Week 4 Fantasy Football Sneaky Starts & Sleepers

Sep 25, 2024

Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

All but the luckiest fantasy owners at some point need to find the proverbial diamond in the rough—a waiver wire or bench player capable of putting up some points in a pinch. This weekly feature is dedicated to that part of fantasy football. It's not pretty, but it's part of the game.

I’ll put the defense’s aFPA (adjusted fantasy points allowed) rank in parentheses below. It’s Week 4, so I’m happy to announce that we are now using only 2024 data for our signature strength of schedule metric.

Last week’s Sneaky Starts featured Brock Purdy (QB5), Sam Darnold (QB9), Zach Charbonnet (RB6), Zack Moss (RB9), Jauan Jennings (WR1), Diontae Johnson (WR6), Khalil Shakir (WR17), Andrei Iosivas (WR22), Jalen Tolbert (WR27), Quentin Johnston (WR29), Jalen Nailor (WR34), Wan’Dale Robinson (WR40), Brenton Strange (TE7), and Mike Gesicki (TE11).

Let’s see who might surprise this week.

Quarterbacks

Jared Goff, Lions (vs. SEA, 12)

In his last 19 home games, Goff has averaged 276 yards, 2.3 touchdowns, and just 0.6 interceptions, or 19.8 fantasy points per game. His first two home games this season weren’t great, so I’m betting he posts a good line this week.

Justin Fields, Steelers (@ IND, 22)

Fields was the QB13 in Week 3 and has led the Steelers to three straight wins. The Colts have yielded an average of 240 yards, 1.7 pass touchdowns plus 21 yards rushing to enemy quarterbacks thus far.