Getty Nick Foles #9 of the Chicago Bears.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Quarterbacks edition for Week 4 of the NFL season. In this week’s quarterback edition, we feature a new starter in Chicago. Plus, the reigning No. 1 overall pick is met with a plus-matchup.
* Reminder: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is intended to present you with the non-obvious choices for your fantasy lineup. We dig deep into player matchups, scoring trends, and other factors to best help you with your fantasy decisions. Superstars such as Patrick Mahomes will not be found in this column. If you’re looking for players of his caliber check out our weekly fantasy football quarterback rankings.
Start-Sit [QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | DEF | Ks]
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QB: Start ‘Em
Start of the Week: Aaron Rodgers vs. ATL
Remember when A-Rod was washed? Drafted as a low-end QB1 to a high-end QB2 in most leagues, Rodgers has finished as a top-seven play in two of the first three weeks. Fresh off a three-touchdown performance, he gets a dream matchup against a Falcons defense who has allowed either 450 passing yards or three-plus touchdowns to opposing QBs in every game this season.
Joe Burrow vs. JAC
While it hasn’t equated to on-field wins just yet, the Bengals will continue to put the ball in the hands of their No. 1 pick. Burrow is just two pass attempts shy of Dak Prescott’s NFL leading 143 attempts this year. Burrow has now topped 20.3 fantasy points, 300 yards passing and tossed at least two touchdowns in each of the last two weeks. Speaking of the last two weeks, no QB to face off against the Jaguars over that span has finished worse than QB8.
Jared Goff vs. NYG
The Giants had the league’s No. 2 pass defense in football heading into Week 3. So of course they got scorched by backup Nick Mullens to the tune of 343 yards. After a slow start to the season, Goff has averaged the sixth-most points by a QB over the past two weeks (26.11). The G-Men have surrendered an average of 19.89 points to opposing QBs not named Mitchell Trubisky this season.
Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. SEA
FitzMagic is back in full effect. After a gruesome, three-interception performance in Week 1, Fitzpatrick has now topped 24.0 points per game in each of the past two weeks. He should have more than enough opportunity to produce in a potential shootout against a Seahawks team that has allowed 30-plus points in back-to-back weeks. Oh yeah, and if that’s not enough to entice you, Seattle surrenders the second-most fantasy points to QBs this year.
Sleeper: Baker Mayfield at DAL
Over the last two weeks, Dallas has allowed an average of 32.66 fantasy points (2nd-most in NFL) and a staggering nine total touchdowns to QBs (most in NFL). Mayfield has been okay these past two weeks, but should see a slight uptick from his middle-of-the-pack output vs. the league’s fifth-worst pass defense.
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QB: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Philip Rivers at CHI
Winning with the run game and standout defense, Rivers has not been asked to do much through the air. This is evident by his 12.27 fantasy point average over the last two weeks. He’s also now down two of his top-three wideouts following a calf injury to Michael Pittman Jr. On top of that, opposing QBs have averaged just 10.58 fantasy points against Chicago in the last two weeks.
Carson Wentz at SF
I’d tread carefully when it comes to buying into Wentz’s 23-plus point performance a week ago. He’s been highly inconsistent and a turnover machine this year and the Dallas Goedert injury likely won’t help his case. The 49ers have allowed an average of 10.46 points to QBs over the past two weeks. They’ve also yet to surrender more than 230 passing yards in a single game.
Gardner Minshew at CIN
MinshewMania shot many of us in the foot a week ago. With a matchup against a surprisingly stingy Cincinnati secondary, it’s likely best to send Minshew back to your bench. Minshew has now turned the ball over four times over his last two games and faces off with a Bengals defense that allows the third-fewest fantasy points to QBs in 2020.
Buyers Beware: Nick Foles vs. IND
Will Foles likely be more consistent than Mitch Trubisky for the Bears? Likely. Will he consistently rack up three-touchdown performances as he did in a quarter and a half of play one week ago? Likely not. As we sit here today, the Colts defense is as good as they come in the NFL. Indy allows 55.3 passing yards fewer than the next best unit in football this year. Furthermore, they have allowed a combined total of just 11.24 points to QBs over the past two weeks.