Welcome back to Week 4 of Keeping it Real With Fantasy! If you haven’t noticed already, we have added yet another elite expert to our already prestigious lineup—let’s welcome Drew Maier to Still Keeping It Real With Fantasy. As the season progresses we’ve begun to realize that the NFL continues to recycle the same few stories. The Giants lost to a heartbreaking field goal. Again. The Jets disappointed all of New York. Again. All jokes aside, the Buccaneers, the reigning champions, were finally bested by the LA Rams. Brady had to watch Matthew Stafford torch the Bucc’s defense for four touchdowns. The Packers pulled off a come from behind win against the 49ers on Monday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers has proven, once again, that he can still perform at a high level. Looking ahead, Week 4 presents some great matchups. 

News & Injuries

Christian McCaffery (RB) – Fantasy players across the nation winced at the sight of the golden boy of Fantasy coming down with an injury. McCaffery went down after his seven rushing attempts for 31 yards last week. He suffered a grade one calf sprain and will possibly miss three to four weeks.

KJ Hamler (WR) – The Broncos are rolling right now. Under their new leader Teddy Bridgewater, the team is 3-0. However, during their 26-0 shutout against the Jets, Hamler tore his ACL mid game. He will miss the remainder of the season. 

Sterling Shepard (WR) – The standout receiver suffered a hamstring injury against the Falcons. He led the Giants in receiving stats with 16 catches, 207 yards and a single touchdown. Hopefully he’s healthy for the Giants game against the Saints this coming Sunday.  

Starts

Matthew Stafford – After closing out a great game against the Buccaneers, Stafford and the Rams crew proved to be a top threat to other teams chasing the trophy. Being traded to the Rams has revived Stafford’s career and now he will be able to unveil his full potential to his top targets and push this team closer to the ultimate goal. Throwing for 343 yards and four touchdowns–against a top 3 defense in the NFL mind you–is going to be a normal occurrence for Stafford in the coming weeks. Fantasy owners should have him start weekly as his production is going to rise and be consistent with a new look offense. 

Ja’Marr Chase – With a new QB1 and WR1 in town, Cincinnati fans finally have something to look forward to every Sunday. Stemming from college, Joe Burrow of the Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase have already been creating chemistry, as they won the national championship back in 2019. This new duo has started to find their touch in the big leagues and are putting up a fight against every team. Only hauling in five targets, Chase was able to grab two touchdowns and lead the team to victory against the Steel curtain (Steelers). Targets are bound to go up for the rookie and his numbers are going to follow. He is slowly becoming a WR1 in Fantasy, so keep an eye out for the production of this young receiver. 

Sits

Allen Robinson – It hurts to be putting this receiver in this column, but with the situation at hand, it is only right for him to be here. We’re talking about the talented Allen Robinson. Robinson has always struggled to find a consistent QB and to this day the problem stands. With the rookie, Justin Fields, at the commanding spot, he still needs to get settled in, which is affecting Robinson’s production. He has been inconsistent with only two receptions and four points in Fantasy, which is worrying for fantasy owners and could ultimately sway them to put up trade offers for the WR1. At this point, free Allen Robinson as his talent and skills are going to waste. 

Derek Carr – Another player to sit for this week is Derek Carr. Carr has looked great through the first three weeks of the season as he has unexpectedly led the Las Vegas Raiders to a 3-0 start. He is currently first in total passing yards in the entire NFL. Although he has started electric, he will have a pretty tough matchup versus the Los Angeles Chargers in prime time on Monday Night Football. The Chargers have had a very consistent pass defense this year. In fact, they held Patrick MaHomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to just 24 points in a win this past Sunday, which by the Chiefs’ standards, is not that good. They also forced three turnovers in the first half vs. last year’s Super Bowl runner up. Expect this defense to lock in on the Raiders’ biggest pass catching threats: Darren Waller and Henry Ruggs. This is why we are choosing to sit Derek Carr this week.

Waiver Wires

Chuba Hubbard – Hubbard is a must add in all leagues. Because Christian McCaffery will be sidelined for a few weeks with a calf sprain injury, a bigger opportunity is in store for Hubbard on a team that utilizes the running back position the most in the league. In just one half of football after McCaffery left the game, Hubbard totaled 10.9 fantasy points. He is expected to see a big workload against a very vulnerable Dallas Cowboys defense this week.

Alexander Mattison – Mattison is another player who stepped in for a star running back this past week. This time, it was starting Vikings running back Dalvin Cook who got injured. Cook was a late scratch to the game and Mattison got the spot start. Filling in for the injured Cook, Mattison had a grand total of 23.1 fantasy points against a tough Seattle Seahawks defense. He should be added right away in all leagues. If Cook continues to miss any more time, Mattison is a must start every week.

Guest Take: Jake Cohen

In an effort to stray away from the NFL’s habit of recycling the same ideas week to week, we have decided to feature an occasional guest take. This week, we offer you Jake Cohen, one of our excellent staff writers who specializes in sports.

Trade Target

Amari Cooper – Cooper is one player you should be trading for as he has played under his value for two weeks in a row and you will be able to trade for less than he is worth. Cooper is a solid WR1/WR2 as before Dak’s season-ending injury last year, he was on pace for over 120 catches and 1200 yards. Cooper will likely reciprocate these numbers this year and based on his 38 point performance week one. Cooper has been struggling with a rib injury over the past two weeks, but sooner rather than later he will regain his dominance on the field.