By Scott Kacsmar
There are some great games on this Week 4 NFL slate for creating DFS lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.
In reviewing last week’s picks, because accountability matters:
- I was dead on with Jalen Hurts going over 300 yards and three touchdowns against Washington.
- Leonard Fournette failed to score a touchdown again for the Buccaneers, who have zero rushing scores, but at least he had five catches for 35 yards.
- Tyler Higbee had more receiving yards than Cooper Kupp, but without that first touchdown of the season, he was only TE14 on DraftKings.
- Davante Adams caught another touchdown but failed to crack 40 yards again in a messed-up Las Vegas passing offense.
- Amon-Ra St. Brown had an injury and saw his record streak snapped of games with at least eight catches.
Onto Sunday, here are five of our favorite players to include in your Week 4 NFL DFS lineups.
Quarterback: Marcus Mariota (Falcons) vs. Browns
This is a value pick as Marcus Mariota isn’t in the top 12 quarterback salaries this week. A lot of people will be on Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen in that showdown, but there’s a chance that game can disappoint if the field is a soggy mess from the impact of Hurricane Ian on the east coast.
Meanwhile, Mariota and Jacoby Brissett are dueling in the Atlanta dome in a battle of the only two teams to score at least 26 points in every game this season. With Myles Garrett possibly out after his car accident earlier this week, the Falcons could be in for another surprisingly good offensive performance.
Mariota is only averaging 213.3 passing yards per game, but he is capable of throwing for 250 yards with a couple touchdowns and adding value on the ground where he has scored a touchdown twice in three games. He also rushed for 72 yards in Week 1, his first home start for the Falcons.
With Cordarrelle Patterson banged up, Mariota could have to take over more of the offense in a game that has shootout potential. You could stack him with Drake London.
Running Back: Austin Ekeler (Chargers) vs. Texans
The Chargers might as well forget this season if they start 1-3 with losses to the Jaguars and Texans. Justin Herbert seemed healthy enough to get through last week’s game, but Austin Ekeler has to get going on the ground. This offense is 32nd in rushing yards (177) and 32nd in yards per carry (2.6). Ekeler has caught 17 short passes the last two weeks, but he has not found the end zone once after scoring 20 touchdowns in 2021.
Enter the Houston Texans. No defense has been run on more than Houston, which has allowed 607 yards in three games. This team cannot stop anyone right now, so you do get an interesting matchup of the worst run offense against the worst run defense. Wide receiver Keenan Allen is still out too, so the receptions are going to be there for Ekeler.
The Chargers are not going to completely turn around their offense and give Ekeler 25 carries, but he should have his best game of the season, and he should score his first touchdown. Maybe even two scores, in addition to his usual PPR bonus for all those short catches.
Tight End: Mark Andrews (Ravens) vs. Bills
I say this with only minimal disrespect, but you know it’s a down year for the tight end position when Tyler Conklin on the Jets has the second-most catches (18) through Week 3.
It took four weeks, but here is the first tight end rant of the season. The pick is chalk, because if you can’t trust Mark Andrews against Buffalo, then who can you trust to have a big Sunday afternoon at tight end?
- Tyler Higbee is third in yards by a tight end (170), but he still doesn’t have a touchdown and he plays Monday night.
- George Kittle plays Monday night too and had just 28 yards in his season debut in Denver.
- Travis Kelce plays Sunday night and even he has not been that dominant in the last two weeks with Tyreek Hill gone.
- Darren Waller couldn’t catch a cold in Tennessee and failed to hit 25 yards.
- We cannot just pick the tight end playing Arizona’s defense since that is Carolina’s Ian Thomas (five catches for 79 yards in three games).
- Pat Freiermuth is stuck with Mitch Trubisky and Matt Canada in Pittsburgh.
- Aaron Rodgers forgot he can throw touchdowns to his tight end, Robert Tonyan.
- The Patriots don’t even throw to the tight ends they spent good money on in 2021 (Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith).
- Seattle’s Will Dissly (two) has infinitely more touchdowns than Higbee and Kyle Pitts, who are stuck on zero.
- If you believe in my Mariota pick, then you might be able to stack Pitts with him, though he’ll probably get outscored by Cleveland’s David Njoku.
I will take my chances with Andrews, who is averaging 99.4 yards and 0.9 touchdowns per game over his last eight games. He has a reputation for coming up small in big games because he’s never done anything in the playoffs and had some drops against the Chiefs over the years. But he is playing great football right now, and the Bills are down their top corner (Tre’Davious White) and top safety (Micah Hyde). Just trust him this week.
Wide Receiver: Michael Pittman (Colts) vs. Titans
Despite the win over the Chiefs, the Colts still have some offensive issues with Matt Ryan at quarterback and an offensive line that looks like a weakness again. But the one thing that is working is his connection to Michael Pittman, who had 121 yards and a score in Houston and 72 yards last week on eight catches. He seemed to warm up after a slow start after he missed Week 2 with his quad injury.
If not Pittman, then who in this passing game? Ryan certainly knows how to feed one dominant receiver like he did in later years with Julio Jones in Atlanta. Pittman is not that good, but he works for this offense as a legit No. 1.
Pittman has faced the Titans four times in his career. He had a 101-yard game in his rookie season, and in the last meeting in 2021, he had 10 catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns. The Titans are giving up a lot of plays to wideouts this season.
This is one of the hardest games to predict this weekend, but these teams usually put up points when they meet. Three of the last four games have gone over 50 points. Pittman should be the leading receiver in the game, and hopefully, Ryan can find him in the end zone too.
Flex: D.J. Moore (Panthers) vs. Cardinals
I almost want to go with Dallas wide receiver Michael Gallup in his return game against Washington, but the Cowboys don’t scream 300-yard passing games until Dak Prescott returns.
Let’s go with D.J. Moore after some interesting moments in talking to the media this week when he was asked about getting open in this offense with Baker Mayfield as the quarterback. Moore only had one catch for 2 yards against the Saints, and he has 88 yards in three games this season.
Arizona’s pass defense has allowed seven touchdowns, zero interceptions, 8.4 yards per attempt, and a 118.6 passer rating this season. They also have just two sacks. If the Mayfield-to-Moore connection is ever going to work out, this needs to be a big game for the two. Arizona is one of the only teams the Panthers know how to beat with wins in three straight seasons over them. With Christian McCaffrey a little banged up (again), let’s hope for Moore to have more yards than the first three weeks combined in this game.
