As we approach kickoff this week with the return of our Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Week 4, we are close to the quarter mark of the season. This is just another reminder of how fast the NFL season flies by. Hopefully, you are enjoying your fantasy season. If there is anything that you should take away from this column, it is never to be afraid to be bold.

Keep in mind that you should not take our “Bold Start 'Em, Sit 'Em” as the place to start, but more as the place to land for a start and a place to give further examination for a sit. They are bold for a reason, but they are always backed with logic and explanation. Mostly lighten up and have a little fun. Let the gamblers be stale, uptight curmudgeons.

RELATED: Be sure to leverage our fantasy football Start/Sit tool—presented by Xfinity—to unlock custom start/sit guidance for your individual teams!

Bold Starts For Week 4 Fantasy Football

Nick Chubb, RB, HOU vs Tennessee Titans

LAGHEZZA: Few players in the game today come across as more infectiously likable than the Texans Nick Chubb. Once widely recognized among the NFL’s very best pure runners, the former 35th-overall pick posted insane underlying metrics through his first +500 carries—0.03 EPA/attempt, 5.3 yards/rush, 3.8 yards after contact/carry, 12.7% explosive rush rate, 102.7 scrimmage yards/game. Even a piece of that production would feed families right now.

Fast forward to 2025, where a free agent departure plus a handful of serious injuries leaves fantasy gamers wondering just what grade of octane’s fueling Chubb’s tank. If your instinct’s to answer that query with this year’s data (-0.04 EPA/attempt, 4.1 yards/attempt, 2.1 yards after contact/carry, 5.9% explosive rush rate)—well, as my daughter would say, that ain’t it, Chief. The bear case rests right on the surface.

Turn your attention instead to Chubb’s matchups in both directions. The Rams, Buccaneers, and Jaguars represent a good chunk of the toughest run-stopping units in the league, combining to allow a measly 3.8 yards per rush and just a single +20-yard carry in 36 quarters of play. I’d argue that trio of defenses might make a lot of RBs look old.

Now it’s stoppable force meets movable object, as Houston sets up to face a Titans squad in full tailspin—only the Ravens and Bengals allowed more fantasy points to RBs in 2025. As a touchdown underdog, Tennessee should do its part in keeping the game script positive long enough for the Texans’ backfield to finally produce. I hope.

Queue up Nick Chubb’s first RB1 finish of 2025 with a similar deep-league boost for Woody Marks into flexworthy territory on Sunday.

Cooper Kupp, WR, SEA at Arizona Cardinals (TNF)

CLEMONS: It is amazing that we are here with Kupp, but you either retire early or live long enough to see yourself become the OG that can “wake up the echoes of yesterday's glory.”

Kupp is still a solid receiver, but gone are the days when you can hurl 15 targets at him and he can come up with most of them. He also cannot really do that every week. So it feels like he picks and chooses his spots. Week 2 seemed like a spot, and this week feels like another spot. The Arizona Cardinals are ranked 32nd in passing attempts and 30th in passing yards. It's a perfect spot for Kupp to work the shallow and intermediate areas while the defense tries to find ways to limit Jaxon Smith-Njigba while keeping an eye on the young speedster Tory Horton. In Week 2 against the Steelers, Kupp finished with seven catches on nine targets for 90 yards. That's an effective economical day in half- and full-PPR leagues.

Hunter Renfrow, WR, CAR at New England Patriots

LAGHEZZA: Go ahead, describe my newfound Panthers love as some blind matchup play against the Patriots—you'd be right. So what? 

Nothing beats targeting a classic pass funnel—those brutal secondaries attached to a front-seven that actually excels at stopping the run. And no one better exemplifies that archetype more than this New England defensive unit.

Allowing fewer than three yards per carry while averaging contact behind the line of scrimmage (!) thus far, we could see Dave Canales and the Cats abandon the run early for good. Carolina’s focus should pivot to their aerial attack, devoid of a second true threat after rookie phenom Tetairoa McMillan.

Expect the Pats to bracket or cloud-cover McMillan in an attempt to keep their league lead in deep completions allowed (14) from growing any further. So around and around Bryce Young’s targets go, where they’ll stop, no one knows.

I’m rolling the dice on Hunter Renfrow to repeat his Week 2 breakout—despite ceding playing time to shot-in-the-dark longshot lotto GPP Play Of The Week, David Moore. The veteran Moore came out of oblivion last week to post an elite 96% route participation, though perhaps unsurprisingly, he earned just a single target for five yards on 26 routes run. (Sad trombone sound effect)

Renfrow’s only playing in 3WR sets for the time being, which hopefully proves meaningless on Sunday, given the top-five frequency of 11-personnel in the Panthers offense. So there’s a potentially low floor anytime you roll with Carolina (shocker)—but no guts, no glory.

Smash Starts For Week 4 From Gene Clemons

Emeka Egbuka | WR | TB: Mike Evans is out, Chris Godwin might come back this week and Jalen McMillan is still sidelined. Egbuka might be the most no-brainer start of the season so far. His targets have increased every game this season. It would be a shock if he is not in double digits this week.

Justin Fields/Tyrod Taylor | QB | NYJ (MNF): It does not matter which quarterback plays for the Jets this weekend; start them! The Dolphins have surrendered an average of 26.2 points per game to opposing quarterbacks in fantasy. What is the common denominator? They are all quarterbacks with the ability to run. Fields and Taylor should both feast.

Bold Sits For Week 4 Fantasy Football

DK Metcalf, WR, PIT vs Minnesota Vikings

LAGHEZZA: The worst thing the heel duo of Aaron Rodgers and Arthur Smith ever did was fool the world that Pittsburgh’s molasses-style offense didn’t exist. Even counting an anomalous 34-point Week 1 outburst, the Steelers still sit in the bottom three in plays run and yards gained. Glad we called out that nonsense the instant it happened.

DK Metcalf has steadily represented a weekly fantasy WR3 as PIT’s top option, fine—but also hasn’t faced anything close to this Vikings’ D yet. Minnesota’s setting up as a run funnel (the opposite of New England), another bad sign. The constant pressure sent, forced, and converted into sacks pushes MIN’s opponent toward a ground attack, attempting to goad overpursuit.

Honestly, Metcalf’s 5.7 targets per game to date feel like a top to the sine wave. Regardless, combined with a shallow 6.3 air yards per target, it makes it too easy a pathway for a potential goose-egg come Sunday. Low volume, low ADoT, slow pace. Not great.

David Montgomery, RB, DET vs. Cleveland Browns

LAGHEZZA: Whether or not this fade hits or misses, let the record state my cowardice for not having the guts to sit Jahmyr Gibbs. Could you blame me? Even at his floor, we’re talking about a low-end RB1. Think about my poor social media notifications after that second touchdown …

On the other hand, David Montgomery’s a different story altogether in as tough a matchup as there is. Coming off a monster (12-151-2; 1-13-0) overall RB2 finish, fantasy love potion’s wafting under our noses. The temptation’s real to roll him out there again. I get it.

Thing is, Montgomery’s breakout occurred on an unchanged raw workload (~24 snaps) with the third straight week-over-week decrease in team RB touch share (44.1%, 44.0%, 32.5%). Sure, you could flash year-to-date stats to make a bull case, but two carries for 103 yards will skew a 34-carry sample every time.

The newly paired duo of Myles Garrett and Mason Graham vaulted the Browns’ run D to league-leading status (2.3 yards/attempt, -0.17 yards before contact/rush, 0 +20-yard carries). Plus, even though Cleveland’s offense stinks, they run a lot of plays at a slow pace with long drives operating right around the line of scrimmage. Too many ways for Montgomery to fail … I’m out.

Ja'Marr Chase, WR, CIN at Denver Broncos (MNF)

CLEMONS: I'm normally the guy who says, if you drafted him this high, it's for a reason; you don't have the luxury of playing hokey pokey with him in the lineup. You just have to set it and forget it. Put him in the lineup and hold your nose because you never know when they will explode and win a week for you. Chase was chosen first overall in many fantasy drafts, thus making him nearly indispensable. It has been a rough start to the season for Chase, who was WR4 in Week 2, but that was flanked by a WR77 and a WR53 performance. He has no Joe Burrow, and his backup, Jake Browning, has struggled with consistency, which has been reflected in the performance of the receivers. 

The last thing a receiver struggling to put up points wants to do is travel to Mile High to take on the Denver Broncos. They have to deal with playing at high altitudes and trying to get open against Patrick Surtain, who just has a knack for keeping the football away from receivers and making sure if they catch it, it's not in the endzone. The Cincinnati Bengals offense is struggling and in steps the boogyman, Surtain. It sounds crazy to say, but you may want to sit Chase this week. If you are a receiver and you even mention his name, your fantasy projections should drop for the week when you face him. Any receiver on the schedule, say his name three times, I dare you!

Join Our Newsletter

Trusted by 400,000+ fantasy football players. Get access to Fantasy Life's free award winning newsletter and tools, all in one step.

Email Address

Subscribe

By registering or logging in, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.