Week 4 Sunday Night Football Preview: Panthers vs. Lions

The Carolina Panthers have been fantasy football gold this season, especially if you drafted Jalen Coker. A shootout with the Detroit Lions looms. While scoring should be high, not every player deserves to touch your fantasy roster. From the clear starts to the difficult decisions, a full fantasy football preview of Sunday Night Football in Week 5.

More Fantasy Football Fun!: | Sneaky Starts | Fantasy Football Waiver Wire | Weekly Sleepers & Streamers | Starts & Sits | Skrip’s Week Winners | Players You Can Drop | NFL DFS | NFL Player Props | IDP Analysis | Bold Predictions | Re-Draft Trade Targets | Survivor Picks | NFL Injury Report | Dynasty Trade Targets | Dynasty Risers and Fallers | Weekly Rankings | Game Previews

Week 4 SNF Fantasy Preview

Detroit Lions (-3.5) at Carolina Panthers O/U: 50.5

Clear Starts: Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, Bryce Young, Chuba Hubbard, Jalen Coker (if he plays)

Sione Vaki – RB, Detroit Lions

Sione Vaki is not getting start/sit consideration in most leagues. However, fantasy managers should have him on their radar. Vaki is tied with Jared Goff for the second most rushes on the Lions this year with nine. Jahmyr Gibbs, expectedly, dominates touches with 65 rushes in three games. Unlike last year with David Montgomery, the Detroit Lions are not splitting carries between Gibbs and anyone else.

Vaki has been with the Lions since he was drafted by them in 2024. However, he never got real playing time until now. The fourth-round RB only had seven rushes and three targets in 27 games before this year. In 2026, Vaki has nine rushes and three targets while playing over a quarter of offensive snaps. Keep an eye on his usage in case the Lions want to make this a much more noticeable split. Vaki also has some value in deeper leagues as a backup in case Gibbs goes down. Jacob Saylors is only on the roster, but he plays a lot of special teams and not much offense. Isiah Pacheco is still on IR with no clear timetable for his return. Vaki could have value if Gibbs misses any time.

Tetaroia McMillan – WR, Carolina Panthers

While Jalen Coker has stolen the spotlight, Tetaroia McMillan seems to have been pushed to the side in fantasy football circles. While McMillan still leads the Panthers in targets, Coker has more catches, yards, and TDs. While targets are a good indication that a player has a role in an offense, actual production is what wins your fantasy football leagues. What is interesting is that McMillan is averaging more yards per reception and targets per game than last year. His receptions per game are almost identical to last year’s as well.

Although he had a good floor, McMillan was inconsistent last year. In his rookie year, he had five games of single-digit fantasy points in PPR leagues. That type of middling production has continued this year, which is frustrating to fantasy managers who drafted him as one of their first two or three WRs. While season-long frustrations could continue, this is the week to believe in McMillan. The Detroit Lions are decimated in the secondary and allow the third most fantasy points to WRs. The Lions are projected to be the favorites in a game with a point total around 50. That should keep Bryce Young passing at a healthy rate. McMillan should continue to draw a lot of targets. Start him in Week 4.

Jameson Williams – WR, Detroit Lions

Following two 1,000+ yard seasons, Jameson Williams is in a major slump. Williams is fourth on the Lions in targets and is having his lowest yards per reception in his career. Drops have played a part in that, as Williams has three on the season for a 17.6% drop rate. However, that just can’t be the full picture. Williams led all Lions WRs in snaps but only drew four targets. He now plays a Panthers team allowing the third-fewest fantasy points to opposing WRs, though they will be without CBs Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson.

Losing two starting CBs will hurt a lot. Paired with a high point total and the Panthers playing at home, the Lions may need to throw a lot to keep pace. However, that’s exactly what the Lions have done every week. Jared Goff is averaging over 36 pass attempts per game and the Lions have allowed 95 points in three games. Can things really change for Williams, or will Amon-Ra St. Brown just eat up all of the targets? Add in Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, and even Isaac Teslaa, and there are just a lot of high-quality mouths to feed. To be fair, this was what we saw out of Jameson Williams last year. Game logs were up and down, but we just aren’t getting the booms. This could be the perfect spot to go off, but nobody can know that for sure.

Williams is still getting decent target volume, and he could break off a big play at any time. However, expectations should be tempered unless either target rate or yards per reception – or both – substantially increase. If you’re desperate, you could do much worse than Jameson Williams. However, most fantasy managers should leave him on the bench.

Brycen Tremayne – WR, Carolina Panthers

Xavier Leggette is on IR, and Jalen Coker could miss this game as well. Brycen Tremayne becomes a name to watch in Week 4. Tremayne has mostly played special teams since he joined the Commanders as an undrafted free agent in 2024. While Tremayne drew a few targets with the Panthers last season, things changed very quickly in 2026. Last week, Tremayne drew six targets and caught four of them for 83 yards. Bryce Young could once again look his way as the WR room deals with injuries.

With so little information on a player, it is difficult to recommend them as a start. The Panthers could simply condense their targets to his top targets. However, that did not seem to be the case last week. Tremayne only trailed McMillan and Chuba Hubbard in snaps and ran the second-most routes on the team. Legette’s injury seemed to play the bigger part in Tremayne’s increased usage. The Detroit Lions allow the third most fantasy points to opposing WRs. In what is projected to be a shootout, Tremayne is a genuine start in deeper leagues. He might even warrant FLEX consideration in some 12-team leagues. The matchup and opportunity should be there in Week 4.

Darren Waller – TE, Carolina Panthers

Despite everything, Darren Waller seems to be inevitable. From suspensions to retirement to changing teams again, Waller continues to offer fantasy value at 34 years old. Despite a slow start, the veteran TE is third on the Panthers in targets and is tied for the lead in TDs with two. The Detroit Lions allow the most fantasy points to opposing TEs. Detroit has allowed 29 receptions, 351 yards, and six TDs to TEs in three games.

At worst, Waller is a better weekly start than most of the waiver wire TEs. At his best, he is a TD machine who can fill in at the ever-shaky TE position. Expect the latter in an incredible matchup. Start Waller with confidence; he could be a top-3 TE this week.

Make sure to check out all of our Week 4 Fantasy Football Rankings and Analysis!