Sit/Start Week 4: Reviewing All the Fantasy Relevant Players In Every Single Game

Game Info

Kickoff: Sunday, September 29th at 4:05 pm EST

Location: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ

Betting Odds: SEAl -5, 48 Total via Oddsshark

Network: FOX

Sleeper Spotlight: Will Dissly

 

Seattle Seahawks

 

Quarterback

• Russell Wilson (Start/QB1)

 

For all the worry about Brian Schottenheimer this offseason, Russell Wilson has been fantastic. The football community at large expected the Seahawks to be a run focused team again this season, but Wilson is 12th in passing attempts. He just threw 50 passes last week, which was the most in his career for a single game. Wilson is also throwing deep, which is his specialty. Wilson is 6th in deep pass attempts and 9th in average intended air yards. Throwing downfield hasn’t affected his efficiency either. Wilson’s completion percentage is 8.7% higher than expected, which is third in the NFL. Now, he gets a weak Cardinals defense that is still without its top two corners and allowed Kyle Allen to throw it all over the field. Wilson continues to be one of the best QBs in the league and deserves every bit of the monster contract he signed.

 

Running Backs

• Chris Carson (Start/RB2)
• Rashad Penny (Check if active)
• C.J. Prosise (Sit)

 

Chris Carson has a case of fumble-itis. It’s getting pretty concerning if you own him. Carson started the season dominating the workload. He is 10th in carries and 18th in targets for RBs. But after he fumbled last week, Carson was out-snapped and out-touched by C.J. Prosise. That is not a good sign. They brought him back out for the big fourth-down play, which he was able to get. But if Rashaad Penny was active, would they have still brought him in? Penny is a much better player than Prosise. Penny saw more work already in game two due to Carson’s fumbles, then he goes and fumbles again. Carson is giving the Seahawks every reason to hand the reins to the first-round pick. Carson is a start because the matchup with the Cardinals is great, Pete Carroll is continuing to support him, and Penny may still be out. But if Penny is active, do not be surprised if the split starts to shrink.

 

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

• Tyler Lockett (Start/WR2)
• D.K. Metcalf (Start/Flex)
• Will Dissly (Start/TE1)

 

Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf were born to play football with Wilson. Last week, Lockett totaled 165 air yards on his targets while Metcalf had 121. On the season, Lockett and Metcalf are responsible for 70.7% of the total air yards in the offense and Metcalf is ninth amongst WRs in air yards with 338. Wilson trusts him to make plays down the field which is exactly why they drafted him. The concerns with Metcalf were that he couldn’t run a full route tree due to his limited change of direction speed. But when you run straight almost all game, does that matter? Both receivers are starts against a banged-up Cardinals secondary that is still without Patrick Peterson.

 

This defense is also one to target for TEs. The Cardinals have allowed a whopping 23 catches for 348 yards and 5 touchdowns to the TE position already this year. If you can, stream TEs against this defense, which brings us to Will Dissly. He has surprisingly been effective in his return from a patella injury last year. Wilson has targeted Dissly on roughly 15% of his passes. Dissly is also top 15 in routes run for TEs. This will be a smash spot for Dissly (and any TE).

 

Arizona Cardinals

 

Quarterbacks

• Kyler Murray (Sit)

 

After allowing Andy Dalton to throw for over 400 yards week one, the Seattle defense has tightened up against opposing QBs. Most will attribute this to the fact that they played Teddy Bridgewater and Mason Rudolph after Ben Roethlisberger went down, which is a fair point. The problem is while the Seattle defense has been trending up, Kyler Murray has been trending down. Murray started with two 300 yard games, only to struggle against Carolina last week. Murray did not have much time to sit in the pocket and was forced to check it down or scramble. His average depth of target went from over 9 in the first two games to 5.9 last week. His rushing ability provides a floor, as shown last week where he rushed eight times for a nice 69 yards. Without that, Murray would have been at 13 fantasy points. Murray was expected to be a weekly fantasy starter, but I think last week he showed he is not there yet. Murray will likely be under duress this game as well. So unless you can’t find streamer, I would avoid playing him.

 

Running Backs

• David Johnson (Start/RB1)

 

Finally, David Johnson has a coach that knows how to use him again. After a disastrous season under offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, DJ is free. NextGenStats tracks the percentage of rushes that an RB sees eight or more men in the box. DJ does not have a percentage listed. That is beautiful and is what happens when the defense has to respect the offense Kliff Kingsbury is running. With the four-wide receiver sets and almost exclusive shotgun usage (90% of DJ’s rushes are from shotgun this year), the defense cannot focus on the pass. No other RB is listed above because DJ is top 5 in the opportunity share. The Cardinals want to ride DJ, which bodes well for this week. The Seahawks could not stop Alvin Kamara last week, so the Cardinals should try to find ways to use DJ to attack this defense.

 

Wide Receivers

• Larry Fitzgerald (Start/Flex)
• Christian Kirk (Start/Flex)

 

DJ isn’t the only Cardinals player that is having a renaissance. Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk are both enjoying playing under Kingsbury. The Double Slot Boys ™ have been targeted on nearly half of Murray’s passes this season. Fitzgerald’s role has been moved downfield, like during his heyday. Fitzgerald is now 10th in air yards this year with 324. Kirk has been asked to create more underneath and he has averaged 6.2 YAC per reception, which is 23rd in the NFL. With the limited receiving tree, Fitzgerald and Kirk can be counted on the week in and week out. They will see enough volume to warrant starting, even with a potential down game from Murray.

-Frank Costanzo (@FrankQBList)