A total of 30 teams will have finished up the first quarter of their regular season when Week 4 draws to a conclusion on Monday night. While we might have a decent understanding of where specific teams are at that point in the season, fantasy football has been more of a unknown quantity.
How else would you explain C.J. Spiller and Arian Foster combining for less than seven fantasy points last week? What about Jake Locker tallying nearly as many fantasy points as Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson combined in Week 2? It are these types of surprises that makes it important to find value in fantasy football, especially in weekly leagues.
In what has been a weekly article here at Pro Football Focus, we will be providing readers with the top Draftstreet football values in weekly leagues.
For the purposes of these articles, I will utilize Draftstreet cap numbers and base them off total cap numbers of $100,000 per team.
Terrelle Pryor, QB, Oakland Raiders ($13,184)
This is all dependent on Pryor actually suiting up against the Washington Redskins on Sunday. The first-year starter suffered a concussion late in Oakland’s loss to the Denver Broncos on Monday night. He will have to pass a battery of concussion tests before being cleared to play. Unless you plan on starting either Colin Kaepernick or Sam Bradford on Thursday Night Football, you can take a wait-and-see approach on Pryor. We should know more before rosters are locked later in the week.
The multi-threat quarterback has been a mid-tier QB2 option through the first three weeks of the season and is going up against a Washington Redskins defense that has yielded the fifth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks this season. Pryor is currently the 10th-most expensive quarterback in Draftstreet cap leagues.
Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins ($11,193)
Tannehill and the Dolphins will be taking on a New Orleans Saints defense that has performed much better against fantasy quarterbacks this season, but still leaves a lot to be desired as it relates to coverage. He will be doing so after putting up over 800 yards and four scores in those first three games.
The former first-round pick is currently stuck as the 23rd-ranked fantasy quarterback, but represents much better upside than other signal callers in his price range. In terms of a second starter, Tannehill seems like a more logical choice than the likes of Geno Smith, EJ Manuel and Matt Schaub. If you subscribe to the philosophy of skimping on your second quarterback, Tannehill is likely your best option.
Bilal Powell, RB, New York Jets ($9,729)
Powell put up the best performance of his short career against the Buffalo Bills last week, going for 149 yards on 27 attempts. With Chris Ivory slated to miss the next few weeks due to injury, Powell will continue to get a bulk of the carries for the Jets moving forward. He goes up against a Tennessee Titans defense that ranks in the middle of the pack against fantasy running backs. This game is expected to be low scoring, which will lead to more attempts on both sides.
The third-year player is Draftstreet’s 14th-most expensive running back in Week 4. You can expect RB1 production on the cheap at under 10 percent of your total cap here.
Frank Gore, RB, San Francisco 49ers ($9,574)
Gore may not have had a great start to the season, but his performance with limited reps last week against the Indianapolis Colts is a good indicator heading into Thursday Night Football. Gore has also seen a lot of success against the St. Louis Rams in his career, going for nearly 100 yards and one score per game in 13 outings. With San Francisco struggling to find a rhythm and a ton of questions about it abandoning the run game last week, you can expect it to focus on getting Gore involved early and often.
St. Louis ranks in the bottom 10 of the NFL against fantasy running backs through the first three weeks of the season. That’s stunning considering that its first two games were against the Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons, neither of whom are exactly run-first offenses. Gore is the 16th-most expensive running back in Draftstreet leagues.
Eric Decker, WR, Denver Broncos ($10,045)
It’s hard to really rely on any receiver on Denver’s offense simply because it has so much darn talent on that side of the ball. With that said, Decker is coming off an eight-reception, 133-yard performance against the Oakland Raiders. He also caught all eight of the passes thrown in his direction on Monday night. That’s huge simply because when Peyton Manning finds a favorite target he continues to go at him.
Decker and Co. go up against a Philadelphia Eagles defense that is yielding the most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers and has given up an average of 438 yards per game in the first three weeks of the season. Decker is the 15th-most expensive wide receiver in Draftstreet leagues and could represent top-seven value in Week 3.
Julian Edelman, WR, New England Patriots ($9,992)
Draftstreet focuses on PPR (points per reception). This means that despite averaging less than 10 yards per reception, Edelman will give you points simply because of the amount of catches he’ll provide on a weekly basis. The fifth-year receiver is leading the NFL in receptions through three weeks.
New England now goes up against an Atlanta Falcons defense that ranks 27th in the NFL against fantasy receivers this season. At under $10 thousand, Edelman can provide you with WR1 production as the 17th-most expensive wide receiver this week.
Tavon Austin, WR, St. Louis Rams ($8,265)
The San Francisco 49ers have trouble covering the shiftier and more athletic wide receivers. This is one of the important thing that statistics alone cannot tell you. With that in mind, statistics tell us a story that Austin will be a PPR stud come tomorrow night. Austin may only be averaging 6.6 yards per reception, but he’s putting up six receptions an outing. He’s also going up against a pass defense that we grade out as the 24th-best in the NFL through three weeks. Austin is currently the 30th-most expensive wide receiver in Draftstreet leagues.
Scott Chandler, TE, Buffalo Bills ($5,539)
Outside of a select few, the tight end position has been pretty much a crapshoot over the first three weeks of the season. If you don’t want to spend 15 percent of your cap room on Jimmy Graham, it makes more sense to look for really cheap alternatives. While Chandler is nowhere near a TE1 option each and every week, his matchup against the Baltimore Ravens is favorable.
Baltimore has yielded the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends and ranks in the bottom half of the NFL against the pass through three weeks. For his part, Chandler is averaging four receptions for over 40 yards and has caught two thirds of the passes thrown in his direction. He’s the 16th-most expensive fantasy tight end in Draftstreet leagues and represents top-eight upside here.
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