StatLogic Sports Week 4 NFL Fantasy Football & DFS Gameday Guide

By Scott L. - SL Sports Staff

Starting with Week 5 of the National Football League season, fantasy managers will be faced with bye weeks. That’s next week.

The bad news about byes is that they automatically send some of our best players to the bench, but the good news is that they take some of the decision-making out of managers’ hands.

Fewer decisions, less stress and fewer mistakes.

No such luck for Week 4 of this 2025 NFL campaign, however.

There are a few factors impacting Week 4 decisions, too, and compounding their importance. First, for teams that are 0-3 it’s really a must-win week, so every decision seems that much more important. Managers of 1-2 teams also are starting to feel some of that stress as well.

Also, for those managers and the rest of us, we are reaching the point of the season where some of our automatic starts have played themselves out of the lineup – or at least come very close to doing that. For the managers of teams sitting at .500 or better, it’s probably still fine to give high draft picks such as Ja’Marr Chase, Brian Thomas Jr., Drake London and Ladd McConkey more time. For managers facing more desperate situations, though, the time to make a move may be now.

With players such as Keenan Allen, Emeka Egbuka, Jakobi Meyers, Deebo Samuel, Courland Sutton and even Chris Olave having complied several weeks of consistent and productive play to date – and having favorable situations for Week 4 – It’s hard to ignore them.

No matter which direction managers take, of course, there always is going to be some FOMO that goes along with the tough decisions. The fear of missing out; no one wants to be the manager who benches Thomas the week he goes off, and it’s possible that McConkey could see 15 targets any given week as defenses adjust to Allen and Quentin Johnston.

For now, we don’t advise benching or trading Ja’Marr Chase until Jake Browning proves over a representative sample size that he’s completely incompetent. Chase is too good, and Browning has shown in the past that he’s capable of guiding the Cincinnati offense in an efficient manner. While it’s just a matter of time for. Chase, who is good enough that Browning ultimately will force targets in his direction, Tee Higgins might need a week or two off.  

Managers of teams that are doing well and who had strong drafts also might fear turning their backs on players who are putting up numbers right this minute and might be able to help them bank enough wins to almost ensure a playoff berth.

These decisions are never easy, but based on Week 5 matchups, player performance to date and expected volume, we would take no issue with playing Allen, Egbuka, Olave, Sutton or even Samuel over Thomas this week.

Those who send Thomas to the bench, though, must prepare themselves for the inevitable 100 yard, two-touchdown game that is coming at some point. Remember that when making full-season weekly lineups or entering a DFS contest, the ultimate goal is to maximize the chances of success.

Does playing Thomas against a stout San Francisco defense give anyone a better chance of winning than putting Sutton in the lineup against a porous Bengals defense; playing Egbuka, who is taking over as Tampa Bay’s No. 1 receiver this week and already has three TD’s; using Allen, who has recorded at least 17 fantasy points in all three weeks; or even choosing Chris Olave, who isn’t putting up big yards but has one of the highest floors with an average of 13 targets and eight receptions a game?

The answer to those questions is a resounding no.

It certainly is possible that Thomas has his breakout game this week, but with the way the Jacksonville offense is playing – and the way Trevor Lawrence is performing – playing Thomas over any of those other guys does not maximize a team’s odds of success. Even a player like Samuel, who has averaged 15 fantasy points per week and will be the primary target in Washington this week with Terry McLaurin out, is worth consideration.

Then there are players like McConkey and London. McConkey still receives a high volume of targets in a prolific passing offense. His floor is high, and he has high upside considering his past success and because teams are going to have to decide at some point that they need to give more attention to Allen and Johnston.

London, on the other hand, always has been an enigma and for that reason was on our DO NOT DRAFT list this year. One week he gets 15 targets and the next he disappears. So far this season he barely has averaged double-digit fantasy points, which is not good for a first-round draft pick.

The Atlanta offense has been more horizontal than vertical, and quarterback Michael Penix basically avoids the middle of the field and throwing downfield. That’s not a great fit for London’s skillset, but this is not the week to bench or ignore him. In fact, he’s becoming a value pick for DFS lineups. He has a favorable matchup against a Commanders defense that struggles in coverage and still sees almost 10 targets a game.

If he’s going to break out, this is the week, but if it doesn’t happen vs. Washington, London would move into Thomas territory as a week-to-week start/sit decision.

That’s just a glimpse into the thought process for making start vs. sit decisions when highly touted players stop producing. There are more decisions out there to be made for sure, but right now wide receivers seem to present the most decision-making challenges as it’s usually pretty easy to figure out which running backs are must starts based on volume and matchups alone - unless we’re talking about the Commanders or Patriots, of course.

Here is a look at the StatLogic Sports top DFS plays for Week 4:

Players Likely to be Highly Owned

While using a few of these players as core players in any contest format is fine, for those playing in very large GPP tournament formats with huge prizes, it’s important to differentiate lineups and not just go with chalky picks. The players below may be owned by 17% or more of all contestants on FanDuel, according to various sources:

Puka Nacua – WR

Jakobi Meyers – WR

Cam Skattebo – RB

Christian McCaffrey – RB

Parker Washington – WR

Brock Bowers – TE

Tetairoa McMillan – WR

Bijan Robinson – RB

Jahmyr Gibbs – RB

Potential Core Lineup Players

Consider using these players in multiple DFS lineups:

Davante Adams - WR

Omarion Hampton – RB

Jonathan Taylor – RB

Ricky Pearsall – WR

Jakobi Meyers – WR

Kyren Williams – RB

Nico Collins – WR

Top Value Quarterback

Drake Maye

Pay-up Quarterbacks

Jalen Hurts

Josh Allen

High-volume Passing Offense QB

Justin Herbert

Value Volume QBs

Patrick Mahomes

Caleb Williams

Matthew Stafford

Bargain QBs

Brock Purdy

Marcus Mariota

Pay-up Running Backs

Jonathan Taylor

Christian McCaffrey

Bijan Robinson

James Cook

High-Volume RBs

Kyren Williams

Alvin Kamara

Ashton Jeanty

Top Value Volume RBs

Omarion Hampton

Tony Pollard

Bargain RBs/Flex

Cam Skattebo

Tre’Veyon Henderson

Rico Dowdle

Kareem Hunt

Jacory Croskey-Merritt

Pay-up Wide Receivers

Puka Nacua

Amon-Ra St. Brown

High Target WR 1/2

Nico Collins

AJ Brown

Value High Target Wide Receivers

Davante Adams

Rome Odunze

Zay Flowers

Drake London

Emeka Egbuka

Top Value Wide Receivers

Jakobi Meyers

Ricky Pearsall

Keenan Allen

Chris Olave

DeVonta Smith

Deebo Samuel

Value WR 3/Flex

Michael Pittman

Jauan Jennings

Wan’Dale Robinson

Tretairoa McMillan

Jerry Jeudy

Bargain WR 3/Flex

Tyquan Thornton

Darnell Mooney

Cedric Tillman

Christian Kirk

Parker Washington

Olamide Zaccheus

Jaylin Lane

Josh Downs

Luke McCaffrey

Pay-up Tight End

Brock Bowers

Value Tight Ends

Tyler Warren

Hunter Henry

Juwan Johnson

Kyle Pitts

Bargain Tight Ends

Zach Ertz

Cole Kmet

Noah Gray