Houston, we have our Quarterback!

What’s up, everyone? How did your weekend go? Bring home the victory? Or did you suffer a defeat at the hands of the many, many stud performances this week? NFL week 4 wasn’t quite the offensive explosion that week 3 was, but it still featured some huge performances. Among them are: Stefon Diggs, A.J. Brown, Puka Nacua, Nico Collins, CHRISTIAN MCCAFFREY, Kyren Williams, and the list goes on.

If you’re struggling with a 1-3 start or even 0-4. Don’t despair. It’s not going to be easy but keep the faith. Don’t give up yet. You never know when you’ll go on a great run. I started 1-6 in a dynasty league two years ago. Rattled off 8 consecutive wins to get into the playoffs as a 6 seed, and ended up winning the championship. Just stay the course. Play the wire, make some trades, and set your lineups.

This is a bit of a longer newsletter, but it’s got a lot of useful information in it, and I try to make it as easy to scan as possible so you can find the info you want fast!

Waiver Wire and Trade Targets

Bye Weeks: Cleveland, Tampa Bay, LA Chargers, Seattle

• QB: C.J. Stroud vs. ATL, Sam Howell vs. CHI (Thurs), Baker Mayfield (stash), hate it but could work: Joshua Dobbs vs. CIN

• RB: Jaleel McLaughlin vs. NYJ, Tyjae Spears vs. IND

• WR: Wan’Dale Robinson vs. MIA, Michael Wilson vs. CIN, Tyler Boyd vs. ARI, Darnell Mooney vs. WAS, Rashee Rice vs. MIN, (gap) Nick Westbrook-Ikhine vs. IND

• TE: Jake Ferguson vs. SF, Cade Otton (stash), Logan Thomas vs. CHI (Thurs)

• DST: Detroit vs. CAR, Houston vs. ATL, Washington vs. CHI (Thurs)

It’s a brutal week for waivers overall, but not a bad one for QB and DST streaming. If you have a QB of one of the above teams, I’d highly consider Stroud or Howell. Stroud, I’ll break down more in a minute, but Howell gets the Chicago defense that just bleeds points.

I’ve arranged all my waiver pickups in the order I would target them, as usual. My top pickup is Wan’Dale Robinson, followed by Michael Wilson then Jaleel McLaughlin. McLaughlin might find himself in a useful backup role, but Javonte Williams is not expected to miss much time.

News and Notes

• 🐂 C.J. Stroud is on a historic tear. How historic you might ask? He has the second most passing yards to the start of a career through four games since 1990. Cam Newton is the only one with more passing yards. He is also only the second quarterback to have over 1,000 passing yards without an interception in that same span. Dak Prescott is the other QB and Stroud has twice the amount of passing touchdowns. The Falcons aren’t a great matchup, and Stroud can’t keep up this torrid pace forever, but we’ll ride the wave while we can. Thinking long term and for dynasty; Stroud looks like a franchise QB so far.

• 🎖️ Speaking of QB starts, Sam Howell had a nice bounce-back game against the Eagles. The Commanders desperately need to give him an offensive line if they want him to have a remote chance at success. As I said above, he gets the Bears on Thursday night, and taking advantage of that matchup will be a big boost to his confidence.

• 🐻 Many people are jumping back on the Fields bandwagon. It’s funny just how in or out people are nowadays. Like, you HAVE to pick a side apparently, you can’t just say “Let’s see what happens”. I don’t like to judge by small samples. I can be worried or encouraged by them, but I try to not let them sway me to extremes. Anyway, I’m encouraged by Fields’ performance against a hapless Bronco’s defense and I hope it boosts his confidence going forward. He’s startable against Washington on Thursday.

• 🐆 And while I’ve seen chatter about people being back in on Fields, they’re upset at Trevor Lawrence. I like Lawrence, drafted him in several spots and have him in several dynasty teams. I’ve been a little disappointed by the Jaguars this season, but I guess going 23-of-30 for a touchdown and over 40 rushing yards doesn’t do it for people anymore. The early season is the early season. There’s a lot of football left to play. Don’t judge too harshly.

• I’m off of my QB soap box. Let me just say, Christian McCaffrey is a DUDE. His 48.7 PPR points were the second-highest score this season and the 11th most points by any player since 2019.

• 🐅 For some more somber news, the Bengals are struggling mightily right now. Ja’Marr Chase should continue to be started as a WR1 because he can have a good day anytime. Tee Higgins is likely missing some time so that puts Tyler Boyd on the map. He’s worth a waiver pickup but I have other guys I want ahead of him. If you need to bench Joe Burrow, go for it. Wait till he improves and looks more like himself.

• 🐏 Puka Nacua had another huge game. I was seeing some “Oh no, is he taking a backseat now?” takes on social media and my caution was “If he had three more yards on that 37-yard catch, we aren’t having this discussion.” And well, Puka had a huge game, plus he caught his first NFL touchdown to boot.

• 🐦️ Michael Wilson was a pleasant surprise for the Cardinals. Defintely a name to add and keep an eye on.

• 🏴‍☠️ Baker Mayfield is looking good. Like, a solid starting quarterback good. I was not high on him at all to start the season. And I’m having to adjust to this new Mayfield we’re seeing. Maybe he will get back into some more “At Home with Baker Mayfield” commercials. Those were good.

Thursday Night Preview

Washington Commanders

I’ve taken enough of your time already, so as usual, I’ll keep this quick. The Bears are generous to opposing QBs, allowing 10 passing touchdowns in four games. Running backs have produced well against them as well. So Howell and Brian Robinson should be in your lineups. Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson saw a 24% and 22% target share respectively on Sunday, with Curtis Samuel making an appearance. Of the three, I’m most confident starting McLaurin. Logan Thomas is a viable streamer.

Chicago Bears

Justin Fields is in your lineups after what he just did on Sunday. No question about it. But, this is a test of whether was it really a turnaround or does the Broncos’ defense just suck that badly? Washington is not a hard matchup, giving up the 10th most points to QBs so far in 2023. Khalil Herbert can be flexed, but I wouldn’t expect what happened on Sunday to repeat itself. Washington is a great matchup for receivers, so fire up DJ Moore and Darnell Mooney. Cole Kmet should be left on the bench, as the Commanders are a brutal matchup for tight ends.

Q: What do I do about Cooper Kupp? How will he impact Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams, and Tutu Atwell?

It sounds like Cooper Kupp is returning this week, good news for the Rams and fantasy owners alike. However, many are concerned about their waiver wire wonders, Puka, Tutu, and Kyren. The good news for you, is I think they can make it work. They’ve been better than expected. Cam Akers is out of town, and Kyren Williams has the backfield to himself, so his workload, minus some receiving usage, is secure.

Puka and Tutu operate on the outside whereas Kupp is a slot specialist (not that he can’t play outside, the slot is just his primary alignment). As of right now, it looks like Nacua will be the WR2 of the offense. I just don’t know how you can take him off the field after what you’ve seen him do in favor of Atwell. Atwell likely receives the biggest downgrade, but Nacua will fall more in line with a WR2 instead of the WR1 he’s been so far. Tyler Higbee will just continue doing Higbee things.

Final Thoughts

I also received a different question about Jonathan Taylor, I’ll briefly cover that on Friday for the sake of time and space today. Frankly, there’s not a whole lot to say right now. We need to let the week unfold a little before we can start making any informed decisions.

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