Week 4 MOP Rankings for Fantasy Football

This article is my attempt to look back at the week that just wrapped up in the National Football League. For those new to this article, I do so by removing each player’s biggest scoring play from the previous week.

This method of reranking players helps filter out some of the flukier performances from around the league each week. Sure, a big play can happen. But chasing that big play is often a fool’s errand. We do not want to rely on players in our starting lineups who do not get many opportunities.

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With that in mind, here are my Week 4 MOP rankings. Please note that I base these rankings on Half-PPR scoring. You may need to adjust depending on which scoring system your league uses.

Week 4 MOP Rankings

Quarterback Week 4 MOP Rankings and Takeaways

First, a quick disclaimer. I removed backup quarterbacks from the equation when calculating the numbers. I’m not sure if we need to further embarrass Joe Flacco by pointing out that Andy Dalton outscored him despite authoring just one drive. Flacco’s performance did enough of that on its own.

As far as fantasy-relevant quarterbacks go, Justin Fields was downgraded for MOP purposes by virtue of his 43-yard touchdown run. He still ranked 12th in this week’s MOP rankings, although a meaningless late touchdown pass boosted that. Baker Mayfield threw two long touchdown passes on broken plays. Had he not had both plays to stand on, he would have likely finished outside the top-20 in both traditional fantasy points and MOP points. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts finished better in the Week 4 MOP rankings than in regular scoring. That is a rarity for Hurts, who often gets dinged for MOP purposes when he scores rushing touchdowns. On Sunday, he did not run for a score but instead threw three touchdown passes.

Jaxson Dart made his NFL debut for the New York Giants in their upset victory versus the Los Angeles Chargers. Dart only threw the ball 20 times, but added 10 rushes for 54 yards and a score. New York designed plenty of carries for Dart, which should increase his weekly floor for fantasy purposes. The Giants have three running backs, but none have averaged more than 3.8 yards per carry this season. They would be wise to utilize Dart’s mobility. The downside is that the team lost top wideout Malik Nabers to an ACL tear. Dart finished Week 4 as the overall QB11 and QB16 in MOP rankings. Those numbers feel high compared to how I will rank him going forward, but there is some upside there given his rushing ability.

Running Back Week 4 MOP Rankings and Takeaways

Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty broke out in a massive way in the team’s one-point loss to the Chicago Bears. Jeanty had 155 total yards and three touchdowns. It was the second consecutive week where a Raider scored three times. While this will likely be Jeanty’s best game of the season, his Week 4 outing certainly feels less fluky than that of teammate Tre Tucker the week prior. Fantasy managers should feel confident about starting Jeanty going forward. He may struggle from time to time, but his talent and expected weekly volume make him a fringe RB1.

Jeanty was not the only rookie running back to ball out in Week 4. He wasn’t even the only rookie back in his division to thrive. Chargers rookie Omarion Hampton totaled 165 yards and a touchdown in the team’s loss to the New York Giants. Hampton handled all of the running back touches for the Chargers in the wake of the season-ending injury to Najee Harris. Hampton is a weekly RB1 moving forward. The outlook is murkier for Broncos running back RJ Harvey. However, it was good to see him put in a strong showing on Monday night. Harvey’s Week 4 effort included his first NFL touchdown. J.K. Dobbins is still the preferred option. However, Harvey could be a desperation play for fantasy managers who need to pivot as bye weeks begin this week.

They say that luck is when skill meets opportunity. We saw a prime example of that play out in Week 4 when the Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Sunday morning that running back Jaylen Warren would miss their game versus the Minnesota Vikings. Kenneth Gainwell stepped in and more than held his own.

He accounted for 134 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s victory. Gainwell finished as the overall RB1 in my Week 4 MOP rankings. Considering that Warren is only averaging 3.1 yards per rush this year, Gainwell may earn a greater role in the future. We can forget about rookie Kaleb Johnson getting much more than scraps anytime soon. Even with Warren out, Johnson finished outside the top 50 running backs in both regular and MOP points.

Last week, I asked if Quinshon Judkins had arrived. The answer appears to be an emphatic “Yes!” Judkins finished as an RB1 in both standard points and MOP rankings in 12-team leagues. The performance was even more impressive considering it came in a game Cleveland lost by 24 points. Meanwhile, Dylan Sampson scored negative fantasy points, and Jerome Ford scored negative MOP points. Judkins is a weekly RB2 in all formats.

Do not adjust your screens. That is Baltimore Ravens running back Justice Hill inside the top-10 in both fantasy points and Week 4 MOP rankings. Meanwhile, Derrick Henry sits outside the top-30 among running backs in both metrics. Fantasy football can be a cruel mistress.

If this article were titled MTP (minus two plays), then Hill would drop a bit. He caught a touchdown pass to open up the scoring for Baltimore, then broke free for a long touchdown run when the team had waved the white flag. Hill is not your traditional running back handcuff, so it isn’t easy to trust his performance on Sunday. He is a deep league PPR specialist. Henry is still an elite fantasy running back, though it is fair to assume he loses some value depending on how long Lamar Jackson’s hamstring injury will keep the two-time NFL MVP sidelined.

Wide Receiver Week 4 MOP Rankings and Takeaways

The Cincinnati Bengals have had the unfortunate luck to draw the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos in consecutive weeks. Both teams have excellent defenses, with Denver in particular among the league’s elite. Having said that, I am concerned about the outlook for Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Joe Burrow is not walking through that door anytime soon. Jake Browning has thrown for a total of 265 yards in Cincinnati’s last two games. Burrow averaged over 289 passing yards per game last season. I am not saying you need to cut either of the Bengals’ wideouts. I don’t know if you can realistically bench either of these players. But it is safe to say that neither Chase nor Higgins is going to pay off at the level we expected them to a month ago.

At least Chase and Higgins have a quarterback injury to explain their relatively poor play. Eagles wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith cannot make the same claim. The team appears to have no interest in throwing the ball unless they are behind late in the game. Brown and Smith combined for four catches and 36 yards on Sunday. It was the third time in four weeks that the pair has combined for 80 or fewer yards in a game. Even if you include their fruitful Week 3 outings, Brown and Smith have combined for 31 catches for 309 yards. Rams top wideout Puka Nacua has 42 grabs for 503 yards by himself. The Eagles are 4-0, so it is hard to argue with the results from a real-life perspective. But a Week 5 matchup versus Denver does not exactly feel like a breakout spot for Brown and/or Smith.

Tre Tucker crashed back down to Earth last week, finishing as the overall WR73 for the week in Half-PPR leagues. He also finished just 60th among wide receivers in the Week 4 MOP rankings. Tucker is no higher than fourth on the team’s pecking order for touches. Ashton Jeanty, Brock Bowers, and Jakobi Meyers will generally see more opportunities than Tucker. His place among those other players makes him prone to significant fluctuations from week to week. He is in the mold of a Tyquan Thornton or Marvin Mims Jr. in that sense. These players can be frustrating for fantasy managers to deal with. Start them, and they are likely to disappoint you. Bench them and watch in abject horror as they go off, as Tucker did in Week 3 and Mims in Week 4.

Tight End Week 4 MOP Rankings and Takeaways

Welcome back to the NFL, Darren Waller! Waller played his first game in nearly two years, and promptly scored two touchdowns in Miami’s Monday night victory over the New York Jets. Waller earned a modest 16 percent target share last week. However, there is room for optimism. His workload should continue increasing as he becomes more acclimated to being back in the league.

The team also appears to have lost top wide receiver Tyreek Hill to a significant leg injury. A Week 5 matchup against the Carolina Panthers is hardly daunting. Carolina has allowed the most receiving yards to opposing tight ends through four games. I would not be comfortable starting Waller on a short week. But considering some of the tight ends who are off this week, including Tucker Kraft and Kyle Pitts, I could see rolling the dice with Waller.

Make sure to check out all of our Week 5 Fantasy Football Rankings and Analysis!