - FAAB is the $100 season-long budget you bid from; you have $80 left
| Player | Why | Bid |
|---|---|---|
| Ollie Gordon (Miami Dolphins), Running Back | De'Von Achane (Miami Dolphins) tore his ACL against Kansas City and is out for the season. Gordon took over and ran for 41 yards and a touchdown while catching all three of his targets against a stout Kansas City run defense. He is the clear lead back on a team that will be playing from behind often, which means passing-game work in a full-PPR league. He is the number one add in fantasy football this week and he is unowned in your league. | $35-40 |
| Mack Hollins (New England Patriots), Wide Receiver | Led New England with 9 targets in Week 3, catching 6 for 87 yards, with the team's top receiver out. New England trailed all afternoon and will likely trail again at Buffalo, which means volume. A cheap plug for the Xavier Worthy problem. | $4-6 |
| Tre' Harris (Los Angeles Chargers), Wide Receiver | Team-high 7 targets, 6 catches for 76 yards. The Chargers go to Seattle on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET and will have to throw. Speculative but the target share is real. | $3-5 |
| Daniel Jones (Indianapolis Colts), Quarterback | You have no backup quarterback and Drake Maye (New England Patriots) is falling apart. Jones faces Washington in the 9:30 AM ET Sunday game and is on every streaming list this week. Streaming means starting a different quarterback each week based on matchup rather than rostering one all season. | $2-3 |
You are 0-3 with $80 of your $100 FAAB budget unspent. Hoarding it into November while going 0-4 is the worst outcome available. Spend.
Week 4 lineup as it sits, and the two calls to make
| Slot | Player | Status |
|---|---|---|
| QB | Drake Maye (New England Patriots) at Buffalo Bills, Sun 1:00 PM ET | Shaky - see below |
| RB | Kyren Williams (Los Angeles Rams) at Philadelphia Eagles, Sun 1:00 PM ET | Lock |
| RB | Cam Skattebo (New York Giants) vs Arizona Cardinals, Sun 1:00 PM ET | Start on volume |
| WR | Cooper Kupp (Seattle Seahawks) vs Los Angeles Chargers, Sun 4:25 PM ET | Start |
| WR | Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) at Las Vegas Raiders, Sun 4:25 PM ET | Weakest slot - replace if Nacua plays |
| TE | Trey McBride (Arizona Cardinals) at New York Giants, Sun 1:00 PM ET | Lock |
| FLEX | DJ Moore (Buffalo Bills) vs New England Patriots, Sun 1:00 PM ET | Start |
Call one, quarterback. Drake Maye (New England Patriots) goes to Buffalo off the worst game of his season. If you land Daniel Jones (Indianapolis Colts) on waivers, start Jones. If you do not, you are stuck with Maye and hoping New England trails by enough to throw sixty times, which, to be fair, is exactly what happened in Week 3 and it still produced 5.76 points.
Call two, wide receiver. Xavier Worthy (Kansas City Chiefs) has two double-digit weeks in him all year and none of the other kind. If Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) is a full participant Friday, Nacua takes that slot. If Nacua is out again, the honest answer is that Worthy, Chris Godwin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) at 7.50 a game, and a fresh waiver claim are all roughly the same bad option - so stay with Worthy on the chance the Las Vegas matchup finally produces a deep ball.
Worth noting: Trey McBride (Arizona Cardinals) and Cam Skattebo (New York Giants) are in the same game Sunday at 1:00 PM ET. Nothing to do about it, but you are rooting for a shootout, not a Giants blowout.