The 2021 NFL season is in full swing as we head into Week 3. Benjamin (@FFRabbitDad) and Brendan (@obryanbren) are back with more players to take a look at when setting your fantasy football lineups. Check it all out here in our Start or Sit Faceoff, for Week 4 with Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em Week 4.
Benjamin: I’m not one to brag…That’s not true, I love to brag, but I hit on starting Kirk Cousins, Odell Beckham, and Rob Gronkowski last week while successfully fading off of Jared Goff and Darius Slayton. Brendan got me on benching Adam Trautman and starting Chase Edmonds and I see Jones/McKissic as a tie, as we were both right to bench them. Let’s go! Let’s go! I’m ready for Week 4! I’ve even got a spicy play in here for you all this week.
Brendan: Oh yeah, last week was a bit rough. I’m not even going to go back and look. As a good pro will tell you, it’s important not to dwell on the past and just look forward to what we’re doing next. So this week I’ll turn it around. Bet on me guys, because this week I’m going to knock it out of the park. Or hit the Hail Mary? We are talking about football here after all. Let’s get to it.
Quarterbacks
Start: Jalen Hurts – Derek Carr
Brendan: I like Derek Carr, I really do. I defended him hard a few weeks back when Benjamin was saying he should be in a rocking chair. The elder statesman has something going with Jon Gruden during this first quarter of the season and this week could be a bit of a shootout. However, I’m going with the high floor Hurts this week. In garbage time last week against the Cowboys, Hurts put up good numbers going 21/39, 342 yards, and adding another 69 on the ground. This week, Hurts also should be in his own shootout against the Chiefs, who are giving up 22.62 points per game to quarterbacks. Add into that with Hurts having the potential for a rushing touchdown, and he’s in for a big week.
Benjamin: Let’s face it…Through the first three weeks of the season, Gruden and the Raiders have something good going. I mean, Carr is averaging 401 passing yards per game! That’s crazy! I for one am going to ride this horse until it runs out of gas. Hurts has a nice floor due to his running ability, but I can’t turn down the consistency that Carr has shown thus far. At some point, the great passing numbers will end, but I don’t think it’ll be this week.
Sit: Carson Wentz – Teddy Bridgewater
Brendan: Carson Wentz has not been that good to start this season. He has continued the narrative he formed in Philadelphia to Indianapolis. He holds onto the ball too long, his offensive line breaks down, he then either gets hit hard or throws an ill-conceived pass. His injury issues have also followed him into Indy. He was hurt all pre-season and now has two, yes two, sprained ankles. That means BOTH his ankles are sprained. He had a very pedestrian stat line of 19/37 for 194 yards against the Titans, and in week four faces a Miami defense that is stout against the pass only giving up 14.97 points per game to quarterbacks. Wentz has to be on your bench this week and if you have to pick between Wentz or Bridgewater, go with Bridgewater.
Benjamin: First, let me say that I hate saying anything negative about Bridgewater. He is a genuinely good person that works his butt off every chance he gets. Unfortunately, that won’t be enough to quell the monsters he will face this week when they host the Ravens. After surrendering 778 passing yards in the first two weeks, Baltimore shut down Jared Goff in Week 3. There are powerful weapons on the Broncos offense, but they won’t be enough to overcome the Ravens, who are looking to get back to a .500 record come this Sunday.
Running Backs
Start: Joe Mixon – Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Brendan: I think I have some PTSD with Clyde Edwards-Helaire. I bought into his kool-aid last season and was seriously burned in a number of my leagues. So I just cannot wrap my head around trusting him. He’s also a week removed from being the dumpster fire running back in the league. People were contemplating cutting him! Joe Mixon on the other hand has been good but is due for a huge breakout game. Enter the Jaguars, that have given up five touchdowns to running backs and the fifth-most fantasy points in the league to running backs. He’s not seeing a ton of looks in the passing game but gets a huge amount of touches each week. He’s going to have a monster game this week.
Benjamin: One can’t deny that Mixon has gotten off to a nice start, averaging 95.3 rushing yards per game. One also can’t deny that the Eagles allowed 155 rushing yards for 5.5 YPC against the Cowboys in Week 3. For those of us who drafted Edwards-Helaire this year (including me), we had been disappointed until Week 3 when he went off for 109 total yards and a touchdown. Start Edwards-Helaire against the Eagles this week (like I will) and you won’t be disappointed.
Sit: Ty’Son Williams – Kareem Hunt
Brendan: Let’s go back a few weeks when it seemed like every running back on the Ravens roster went on IR and Williams was the last man standing. The Ravens brought in some free agents, but in the meantime, Williams was the bell-cow while the free agents were brought up to speed. Fast forward to Week 3 and Williams saw a significant dip in touches and the Ravens are back to their true running back by committee approach. Williams did lead the running back room with 29 snaps but only five touches. This is highly concerning. To be a viable fantasy starting running back, you need far more than five touches per game. Until he shows he is the clear-cut number one in the Ravens backfield, you need to put him on your bench.
Benjamin: Hunt has had a couple of stellar performances this season, there’s no denying that. His rushing numbers have been good at 5.7 YPC. What I worry about for Hunt this week is the Minnesota defense. Yeah, they haven’t been great but they have been very good against pass-catching running backs. If you take away the 31-yard reception by Travis Homer in Week 3, they are allowing only 5.6 yards per reception to running backs, which is Hunt’s bread and butter in the Cleveland backfield. If this continues, and I think it will, the number of touches for Hunt will suffer. I’ll be looking elsewhere when it comes to any RB2 or flex start in Week 4.
Consistency Score: Running Backs
Consistency Score: Wide Receivers
Consistency Score: Tight Ends
Consistency Score: DST
Wide Receivers
Start: Ja’Marr Chase – Robert Woods
Brendan: Ja’Marr Chase has exceeded most rookie wide receiver expectations at this point. He is ranked WR11 and has put up four touchdowns so far this year. He has an excellent matchup this week against the Jaguars, who are not only horrible against the run, they are also not that good against the pass either. They gave up over 100 receiving yards to both AJ Green and Christian Kirk last week. We can expect 100 yards receiving from Chase and at least a touchdown.
Benjamin: The story of the Rams receiving game this year has been Cooper Kupp with his five touchdowns and 122.3 receiving yards per game. That pace cannot continue through the entire season. Opposing defenses will key in on Kupp’s target share and adapt. Enter Robert Woods, who has pulled in at least 86 receptions in each of his last three seasons with the Rams while averaging 12.4 yards per catch. Personally, I traded for Woods in two leagues because I have that much faith that he will break his funk this week against the Cardinals who have allowed 12.4 yards per catch to wide receivers as well as six receiving touchdowns this season.
Sit: All Titans Wide Receivers – Chase Claypool
Brendan: This week, Benjamin made the suggestion that we should try to make at least one very controversial call in each week’s set of picks. He really went out on a limb with Hunt, as he’s been quite productive. This one is my controversial take. I cannot trust any of the Titans wide receivers this week, even against the anemic Jets defense. AJ Brown left last week’s game early with a hamstring injury and could miss a week or two. He has not been ruled out yet, but it’s probably coming. Julio Jones was oddly benched after only playing 34 snaps in Week 3. At first, Mike Vrabel was being quite murky by saying Jones being sidelined was not because he was being benched. Then on Wednesday, it came out that Jones is being treated on a leg injury and his status for Sunday is “up in the air.” So do we have left? Nick Westbrook-Ikhine? Cameron Batson? Chester Rogers?? I wouldn’t trust any of them and would expect a huge day from Derrick Henry.
Benjamin: Chase Claypool finally had a productive week with nine catches for 96 yards on 15 targets. That was with Diontae Johnson on the sidelines due to injury. Johnson is on pace to return this week, which bottoms out the potential for Claypool to repeat against the Packers. Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t have the arm he used to and coach Mike Tomlin knows it. Claypool will be lucky to get even three receptions this week.
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Tight Ends
Start: Logan Thomas – Noah Fant
Brendan: Man, I totally was going to double dip and pick Fant again this week. Didn’t work out too well for me last week, but I had a feeling of redemption! I bet you’ll get into it, but he had a favorable situation last week, that has become even more favorable this week. So going back to the drawing board, I’m going with the matchup-based selection of Logan Thomas. Thomas hasn’t popped off the stat board, but he’s top-five in snaps and in the top-10 for tight end targets. He also has a very favorable matchup against the Falcons this week who has allowed the eighth-most points to tight ends so far this season and allowed 14-plus fantasy points to both Rob Gronkowski and Dallas Goedert. Looking for a get-right game after their dismantling in Buffalo in Week 3, Thomas is going to be a top target and stat leader in Week 4.
Benjamin: Sorry to steal that from you Brendan, but I gotta have me a Fant-astic this week! He may be coming off of a down week after the Broncos cake-walked the Jets in Week 3, but I’m not worried. The Broncos face the Ravens in week four, a defense that surrendered over 100 receiving yards each to Darren Waller and Travis Kelce before holding TJ Hockenson and Darren Fells to a combined 45 yards. With KJ Hamler out for the rest of the year, Fant will be looked to for a good number of targets if Denver hopes to compete this week.
Brendan: Fant-astic! Haha That’s great! This dad loves a few dad jokes and the cheesier the better!
Sit: Jonnu Smith – Jared Cook
Brendan: So far this season the big offseason spending on offensive weapons by the Patriots has not panned out. I find this quite hilarious, and also predictable, as I had no trust in the Patriots quarterback room. Smith has also been highly underutilized in this offense only running a pass route on 37.1% of Mac Jones’s dropbacks this season. He was signed as a pass catcher in the offseason, but so far has just been the blocking tight end. The Buccaneers have been giving up the 10th-most points in the league to tight ends this season, but expect most of the targets to go towards Hunter Henry. Sit Smith this week, and contemplate cutting him.
Benjamin: Jared Cook’s targets, receptions, and receiving yards have gone down each following week in the 2021 season. In Week 4, he’ll face off with a Raiders defense that held Mark Andrews to 20 receiving yards on three receptions. Cook has only two career catches and 13 yards against the Raiders in his career. Call me old-fashioned, but I think Smith is going to outperform Cook this week.
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