Every week, there are always the usual suspects who perform well and help lead many a fantasy football team to victory. In some cases, their exploits come despite their actual team coming away with an L. Perhaps the most prominent case in Week 4 fantasy football was Dak Prescott, who threw for 502 yards and four touchdowns in the Dallas Cowboys 49-38 loss to the Cleveland Browns. That yardage total was the second-most in franchise history behind Tony Romo‘s 506-yard effort back in 2013.
But this weekly column isn’t focused on players boasting ownership rates approaching or even right at 100 percent. We’re looking at those players on the opposite end of the fantasy ownership spectrum. Some, not all, will attract quite a bit of interest on the waiver wire. Whether or not they do depends on a variety of factors, including matchup, perceived flukiness of the previous week’s performance, and the prospect of them featuring prominently for their respective teams moving forward. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the surprises from Week 4 fantasy football.
Note: all numbers are based on our site’s fantasy league which is a full PPR and gives out bonus points in certain situations as elaborated below:
1 point for 300+ yards passing, 3 points for 400+ yards passing, 5 points for 500+ points passing
1 point for 100 yards rushing/receiving, 2 points for 200 yards rushing/receiving
4 points for 40+ yard field goals, 5 points for 50+ yard field goals, -1 points for missed extra points and missed field goals shorter than 30 yards
Week 4 Fantasy Football Surprise Sensations
Justin Herbert
The circumstances of Herbert assuming the Los Angeles Chargers starting job a few weeks back were rather bizarre indeed. It was originally head coach Anthony Lynn‘s intention to have Tyrod Taylor remain the starter, at least early on in 2020. Then the team doctor accidentally punctured Taylor’s lung while giving him a pain-killing injection. Suddenly, Herbert was pushed into the fray. And though he is 0-3, he hasn’t looked half-bad. That was pretty evident on Sunday against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chargers enjoyed a 24-7 lead late in the first half before Tampa came back to come away with a 38-31 win. Herbert threw three touchdowns, including a 72-yard bomb to Jalen Guyton.
In the end, Herbert’s 24 fantasy points were good enough for sixth-best among quarterbacks. He should garner some semblance of interest on the waiver wire heading into LA’s Week 5 tussle with the New Orleans Saints. Through four games, their defense has given up 11 passing touchdowns which rank fourth-worst in the NFL. Though it came in a losing effort, Herbert’s performance should give Chargers fans hope that he’s a legit successor to Philip Rivers.
Teddy Bridgewater
Two quarterbacks deserve mention as a Week 4 fantasy football surprise sensation. The other one is Bridgewater. The Carolina Panthers brought in the Louisville product to replace Cam Newton who the team released in the off-season after an impressive run with the franchise that included an MVP award. It marked the start of a new era for the team in more ways than one after Matt Rhule replaced Ron Rivera as head coach.
A quarter of the way through the season, the Panthers are a sneaky 2-2 ball club. Though they dropped their first two out of the gates, they currently find themselves on a two-game winning streak. In Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals, Bridgewater had his best game yet for Carolina. Not only did he throw for 276 yards and two touchdown passes, but he also added an 18-yard touchdown run. His fantasy output was fourth-best among quarterbacks this past week despite just a 19 percent ownership rate in Yahoo leagues. And given that the Panthers Week 5 opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, are currently giving up the most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season, you might want to consider putting in a waiver claim if you’ve been struggling at the position this year.
Tim Patrick
Of the 12 wide receivers who finished with 20 fantasy points based on the scoring method mentioned above, 11 had ownership rates in Yahoo leagues above 25 percent. The only one who didn’t was Patrick. He was owned in just one percent of leagues on Yahoo. But the third-year man who went undrafted out of Utah balled out against the floundering New York Jets to open up Week 4 on Thursday Night Football.
In the Denver Broncos 37-28 victory, Patrick totaled 113 receiving yards and a touchdown. It led to him finishing seventh among wide receivers in Week 4 fantasy output. And his six receptions made him the favorite target of Brett Rypien who was making his first career start in relief of the injured Drew Lock. Given that Courtland Sutton is out for the remainder of 2020, last Thursday’s performance should precipitate a bit of a bump in his ownership. At the same time, Rypien was expectedly erratic against a struggling Jets team, throwing three interceptions. So there could be some reticence to pull the trigger in that regard.
Jason Witten
Our tight end this week is a household name and future Hall of Famer but clearly at the tail end of his career. So it’s not a surprise that just one percent of Yahoo fantasy players rostered the venerable Witten who joined the Las Vegas Raiders in the off-season. And let’s be honest. He only managed two catches for 18 yards in his team’s 30-23 loss to the surging Buffalo Bills. But one of those catches resulted in a touchdown that bumped his fantasy point total to 9.8. That’s not a lot, obviously, especially compared to what George Kittle and Robert Tonyan pulled off in Week 4. But it was good enough for top-10 among tight ends. Don’t expect his ownership rate to go up, though, with Vegas taking on the juggernaut that is the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 5.
Sam Ficken
Just Endure The Suffering. That’s been a common mantra among Jets fans seemingly year in and year out. It’s no different in 2020. Gang Green is off to an 0-4 start that included a loss on TNF in Week 4 to a Broncos team whose quarterback was making his first career start. Adam Gase‘s proverbial seat is almost as hot as the surface of the sun and it probably came as a bit of a shock that Bill O’Brien of the Houston Texans lost his job before Gase did. Still, fantasy football isn’t about wins and losses on the field. It’s about points. And that’s why Ficken appears here.
Despite a non-existent ownership percentage in Yahoo leagues, Ficken’s 18 points were tied for the most among kickers in Week 4 with Brandon McManus and Jason Sanders. The latter himself garnered just a one percent ownership rate among Yahoo players. It included a long of 54 yards which tied a career-high he set last season. Of the 11 players who’ve attempted at least eight field goals this season, Ficken is one of four who boasts a 100 percent conversion rate. And he joins Sanders and Mason Crosby as the only kickers the league to have made all their field goals and extra points through four weeks. He is averaging 13 fantasy points per game at home so he might be worth considering as a waiver wire add if you do the whole kicker streaming thing.
