Fantasy Football Week 4: Biggest Takeaways from Sunday

With Week 4 of fantasy football (mostly) in the books, Devonta Freeman tops the list of talking points for the second week in a row. Freeman is now a legitimate RB1, but what are some of the other takeaways from Sunday’s action?

For starters, Week 4 proved that no matter how good your fantasy football process is, sometimes the results just don’t show it. The hashtag #WeKnowNothing was shared by a few fantasy writers on Twitter on Sunday, with Week 4 being dubbed “Jon Snow Week.”

Case in point: Tavon Austin was the highest-scoring fantasy wide receiver in Week 4, while Allen Hurns, Leonard Hankerson, Kenny Stills, Ted Ginn Jr., Riley Cooper, Kamar Aiken, Cecil Shorts and Miles Austin also finished in the top 15. Week 4 was as unpredictable as they come.

That’s not to say there weren’t things to be learned beyond “we don’t know everything.” For example, Todd Gurley looks like the real deal, as does Charles Clay. We also learned that it might be time to start worrying about Lamar Miller.

We’ll go over all of these takeaways and more, starting with Freeman’s spot among the elite.

Devonta Freeman Is a Legitimate RB1

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Devonta Freeman

Last week we took this space to call Devonta Freeman “an RB2 until Tevin Coleman returns.”

We didn’t aim high enough.

Fantasy owners should view Freeman as a legitimate RB1, and while Tevin Coleman’s return from injury (whenever that may be) will add some question marks to the equation, Freeman will assuredly play a vital role in Atlanta’s high-powered offense for the rest of the season. His Week 4 encore proved that his Week 3 breakout was no fluke.

Bleacher Report’s NFL Twitter account noted that Freeman was the first Falcons player with three rushing touchdowns in back-to-back weeks and was the first running back on any team to do it since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006. That’s good company to keep.

Freeman is an RB1 right now and is a must-start—even when Coleman comes back.

Todd Gurley Has Arrived and Is a Safe Fantasy Play

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Todd Gurley

We had to wait nearly a month to see St. Louis Rams rookie running back Todd Gurley in (full) action, but it was oh-so worth it.

The rookie averaged 7.7 yards per carry after rushing 19 times for 146 yards against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 4. That’s an impressive feat, as Arizona was a top-10 defense against running backs (from a fantasy perspective) heading into Week 4, per ESPN.com.

“This was what Rams had in mind last April, when they drafted Todd Gurley in round 1: In today's 4th quarter alone, Gurley ran for 106 yards,” tweeted Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Bleacher Report’s own Matt Miller weighed in as well, noting that Gurley looked great on Sunday—“and not against a cupcake defense.”

NFL.com’s Matt Harmon called Gurley a “stud” and opined that we all “witnessed the beginning of something special today,” while NFL Network’s Albert Breer likened Gurley to Adrian Peterson or Marshawn Lynch in that he’s “the type of back you can build an offense around.”

The above quotes are just a sampling of how excited the fantasy community—and football fans in general—are about Gurley, and while such excitement is expected for a top-10 NFL draft pick, the fact that Gurley is already impressing—after what was his first game with a full workload—only increases the buzz.

Additionally, the Rams truly did lean on Gurley to close out an extremely important divisional game, indicating that they fully trust the talented rookie.

Gurley already has tail-end RB1 appeal, although it’s safer to view him as a solid RB2 at this point. Another outing or two like he had in Week 4, however, and there will be no question that he’s an RB1 for fantasy purposes.

Charles Clay Has Entered Tail-End TE1 Territory

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Charles Clay

Some were down on Buffalo Bills tight end Charles Clay entering the 2015 season, and while it took him some time to get up to full speed (he had just seven catches for 62 yards the first two weeks of the season), Clay has improved each week and is now a viable fantasy option at the tight end position.

In truth, Clay was always a fringe TE1. But the knock against him was that he wasn’t consistent enough. The other thing working against Clay was Buffalo’s murky quarterback situation, but with Tyrod Taylor playing the position better than anyone expected, Clay has thrived and that question has been answered.

Through three weeks, Clay was a top-10 scorer at the tight end position, and after a nine-catch, 111-yard performance in Week 4, he’ll undoubtedly move up the ranks.

The tight end position is loaded with talent—Rob Gronkowski, Travis Kelce, Greg Olsen, Jason Witten, Jimmy Graham, Tyler Eifert, Martellus Bennett and Antonio Gates come to mind—so it’s actually difficult to be considered a tail-end TE1; it’s not a backhanded compliment.

It's Now Fair to Worry About Lamar Miller

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Lamar Miller

It’s officially fair to worry about Lamar Miller, and the worst part is that it’s not all his fault.

Miller has 37 carries through four games. He’s also added 10 receptions to give him 47 total touches on the season, or just under 12 per game. That’s simply not enough for a player who has as much talent as Miller. To make matters worse, in Week 3 against the Bills, Miller saw fewer carries and yards than Jonas Gray. And Jarvis Landry—a wide receiver—had more rushing yards than Miller in Week 4.

Additionally, Miller’s use has been trending the wrong direction. His carries per game: 13, 10, seven and seven.

Miller, who entered the 2015 season as a tail-end RB1, is now more of a tail-end RB2—with more room to fall.

Cincy RBs Hill and Bernard Are Must-Starts

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Jeremy Hill

There’s plenty of room in the jungle for both Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard.

The duo is clearly in a time-share—Bernard had 13 carries in Week 4 while Hill had nine—but Hill scored three times and Bernard found the end zone once. With Cincinnati’s offense rolling, there are enough scoring opportunities to go around that both players should be in starting lineups each week.

There were worries over the first few weeks of the season that Hill was done for, and while his Week 4 performance should alleviate most of those concerns, the fact that he had only nine carries (and had fewer carries than Bernard) might still scare some people. But Hill’s work near the goal line is encouraging enough, and perhaps his scoring outburst in Week 4 will spark something good.

At this point, both Hill and Bernard should be in starting lineups each and every week. Even though they limit each other’s potential, both are seeing enough action to warrant a start in fantasy.

It's Time to Pay Attention to Ted Ginn Jr.

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Ted Ginn Jr.

Carolina Panthers wideout Ted Ginn Jr. caught only two passes in Week 4, but both went for touchdowns. He now has three touchdowns through three weeks and has assumed the role of “top wide receiver” in Carolina.

Ginn is still clearly behind Greg Olsen on the pecking order for targets in Carolina, but his big-play ability is still intact. And with Newton now targeting Ginn near the end zone—like he did in Week 4—Ginn moves closer to flex territory.

He is owned in about one-third of ESPN.com fantasy leagues, but that number should be well above the 50 percent mark by the time Week 5 rolls around (although Carolina is on a bye in Week 5, so his ownership shares may take a little longer to rise).

Ginn is not a slam-dunk flex option, but he’s not a bad option in the flex given his upside. In any event, he’s certainly worth rostering at this point.

The Kicker You Own Matters Now (at Least a Little)

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Justin Tucker

Taking a kicker early in drafts is the fantasy football equivalent of a mortal sin, but if you did it this year, you’re probably saying, “See, I told you so!” for the first time—literally ever.

Kickers were an absolute mess in Week 4, which means they were a mess for fantasy players as well.

Justin Tucker, Stephen Gostkowski and Brandon McManus are among the must-owns. There are obviously a handful of other kickers worth owning—and I can’t mention all of them here—but the point is that the kicker position seems to matter more in fantasy in 2015 than it has in years past.

If you own a stable kicker, you don’t have to worry that he’ll be out of a job by this time next week (meaning you’ll have to hit the waiver wire). And it can be hard to cobble together a worthwhile fantasy kicker by “streaming” options. Take the below exchange as an example:

After Evan Silva dubbed Week 4 “#KickerWeek” on Twitter—referencing all the misses—someone named David Lewy (@slappydavid) responded to Silva’s tweet by saying he’s been streaming kickers this season with terrible results: three points, minus-one point, minus-two points and zero points. Lewy is undoubtedly not alone here.

In fact, even some NFL teams are streaming kickers with poor results.