2016 Fantasy Football: Week 4 Streaming Options
Whether you have chosen to play the waiver wire and stream quarterbacks, tight ends, defenses or all three, we have you covered. Below you’ll find three streaming options at each position for Week 4.
Quarterback
If Kirk Cousins (vs. CLE, 76.4% owned on ESPN) or Andy Dalton (vs. MIA, 63.9%) are available in your league, don’t bother reading on in this section. Both of their teams are home favorites this weekend with healthy implied totals according to the Vegas lines, and they’re top 10 plays for the week. But the odds are good that neither Cousins or Dalton is available in your league, so keep reading.
Joe Flacco — vs. OAK — 24.6% owned
Oakland’s defense got torched by Matt Ryan and Drew Brees the first two weeks, and they rank 28th in Football Outsiders’ pass DVOA as a result, despite holding Marcus Mariota to just four fantasy points last week. Flacco and the Ravens are a 3.5-point favorite at home with an implied total of 24.75, and QBs on a home favorite with a team total of 24+ are ideal if you’re picking QBs on a week-to-week basis.
Dak Prescott — @ SF — 47.4% owned
The absence of Dez Bryant isn’t ideal, but Prescott remains a fringe QB1 in standard 12-team leagues thanks to a good matchup with San Francisco and his ability to run for scores. San Francisco ranks 23rd against QBs in 4for4.com’s Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points Allowed (aFPA), and Dak has two rushing scores already. And don’t get too hung up on him only having one passing touchdown as twice last week Dallas receivers were stopped at or inside the one-yard-line on what otherwise would have been passing touchdowns.
Tight End
Let me again start with a caveat. If Kyle Rudolph (vs. KC, 57.3% owned) or Dennis Pitta (vs. OAK, 54.7% owned) are available in your league, pick one of them up and don’t worry about the tight ends discussed below. But with ownership rates over 50% in ESPN 10-team leagues, they’re almost assuredly owned in your league.
Hunter Henry — vs. NO — 18.3% owned
Just like at QB, tight ends on teams that are home favorites with an implied total of 24+ provide more value than with other splits. San Diego leads all teams in implied total this weekend at 28.5 as they host the Saints. The Saints rank 27th in pass DVOA so far, though it’s only fair to note that they’ve held opposing tight ends to a combined seven fantasy points through three weeks. That said, the best tight end they’ve faced so far is probably Jacob Tamme. Antonio Gates seems likely to sit again this week, so Henry should start again after seeing five targets and recording 76 yards as the starter last week.
Jesse James — vs. KC — 20.7% owned
James has 17 targets through three weeks and is averaging a red zone target per week. Unfortunately, he’s not racking up much yardage, though that’s common for lower-tier tight ends. But he’s definitely getting enough looks to give him some potential to find the end zone in a given week. With the Steelers being a home favorite with an implied total of 26.25, James isn’t a terrible bet to find the end zone this week for those in deeper leagues.
Defense/Special Teams
Washington D/ST — vs. CLE — 11.8% owned
Washington’s defense is not good. They rank 25th in defensive DVOA, which is in line with FO’s preseason projections for their defense. But the Cleveland Browns can cure a lot of ills. Each defense that has faced the Browns so far has recorded positive points on the week, and two of those defenses finished with double digit fantasy points. Washington really struggles to generate a pass rush, but Cleveland could be a cure for that problem specifically as they rank 30th in FO’s adjusted sack rate and have allowed at least three sacks in each game this season. Vegas portends good things for the Washington D as they’re a home favorite facing a Browns team with the fifth lowest implied total of the weekend (19.25).
Pittsburgh D/ST — vs. KC — 31.1% owned
Pittsburgh’s defense is going to be more potent from a fantasy perspective as long as Pittsburgh’s offense does what it’s capable of doing. You want defenses that will face a lot of passing plays since fantasy point scoring events like sacks and interceptions only happen on passing plays. And when Pitt’s offense puts up points like it’s capable of doing, the defense can end up seeing a lot of passing plays as the opposition plays catch up. FO’s DAVE rankings, which mix in preseason projections with performance to date to offset early season small sample size issues, still rank Pittsburgh’s offense as the second most efficient in the league. If that holds, Pitt’s defense will be put in situations to score fantasy points. Those situations could happen this week with Pitt being a five-point favorite at home against Kansas City.