Fantasy Football Week 4 Rankings: Projections for Players with Matchups We Love

A good matchup can make your week in fantasy football. Sometimes, you don't need better players than your opponent; you simply need better matchups. This week is no exception.

Below, we'll focus on the matchups that will benefit you the most this week as we go through the Week 4 rankings at every position. Spoiler alert: It's going to be a very good thing to have quite a few San Diego Chargers.

Schedule

Sunday, Sept. 28	Time (ET)
Monday, Sept. 29	Time (ET)
Miami at Oakland	1 p.m.
Green Bay at Chicago	1 p.m.
Buffalo at Houston	1 p.m.
Tennessee at Indianapolis	1 p.m.
Carolina at Baltimore	1 p.m.
Detroit at NY Jets	1 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh	1 p.m.
Jacksonville at San Diego	4:05 p.m.
Philadelphia at San Francisco	4:25 p.m.
Atlanta at Minnesota	4:25 p.m.
New Orleans at Dallas	8:30 p.m.
New England at Kansas City	8:30 p.m.

Quarterbacks

Rank	Player	Proj. Points
1	Matt Stafford	26
2	Drew Brees	23
3	Philip Rivers	23
4	Aaron Rodgers	20
5	Colin Kaepernick	20
6	Matt Ryan	17
7	Nick Foles	17
8	Cam Newton	17
9	Jay Cutler	17
10	Andrew Luck	16
11	Tony Romo	16
12	Tom Brady	15
13	Ben Roethlisberger	15
14	Jake Locker*	14
15	Joe Flacco	13

Quarterback Matchups We Love

At first glance, a matchup against the New York Jets might not seem all that favorable for Matt Stafford. After all, New York is first in run defense and ninth in pass defense. So why do we love Stafford this week?

Well, the Jets may not give up a ton of passing yards, but they do give up a ton of passing touchdowns. After three games, the Jets have allowed seven touchdowns through the air and are allowing 19 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks per week, 29th in the NFL.

The problem for the Jets is that their secondary is just dreadful, and it's hard to imagine them stopping Calvin Johnson unless they double-team him—and let's be honest, we've seen Megatron beat the double-team on numerous occasions—which should open up opportunities for Golden Tate, Reggie Bush out of the backfield and the team's small army of capable tight ends.

While the Jets do have 10 sacks on the year, that's a product of Rex Ryan turning the Blitz Meter up to 10 and sending wave after wave of pressure at quarterbacks in an attempt to hide the woes of the secondary. But as the old cliche goes, "live by the blitz, die by the blitz," and the Jets are often left vulnerable in the back when they don't get to the quarterback. 

Stafford is savvy enough to beat that blitz, and he can simply hurl the ball downfield and trust Megatron to come down with it. He's going to have a big week.  

So too will Colin Kaepernick against the Philadelphia Eagles, a team giving up 20.3 fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks per week, 31st in the NFL. The Eagles not only have a pretty poor secondary, but they also have a nonexistent pass rush, as they've managed only three sacks on the season and didn't appear to so much as touch Kirk Cousins last week. 

Plus, Kaepernick could be getting his top target, Vernon Davis, back this week, and the Eagles will have headaches trying to deal with him. He practiced Wednesday, per Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area:

Given that the Niners have struggled defending the pass and the high-tempo Eagles come into the game sixth in yards per game and second in points per contest, this one could quickly become a shootout. Kaepernick has been steady if unspectacular for fantasy owners thus far. On Sunday, he should finally cross the 20-point threshold.

And then there's Philip Rivers, who has been fabulous to start the year and faces a Jacksonville Jaguars team that has given up the most passing yards (918), touchdowns (tied with the Eagles at eight) and fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks per week (22). 

Not only is the matchup incredibly tasty, but the Chargers are also without Ryan Mathews and Danny Woodhead, and while they did give Donald Brown 31 carries a week ago, the Chargers won't need to give him that type of workload this week, as they should have plenty of success through the air.

Get Rivers in those lineups and reap the rewards.

Running Backs

Rank	Player	Proj. Points
1	Matt Forte	23
2	DeMarco Murray	20
3	Jamaal Charles**	20
4	Le'Veon Bell	18
5	LeSean McCoy	15
6	Eddie Lacy	15
7	Arian Foster*	14
8	Donald Brown	13
9	Frank Gore	13
10	Lamar Miller	13
11	Matt Asiata	13
12	Ahmad Bradshaw	12
13	Doug Martin	11
14	Darren Sproles	10
15	C.J. Spiller	10
16	Maurice Jones-Drew	10
17	DeAngelo Williams*	9
18	Trent Richardson	9
19	Reggie Bush	8
20	Bernard Pierce*	7
21	Chris Ivory	7
22	Fred Jackson	7
23	Stevan Ridley	7
24	Joique Bell	6
25	Carlos Hyde	6
26	Khiry Robinson	6
27	Pierre Thomas	6
28	Toby Gerhart	5
29	Shonn Greene	5
30	Chris Johnson	4

Running Back Matchups We Love

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

One quick word before we break down the top matchups. Generally speaking in these rankings, I'm projecting a player's realistic upside, which is why a player such as LeSean McCoy, who has a tough matchup against the Niners, is projected for 15 points. So dynamic is Philly's offense that I generally view McCoy as a safe start. So if that number perhaps seems a bit high to you, that's my reasoning for the ranking. 

Matt Forte's projection shouldn't seem all that high, however, as he's facing a Green Bay defense that is allowing 23.7 fantasy points to opposing running backs per week, 28th in the NFL. Forte has had some tough matchups to start the season, but against the Packers, he should absolutely tear it up. 

History suggests he'll do just that. Last year, he notched 23 points against Green Bay in Week 9 and a shocking 33 points against the team in Week 17. Forte owners can sit back and enjoy the show, in other words.

Remember when we talked about Jacksonville's horrid pass defense? Well, it's also pretty terrible against the run, giving up a league-worst 28.7 fantasy points per week to opposing running backs. With Donald Brown getting the lion's share of the work in San Diego's backfield, it's hard to imagine him not having a very nice week.

Will he get 31 carries again this week? No, probably not. But given that the Jags are giving up 4.7 yards per carry (23rd in the NFL) and have allowed four rushing touchdowns (tied 24th with seven teams), he won't need 31 carries to have a very nice afternoon.

Meanwhile, over in London, Lamar Miller should have a nice game against an Oakland Raiders defense that is giving up 158.7 rushing yards per week (31st in the league) and 20.7 fantasy points to opposing backs per contest (26th). Miller proved last week that he could fill in for Knowshon Moreno with aplomb, rushing 15 times for 108 yards and finishing with 12 fantasy points.

Very quietly, he's notched double-digit points in two of three weeks now. Miller's going to put on a show for the English audience.

And then there's Matt Asiata, a player whose fantasy value comes entirely from his usage because, quite frankly, he's not terribly talented. I call it the Ringo Starr Theory—opportunity often trumps talent. (Nick Foles is another great example of the Ringo Starr Theory.) But hey, who needs talent when you have 33 touches the past two weeks, as opposed to eight for Jerick McKinnon?

Plus, this week, he faces an Atlanta Falcons defense that is leaking fantasy points to opposing running backs, giving up 34 to New Orleans backs in Week 1 and 37 to Cincinnati's backfield in Week 2. Expect Asiata to be more "Yellow Submarine" than "I'm the Greatest" on Sunday. 

Wide Receivers

Rank	Player	Proj. Points
1	Calvin Johnson*	24
2	Antonio Brown	18
3	Dez Bryant	18
4	Brandon Marshall	16
5	Jeremy Maclin	16
6	Julio Jones	15
7	Jordy Nelson	15
8	Michael Crabtree	15
9	Randall Cobb	13
10	Julian Edelman	12
11	Andre Johnson	12
12	Alshon Jeffery	11
13	Cordarrelle Patterson	11
14	Kelvin Benjamin	11
15	Mike Wallace	10
16	DeAndre Hopkins	10
17	Golden Tate	10
18	Vincent Jackson	10
19	Roddy White	10
20	Sammy Watkins	9
21	Anquan Boldin	9
22	Keenan Allen	8
23	Steve Smith	8
24	Brandin Cooks	7
25	Reggie Wayne	7
26	Marques Colston	7
27	Terrance Williams	7
28	Kendall Wright	7
29	Malcom Floyd	6
30	Torrey Smith	6
31	T.Y. Hilton	6
32	Markus Wheaton	6
33	Eric Decker*	6
34	Hakeem Nicks	5
35	Mike Evans	5

Wide Receiver Matchups We Love

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

We've already touched upon the difficulty the Jets and the Eagles have had against the pass thus far, so we don't need to go into too much more depth on Megatron, Golden Tate, Michael Crabtree or Anquan Boldin. Not surprisingly, the Jets are 29th in points allowed to opposing wide receivers, and the Eagles are 30th. 

That hasn't stopped Antonio Allen from talking a big game, of course, via Darryl Slater of NJ.com:

"

I feel like it’s going to be a great matchup. I’m going to do everything in my power to not let him walk out of that game with a catch. That’s my standard for all the receivers I ever go up against. I haven’t seen anything on film yet, but I’m pretty sure he has some weaknesses, just like everybody else, some things he can work on. It’s going to be my job to watch the film and try to exploit it.

"

We shall see. My money's on Megatron.

Here's a surprise: The 49ers are 31st in the NFL in points allowed to opposing wideouts, giving up 27.7 points per week to the position. Jeremy Maclin has already registered double-digit fantasy points in all three weeks and probably could have had three more touchdowns had Foles either seen him or not overthrown him this year, so he seems like a safe bet to produce against San Francisco. 

And then there's Antonio Brown, who now has 10 or more fantasy points in 10 of his last 12 games and has seven or more in 16 of his last 19 contests. Just call him Mr. Consistency.

Actually, you can probably call him Mr. Huge Week against a Tampa Bay defense that is giving up 30.7 fantasy points to opposing receivers per week, worst in the NFL, and made Julio Jones look like a superhero last week. 

In deeper leagues, Markus Wheaton is certainly worthy of flex consideration given the matchup, though it's probably wise to temper your expectations with him a bit more than you would with Brown. Still, he's a nice lottery ticket if you are in a pinch at your flex, so don't ignore him this week.

Tight Ends

Rank	Player
1	Jimmy Graham
2	Rob Gronkowski
3	Vernon Davis*
4	Antonio Gates
5	Martellus Bennett
6	Greg Olsen
7	Delanie Walker
8	Zach Ertz
9	Jason Witten
10	Owen Daniels

Tight End Matchups We Love

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

In my weekly fantasy rankings grades, where I try to determine just how smart it is to start a player, Jimmy Graham earned the first perfect score I've ever awarded. That's how good this matchup is and how safe I think Graham is for owners this week. 

Consider that the Dallas Cowboys are giving up an astonishing 17 points to opposing tight ends per week, worst in the NFL. So yes, the game's best tight end is facing the defense that has struggled the most against the position this year. It's going to be raining fantasy points for Graham owners this week.

Defense/Special Teams

Rank	Defense	Proj. Points
1	New England Patriots	15
2	Detroit Lions	14
3	Houston Texans	13
4	San Diego Chargers	12
5	Miami Dolphins	11
6	Carolina Panthers	10
7	Pittsburgh Steelers	9
8	Houston Texans	9
9	Buffalo Bills	8
10	Atlanta Falcons	7

Defense/Special Teams Matchups We Love

Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

I'm going to get flagged for unnecessary roughness on the Jaguars this week, but would you believe they're giving up the most fantasy points to opposing defenses each week, an insane 16.3 points per contest?

At this point, you could probably start the San Diego cheerleaders on your fantasy team, and they'd somehow get you 10 points. The numbers don't lie, folks—the Jaguars are like a treasure map that takes opposing players to a treasure chest of fantasy points. Follow the map!

Kickers

Rank	Kicker	Proj. Points
1	Nick Novak	15
2	Dan Bailey	14
3	Shaun Suisham	14
4	Cody Parkey	13
5	Stephen Gostkowski	12
6	Matt Bryant	11
7	Robbie Gould	11
8	Mason Crosby	10
9	Adam Vinatieri	10
10	Caleb Sturgis	10

Kicker Matchups We Love

Yup, the Jaguars have given up the most points to opposing kickers this year, allowing 13.3 per week. Nick Novak is a pretty safe start this week. In other news, I don't think it would be safe for me to visit Jacksonville anytime soon.

All point totals and points-against statistics via ESPN standard scoring leagues.  

Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer your fantasy questions and make some corny jokes, too. It's more fun than Andy Dalton and Johnny Manziel playing receiver.