Fantasy Football Week 4: Updated Rankings for Sunday's Action

Let's face it: We all need some last-minute fantasy advice. Sure, the best bet when setting your lineup is generally to trust your gut and ignore the instinct to change things at the last moment, but sometimes another bit of advice is just what the doctor ordered.

Below, I've graded the top fantasy players based on how smart it is to start them this week, taking into account ability, matchup, offense and consistency. Think of it as your weekly scouting report on the top fantasy options. 

Notes: For a full explanation of the rankings, go here. Abridged version: "Ability" measures a player's overall talent, proficiency at his position and ability to produce fantasy numbers. "Offense" measures how much that team's offense improves his fantasy stock. The overall "startability" grade is weighted. All point totals and points-against statistics via ESPN standard scoring leagues. 

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	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
1	Matt Stafford	48	23	13	8	A+ (92)
2	Drew Brees	49	14	14	9	A (86)
3	Philip Rivers	42	24	10	7	A (83)
4	Aaron Rodgers	49	10	14	9	A (82)
5	Colin Kaepernick	44	23	10	5	A (82)
6	Matt Ryan	46	12	11	7	B+ (76)
7	Nick Foles	40	13	14	7	B (74)
8	Cam Newton	47	9	10	8	B (74)
9	Jay Cutler	41	15	13	4	B (73)
10	Andrew Luck	48	5	12	8	B (73)
11	Tony Romo	42	14	10	6	B- (72)
12	Tom Brady	45	15	4	5	C (69)
13	Ben Roethlisberger	41	15	7	4	C (67)
14	Jake Locker*	36	21	4	3	C- (64)
15	Joe Flacco	39	8	5	3	D (55)

For the quarterbacks this week, the matchups had a major effect on the rankings. Matt Stafford's tasty matchup against the Green Bay Packers vaults him up the rankings—ditto for Philip Rivers against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Colin Kaepernick against the Philadelphia Eagles—while Andrew Luck is a fringe QB1 despite leading the position. 

Luck faces a Tennessee Titans defense giving up just 10.3 fantasy points to opposing defenses per week, second in the NFL. You may not have a choice but to start Luck, but his upside seems pretty low.

I'm not terribly worried about Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, despite neither player having great fantasy seasons thus far. History suggests each player will rebound.

It's time to stop trusting Tony Romo and Tom Brady. Neither player has exceeded 15 fantasy points yet this season. Feel free to toss them into the QB2 bin, as their offenses continue to focus on the run game.

Running Backs

Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
1	Matt Forte	47	21	14	10	A+ (92)
2	DeMarco Murray	46	15	13	9	A (83)
3	Jamaal Charles	48	10	14	10	A (82)
4	Le'Veon Bell	46	12	13	9	A (80)
5	LeSean McCoy	49	3	15	10	A- (77)
6	Eddie Lacy	44	15	12	6	A- (77)
7	Arian Foster*	47	6	13	10	A- (76)
8	Donald Brown	33	25	13	5	A- (76)
9	Frank Gore	42	15	11	7	B+ (75)
10	Lamar Miller	39	20	8	4	B (71)
11	Matt Asiata	30	22	14	3	B (69)
12	Ahmad Bradshaw	36	15	8	7	B (66)
13	Doug Martin	40	14	6	5	B (65)
14	Darren Sproles	41	3	12	6	B - (62)
15	C.J. Spiller	43	6	8	5	B - (62)
16	Maurice Jones-Drew	35	18	5	4	B - (62)
17	DeAngelo Williams*	34	13	10	4	B - (61)
18	Trent Richardson	34	15	8	3	B- (60)
19	Reggie Bush	43	1	9	6	C+ (59)
20	Bernard Pierce*	35	10	8	5	C+ (58)
21	Chris Ivory	38	6	8	6	C+ (58)
22	Fred Jackson	37	6	8	5	C (56)
23	Stevan Ridley	36	9	7	4	C (56)
24	Joique Bell	40	1	9	6	C (56)
25	Carlos Hyde	35	15	4	2	C (56)
26	Khiry Robinson	33	10	7	4	C- (54)
27	Pierre Thomas	36	10	4	4	C- (54)
28	Toby Gerhart	35	15	1	3	C- (54)
29	Shonn Greene	31	17	4	2	C- (54)
30	Chris Johnson	37	6	6	5	C- (54)

Let's call a spade a spade. If you have one of the top 15 running backs, you are starting him no matter what. Running back has been too unpredictable this year to distrust any of the top guys on a weekly basis. 

So let's instead focus on some of the guys either in platoons or potentially facing one.

Maurice Jones-Drew started as the main man in Oakland, so if he's back this week, you absolutely want him over Darren McFadden, who didn't do a ton in MJD's absence to prove he deserves to be the starter (96 rushing yards the past two weeks).

In Indianapolis, Ahmad Bradshaw continues to outshine Trent Richardson, exceeding him in yards from scrimmage (264 to 226), touchdowns (three to zero) and fantasy points (42 to 18) despite getting 11 fewer touches on the season. If we've noticed how much more effective Bradshaw has been, surely the Colts coaching staff has noticed too.

I'm pretty wary of both running backs in New England, but Stevan Ridley is the one you want. In the past two weeks, he's gotten 19 more touches than Shane Vereen. Neither is a great matchup this week against a Kansas City defense giving up just 12.7 fantasy points to opposing running backs per week, 10th in the NFL. 

Steven Senne/Associated Press

In New Orleans, well, I gave up trying to figure out the New Orleans backfield years ago. Both Khiry Robinson and Pierre Thomas are risky flex options, and that's about it.

The Detroit Lions are seemingly one of the few teams that can support two running backs worth starting weekly for fantasy owners, but neither Reggie Bush nor Joique Bell is is a high-upside start against the New York Jets, the league's best rush defense.

In Baltimore, a healthy Bernard Pierce is the man to own for now, but Lorenzo Taliaferro is one for the future. Chris Johnson might be the starter for the Jets, but Chris Ivory has outperformed him and continues to be the better fantasy option. CJ2K's best days are behind him.

Finally, in Buffalo, I still believe C.J. Spiller is the upside guy, but Fred Jackson is going to get enough work to infuriate Spiller owners from week to week and keep him worth rostering and flexing on occasion. 

Wide Receivers

Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
1	Calvin Johnson*	50	22	14	10	A+ (96)
2	Antonio Brown	47	20	11	10	A (89)
3	Dez Bryant	49	18	13	9	A (89)
4	Brandon Marshall	48	13	14	10	A (85)
5	Jeremy Maclin	39	20	14	8	A- (81)
6	Julio Jones	49	10	13	8	A- (80)
7	Jordy Nelson	48	9	14	8	A- (79)
8	Michael Crabtree	40	23	10	6	A- (79)
9	Randall Cobb	45	9	13	8	B (75)
10	Julian Edelman	39	16	12	8	B (75)
11	Andre Johnson	46	15	5	8	B (74)
12	Alshon Jeffery	44	13	12	5	B (74)
13	Cordarrelle Patterson	42	18	9	5	B (74)
14	Kelvin Benjamin	38	19	10	6	B (73)
15	Mike Wallace	44	8	12	7	B- (72)
16	DeAndre Hopkins	43	15	7	6	B- (71)
17	Golden Tate	35	22	10	4	B- (71)
18	Vincent Jackson	45	10	7	6	C+ (68)
19	Roddy White	38	10	11	6	C (65)
20	Sammy Watkins	41	13	7	4	C (65)
21	Anquan Boldin	34	23	5	3	C (65)
22	Keenan Allen	35	17	10	3	C (65)
23	Steve Smith	36	10	10	7	C (63)
24	Brandin Cooks	37	9	10	6	C- (62)
25	Reggie Wayne	40	6	8	6	C- (62)
26	Marques Colston	38	9	8	5	C (60)
27	Terrance Williams	33	18	4	4	D+ (59)
28	Kendall Wright	36	12	5	5	D+ (58)
29	Malcom Floyd	28	17	10	2	D+ (57)
30	Torrey Smith	38	10	4	3	D (55)
31	T.Y. Hilton	35	6	8	4	D (53)
32	Markus Wheaton	26	20	3	2	D (52)
33	Eric Decker*	37	2	6	6	D (51)
34	Hakeem Nicks	32	6	8	4	D (50)
35	Mike Evans	33	10	3	1	D- (47)

Let's just talk about Antonio Brown for a moment, shall we? Here's a guy who has now 10 or more fantasy points in 10 of his last 12 games and seven or more points in 16 of his last 19 games. Already this year, he has 22 catches for 296 yards and three touchdowns, and his 48 fantasy points are second only to Julio Jones (51).

Not only that, but he faces a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that just gave up 58 fantasy points to Atlanta Falcons receivers last week. Yes, you read that correctly. That's more points than 18 teams have given up in the entirety of the 2014 season thus far. Brown is going to feast this week, folks.

For a while now, I believed there were a few tiers among wide receivers in fantasy football. Calvin Johnson was the first tier (and it's scary to think of what he might do to the Jets secondary this weekend). Brandon Marshall, Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, A.J. Green and Jordy Nelson, not necessarily in that order, were the second tier. 

Well, it's time to include Brown in that second tier as well. He's clearly Ben Roethlisberger's favorite target, and he's become as consistent a producer at the position as any other player in fantasy.

Tight Ends

Rank	Player	Ability (0/50)	Matchup (0/25)	Offense (0/15)	Consistency (0/10)	OVERALL GRADE (0/100)
1	Jimmy Graham	50	25	15	10	A+ (100)
2	Rob Gronkowski	47	15	13	9	A (84)
3	Vernon Davis*	44	15	11	8	A- (78)
4	Antonio Gates	37	24	10	6	A- (77)
5	Martellus Bennett	40	5	12	7	B (64)
6	Greg Olsen	41	2	11	8	B (62)
7	Delanie Walker	33	18	7	4	B (62)
8	Zach Ertz	40	5	11	6	B (62)
9	Jason Witten	40	7	7	7	B (61)
10	Owen Daniels	36	9	8	5	C+ (58)

I can tell you one thing: After Larry Donnell's huge Thursday night performance, he's likely going to be a TE1 most weeks going forward. What a show he put on. 

I mean, he's no Jimmy Graham—who gets a perfect grade for this week, which is just crazy, but Dallas has given up 51 fantasy points to opposing tight ends this year, worst in the NFL—but he has quickly become Eli Manning's favorite red-zone target. 

Beyond that, trust your studs at the position this week. There isn't enough depth at tight end to get cute. 

Defense

Rank	Defense
1	New England Patriots
2	Detroit Lions
3	Houston Texans
4	San Diego Chargers
5	Miami Dolphins
6	Carolina Panthers
7	Pittsburgh Steelers
8	Buffalo Bills
9	Atlanta Falcons
10	Indianapolis Colts

Kickers

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

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.