Welcome to the 2020 Fantasy Football Week 4 Quarterback Streaming article!
With another week of football in the books, the fantasy landscape is becoming more and more clear.
In last week's article, I recommended picking up and starting Gardner Minshew, Jared Goff, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Overall it was another up and down week, Goff and Fitzpatrick finished inside the top 10 quarterbacks (QB5 and QB6). However, Minshew finished all the way down at QB31 in an ugly showing without his top receiver, D.J. Chark.
After watching Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson battle it out in prime time, this week we get the juggernaut matchup of the Sam Darnold vs Brett Rypien on TNF. If I promise you neither of those players will appear in this article will you keep reading?
The 2020 Fantasy Football Week 4 Quarterback Streaming will highlight QBs owned in under 50% of NFL.com’s leagues.
2020 Fantasy Football Week 4 Quarterback Streaming
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Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns (17.7% Owned)
Baker Mayfield might seem like a strange recommendation. He’s only thrown for over 200 yards once on the season, he hasn’t thrown for more than two touchdowns in a game, and he’s the QB25 on the year.Â
There is a reason for all this: Kevin Stefanski. Stefanski brought over his run-first mentality from the Vikings to the Browns this year, as evident by the Browns having the third-most rushing yards per game so far.
For Baker, this has meant a corresponding third-fewest passing attempts per game for the Browns, not exactly a fantasy goldmine. Baker has thrown 23 attempts in each of the past two games, games against the pedestrian at best Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Football Team.
Here’s the kicker: in their first game against the Baltimore Ravens where they lost, Baker threw the ball 39 times, which on average is sixth-most in the league. That brings me to this week's matchup
The Matchup
The Cleveland Browns go on the road this week to face the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys, despite being 1-2, have looked like a very component offensive football team. They have scored 31 and 40 in the past two games, and lead the league in yardage at 490.7 yards a game (second place is only 459.7).
So the Cowboys are going to score a lot and Baker is going to have to throw. When that happened in Week 1 Baker still stunk.
However, in Week 1 he was facing a daunting Baltimore Ravens defense that suffocated him. The Cowboys on the other hand allow the third-most team points per game as well as the third-most fantasy points per game to the QB at 25.6.
AFC North QB ratings through week 3:
Baker Mayfield - 75.6
Lamar Jackson - 69.7
Joe Burrow - 51.6
Big Ben - 51 pic.twitter.com/iwcAl9DpCg— Cleveland Sports Fans (@CLE_SPORTS_FANS) September 29, 2020
The Cowboys offense is going to put up massive points and allow massive points, and they allow them through the air (10th least points allowed to fantasy RBs).Â
Look for Baker to have a great game and then try to dump him to one of your league mates before the Browns go back to running the ball next week.
Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings (13.1% Owned)
Kirk Cousins rebounded from an atrocious effort in Week 2 to finish as the QB13 in Week 3. Cousins managed to throw for 251 yards and three touchdowns on only 16 completions.Â
I’m not going to lie to you, this is a scary play. Kirk finished with negative fantasy points in Week 2. Meanwhile the other two weeks he has been surprisingly decent for fantasy, averaging around 20 points per game.
I’m going to guess that Week 2 is the outlier and trust Kirk. The bright side to this pick is that if he works out he could be your starter for a couple of weeks with his great upcoming schedule.
The Matchup
The Minnesota Vikings travel to Houston to square-off against the Texans in this matchup.
Vegas has Houston as four-point favorites, which is good for Kirk’s volume. Unfortunately, Houston has been torn up on the ground so far and that is where the Vikings like to do their damage, so his volume is not a safe bet.
Where things really get juicy are his matchups after this week though. He gets the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5 and the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6, these two teams give up the second and first most fantasy points to QBs respectively.
He is a high-risk pick this week, but if it works out you will be set for the next couple of matchups which is an interesting gamble to take.
Bargain Bin Option
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Miami Dolphins (8.4% Owned)
Ryan Fitzpatrick once again headlines the bargain section this week. His Miami Dolphins stomped the Jacksonville Jaguars in prime time 31-13.Â
Fitzpatrick threw 20 passes for 18 completions, 160 yards, and three touchdowns. That’s a 90% completion rate. He also added 38 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground just to sweeten things. He has been top 12 for two straight weeks with 24+ points in both weeks.
His ownership percentage remains under 10% despite the QB6 finish, which is absolutely bewildering to me. I would play Fitzpatrick over every other option on the list this week, and based on the low ownership, that should be fairly easy to do.Â
My colleagues agree with me as we collectively have Fitzpatrick as the QB17 in this week’s rankings, higher than any of the other streamers I have listed here.
The Matchup
The Miami Dolphins have to take on the red-hot Seattle Seahawks in Miami this week. The Seahawks open as six and a half point favorites in what should be an easy win after a couple of close games for the Seahawks.Â
The Seahawks, while hot offensively, have been a leaky, injured sieve on defense for quarterbacks. They are currently allowing 30 points per game to the position, second-worst in the league. Simultaneously, they have been the fifth-best team at stopping the run, allowing only 12.8 points per game to opposing RBs.
Imagine getting your ankles taken by Ryan Fitzpatrickpic.twitter.com/6PPXyrEnJM
— PFF (@PFF) September 25, 2020
Don’t overthink this one. Fitzpatrick has been hot, he is playing against a good rush D with a bad pass D, and it is one of the highest over/under games of the week.
The Seahawks are going to allow massive fantasy points in the air to the trailing Dolphins all game long in one of the highest over/under games of the week.
Check out the rest of our 2020 Fantasy Football content from our team of excellent writers.
1 comment
[…] In last week’s article, I recommended picking up and starting Baker Mayfield, Kirk Cousins, and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Baker and Kirk disappointed with QB finishes of 20 and 22, but Fitzmagic game through big-time with a QB12 performance. […]