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Fantasy Football Studs and Duds: Week 4

Fantasy Football Studs and Duds: Week 4

A third of the fantasy regular season is now in the books. At this point, you know whether you stand a chance or not. If you’re contending, you likely also know whether you have the ability to make a move to bolster your lineup. This was the first week since Week 1 where bye weeks factor into the equation (sorry Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins).

With every game that makes the standings more unclear, the fantasy landscape becomes clearer and clearer. Week 4 gave us more significant injuries in addition to some wild finishes. At the end of the day, it’s become clear that some fantasy relevant players are heading towards mediocrity, while some under the radar guys need to be added ASAP. In some cases, like LeGarrette Blount and Eddie Lacy, perhaps talk of their demise came too soon.

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Studs

Le’Veon Bell (RB – PIT)
Bell has been a popular player in this article. For two straight weeks, however, he’s found himself once again in the right location. Bell absolutely decimated the Baltimore Ravens defense to the tune of 144 rushing yards, 42 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Impatience is normal in fantasy football. After Bell’s first two weeks of the season, there was reason for disappointment, but not for concern. The last two weeks have seen Bell finish as the ninth and second best running back in PPR leagues. Needless to say, he’s back to form.

Ezekiel Elliott (RB – DAL)
Speaking of stud running backs, “Zeke” kept eating on Sunday afternoon despite a Cowboys loss. While Elliott ran for only 85 yards, he had both a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown. Additionally, he surpassed 100 yards from scrimmage for the second time this season. His value in PPR leagues has been impressively noteworthy. Last season Zeke finished the season with 32 receptions. Through four games, he’s already got 16 receptions.

Of course, there’s still the elephant in the room as it pertains to Elliott. And, despite his corpulent appearance, the elephant isn’t Elliott himself. In the event that this was Elliott’s last game for the next six games, it was quite the game to go out on. Sunday marked only the second time this season that Elliott found the end zone.

Also noteworthy is that the Los Angeles Rams are quietly becoming a team that is giving up chunks of yards to opposing running backs. Over their last three games, the Rams have allowed six running backs to rush for 65 or more yards. Lacy, or potential waiver extraordinaire J.D. McKissic, could eat when the Seattle Seahawks play the Rams in Week 5.

Deshaun Watson (QB – HOU)
Wow. To say that Watson was fantasy gold on Sunday would arguably be the understatement of the season. Watson torched the Tennessee Titans all day. Watson threw for 283 yards, four touchdowns and added a touchdown on the ground.

In similar fashion to the aforementioned Bell, Watson has really turned it on over the last two weeks after a slow start. Unlike Bell, however, Watson is still massively under-owned. Owned in just 34% of Yahoo! leagues and 14.2% in NFL.com leagues, Watson has yet to fully gain respect in the fantasy community. For those that have doubted him, Sunday’s performance is quickly changing their mind.

Duds

Jay Ajayi (RB – MIA)
Perhaps it was playing in London. Or maybe it was the lingering knee injury. Too much fish and chips? Whatever the reason, Ajayi absolutely struggled to get anything going early Sunday morning against the New Orleans Saints. Making matters more frustrating for fantasy owners is the fact that Ajayi has had two consecutive positive game projections only to see the Dolphins offense put up six points.

Over the next three games, Ajayi once again looks like he has a positive projected outlook. The Dolphins take on the Titans, Atlanta Falcons, and the New York Jets. Of course, fantasy owners will hope for more than the 11.5 carries he’s averaged over the last two weeks. There might not be a lot of players that are better suited for being “buy lows” than Ajayi right now. If a frustrated owner in your league has him on the trading block, buy, buy, buy.

Julio Jones (WR – ATL)
After three straight weeks of solid, but not spectacular, performances, Jones finally gave fantasy owners (and Falcons fans) cause for concern. Jones suffered a hip flexor injury that caused him to miss the second half against the Buffalo Bills.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect was that Jones, and the rest of the Falcons, didn’t really produce much of a stat line in the time he was on the field. The Falcons have a bye during Week 5, so hopefully, Jones will not miss any more time as a result of this injury. Of course, a lot depends on the severity. Hip flexor injuries can be tricky.

Joe Mixon (RB – CIN)
Mixon lead the Bengals backfield in rushing attempts. Andy Dalton matched his rushing yards. Mixon had the most receptions out of the backfield. He only netted 19 yards on his four catches. Gio Bernard got the glory out of the backfield, and it was a catch, not a run, that stole the show. In what was largely viewed as a breakout game, Mixon failed to live up to the hype.

Perhaps more importantly, the Bengals offensive line is really struggling in the run game. Football Outsiders ranks the Bengals offensive line in the bottom half of the league in a majority of statistical categories. It shows with the Bengals running backs. Mixon in particular. He’s failed to go north of 4.0 yards per carry in any of the Bengals games this season.


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Matt Giraldi is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Matt, check out his archive or follow him @Mgiraldi.

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