Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past day-plus, you’ll be aware that IDP superstar, three-time Defensive Player of the Year and two-time NFL sack leader J.J. Watt has been placed on injured reserve by the Texans. Watt dealt with a back injury all offseason after undergoing surgery for a herniated disk back in July, and although he did make it back for Week 1, he aggravated the injury last Thursday night in Houston’s blowout loss to New England and is now expected to miss the rest of the year. It’s a huge blow for his fantasy owners who will have had to select him early on draft day, but, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Check out my Week 4 IDP waiver wire piece, hit me up on Twitter (@RossMilesNFL) for some direct advice, or continue reading for my start-sits this week. And if that hasn’t got you feeling slightly more positive after losing your feature-defensive player, just remember that a little adversity on the journey to your fantasy championship will only make it taste all the sweeter.
I’ll be delving into some points-against stats this week (stay tuned for this data to be live on the site in the near future), but don’t forget we have our game-by-game team projected tackle totals for your perusal now live for Week 4, as well as our regularly updated three-down linebacker chart. If you’re in leagues that require you to start cornerbacks, we’ve also just published our shadow (corner) matrix data which will help you uncover some sneaky spot starters for you in any given week (hint: San Diego CB Jason Verrett is shadowing opposing WR1s).
Anyway, enough pushing our stat tables on you, let’s get to some recommendations, although if you’re reading this for my advice, my first words of wisdom would be to familiarise yourself with that data and start taking your game to the next level.
Defensive lineman
Start: Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt, Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers host the Chiefs in Pittsburgh this week, and although neither Heyward nor Tuitt has recorded a sack yet on the season, I like their chances to open their accounts in Week 4. The Chiefs have allowed nine sacks (six hits and 22 hurries) through the first three games, and eight of those sacks have come via opposing defensive lineman, which makes the Steelers duo, who combined for 14 sacks last season, upside plays this week. Even better is the fact that Heyward and Tuitt offer decent fantasy floors because of their tackle production, but I’d have both players toward the upper echelons of the DL2 tier, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them cracked the top 12 this week.
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