Fantasy football – NFL Week 4 start sit: Players to upgrade, tough matchups

Throughout the NFL regular season, we’ll meet here on Thursdays to break down the film from a fantasy football perspective. I’m looking for trends and tendencies on both side of the ball to give fantasy managers a jump when they set their weekly lineups. Schemes matter. So does offensive deployment in weekly matchups. And remember, the game tape always tells us a story.

Heading into Week 4, we’ll look at a veteran quarterback — in a prime matchup — who jumps into the QB1 mix for the first time this season. Plus, I have questions on multiple running backs here. And there’s a rookie wide receiver with vertical-play ability we need to monitor this Sunday, too.

All references to fantasy scoring are for PPR leagues unless otherwise noted.

Week 4 upgrades

Russell Wilson, QB, Denver Broncos

This is a matchup play against a Bears defense that is allowing an average of 21.4 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. Wilson has produced back-to-back weeks of at least 300 yards passing, plus he has thrown for multiple touchdowns in two of three games this season. Remember, the Bears are the league’s most zone-heavy team (73.6% of coverage snaps), and they can’t get to the quarterback. Chicago has produced a league-low one sack on the season, with just nine quarterback hits. Play Wilson this week as a low-end QB1.