Welcome to our 54th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.
In this week's edition:
^ NFL Week 4 Preview
^ NFL Week 4 Best Waiver Wire Pickups
NFL Week 4 Preview
Here’s a few standard preface notes:
^ Notwithstanding the claims of any website to be your “home for Sunday morning injury report news,” nothing beats Google News – nothing. Entering a player name into this search engine trumps any other means of gathering information because it culls the data from an unbelievably wide variety of sources.
^ Especially earlier in the season, it’s always good to refer to a strong baseline of where players should have been drafted – and nothing beats FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2009.
^ Unless there are any injury questions, we never discuss “gimme” players. Such core players should be started week in and week out unless there is any question surrounding their playing status. Winning teams only need to worry about “playing the matchups” with one, two or (at the most, during bye weeks) three spots in the lineup. Some websites promise you a crystal ball for how to manage high-risk, high-reward juggling during the season. We don’t. We play the percentages. That approach may be boring, but it’s highly effective and much more intellectually honest in what we promise you.
^ By the way, here are your core players who should not be benched if healthy
QB: Brady, Brees, P Manning, McNabb, Rivers, Rodgers, Romo, Warner
RB: M Barber, R Brown, Forte, Gore, Grant, S Jackson, Jacobs, C Johnson, Jones-Drew, Lynch, Peterson, Portis, Slaton, Tomlinson, Turner, Westbrook, D Williams
WR: Boldin, Bowe, Colston, Fitzgerald, Jennings, A Johnson, C Johnson, Houshmandzadeh, V Jackson, Marshall, Moss, Ochocinco, Owens, S Smith, Wayne, R White, R Williams
TE: Clark, Gates, Gonzalez, Witten
^ Links for each game take you to the CBS Sports home page for each game, with stats, analyis and even video previews.
^ All times listed are EDT.
^ Of the non-gimme players we like this week, the stronger plays are the ones in all caps.
Sunday, Oct. 4
(Byes: Arizona, Atlanta, Carolina, Philadelphia)
Detroit at Chicago, 1 p.m. QB Cutler, all-out for marginal Lions
Cincinnati at Cleveland, 1 p.m. QB PALMER, RB Benson, WR Caldwell, all-out for marginal Browns
Oakland at Houston, 1 p.m. RB McFadden, WR WALTER, TE Daniels
Seattle at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. RB J Jones, WR Burleson, RB Addai, WR Garcon
Tennessee at Jacksonville, 1 p.m. All-out for the marginal players in this game
N.Y. Giants at Kansas City, 1 p.m. All-in for marginal Giants, QB Cassel (WR Bowe not a good play with his injury situation)
Baltimore at New England, 1 p.m. QB Flacco, RB Rice, RB McGahee, all-out for marginal Patriots
Tampa Bay at Washington, 1 p.m. TE Winslow, TE Cooley (RB Portis not a good play with his injury situation)
Buffalo at Miami, 4:05 p.m. QB EDWARDS, WR Evans, all-out for marginal Browns
N.Y. Jets at New Orleans, 4:05 p.m. QB Sanchez, WR, Cotchery, RB Bush, WR Henderson
Dallas at Denver, 4:15 p.m. RB Choice, all-out on marginal Broncos
St. Louis at San Francisco, 4:15 p.m. All-out on marginal Rams, RB Coffee (in place of RB Gore), TE Davis
San Diego at Pittsburgh, 8:20 p.m. All-out on marginal Chargers, QB Roethlisberger, WR Holmes, WR Ward, TE H Miller
Monday, Oct. 5
Green Bay at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m. WR Driver, QB Favre
NFL Week 4 Best Waiver Wire Pickups
NOTE: We only recommend plausible pickups; our threshold is 40% or less ownership in CBSSports.com leagues. As such, players may show up on our list multiple weeks if they fall below that percentage and if we still believe in their upside potential.
1 Kelly Washington
2 Sidney Rice
3 Indy D/ST
4 Derek Anderson
5 Mike Wallace
Fantasy Drafthelp: Week 4 NFL Fantasy Advice
