| |  | | Sunday, October 1, 2023 | We're doing things a little different this morning. For those of you early risers, you've got an early edition of the Fantasy Football Today Newsletter here, with the Falcons and Jaguars set to kick off Sunday's action in just about 30 minutes. We don't have quite as much injury information as usual on a Sunday morning, so the injury updates section is, unfortunately, a little lighter than usual, but I have broken the injuries you need to know about into three categories based on reports: "Likely to play," "Legitimately questionable," and "Out or probably out," and I've given my thoughts on some of the key names to watch. | I've also got the answers to some of your #AskFFT questions this morning, plus my latest updated rankings, as per usual. Of course, you might need more specific help, and the FFT team is here for you. Go to Twitter and use the hashtag "#AskFFT", where our whole team will be answering questions all morning; and go to the FFT YouTube channel to chat with Adam and I starting at 11:30 a.m. ET . We'll be there right up until kickoff answering as many questions as we can, so make sure you're in the chat early to get your questions in. | | Now, here's everything you need to set your Week 4 lineup, plus the latest on injurie and more: | | | | Injury report updates | | We're publishing earlier than usual this week, so I don't have quite as much information on injuries as on a typical Sunday. Here's what we do know, or what we think we know based on reports: | | Likely to play | - Anthony Richardson, QB, Colts (concussion)
- Derek Carr, QB, Saints (shoulder)
- Miles Sanders, RB, Panthers (groin)
- Gus Edwards, RB, Ravens (concussion)
- Justice Hill, RB, Ravens (toe)
- Deebo Samuel, WR, 49ers (ribs/knee)
- Brandon Aiyuk, WR, 49ers (shoulder)
- Jaylen Waddle, WR, Dolphins
- Puka Nacua, WR, Rams (oblique)
- Marquise Brown, WR, Cardinals (thumb)
- Tyler Higbee, TE, Rams (Achilles)
| | On the QB side of things, I'm ranking Richardson as a starting QB for this week, though I'm at least a little bit worried that the Colts might ask him to run a bit less after his concussion. It's a small concern, but the Colts have playing at an aggressive pace and are still likely to feature his legs plenty, so it's not enough to scare me off him completely. I'd be passing on Carr, who is expected to play, assuming he avoids a setback prior to the game. | | Sanders is good to go and should be active in most Fantasy lineups. He hasn't been great so far, but with 13.7 carries and 6.7 targets per game, the workload has been there. As for the Ravens guys: I'm prioritizing Edwards, but both are probably longshots for much more than 12 carries (Edwards had 11 with Hill out last week, though he did leave the game early), so you're hoping for a touchdown either way. | I think Samuel might be the toughest call, maybe of the whole day. He's expected to play, per reports, but the 49ers are 14-point favorites so will they really need to put him in harm's way? Samuel is off to a terrific start, averaging 19.5 PPR points per game, so it's hard to go away from him. But I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to limit his touches, and I'm considering sitting him for Puka Nacua and Nathaniel Dell in one league. I'm not sure I'll actually be able to pull the trigger on that one in the end, but it's a legitimate question for me, because I think there's some real downside risk with Samuel. | | Legitimately questionable | | | | Watson barely threw during Friday's practice session, and he's a legitimate game-time call for today's game. ESPN reported early Sunday morning that the team is "optimistic" about Watson's chances of playing, but want to see how he's feeling during pregame warmups before making the call. Watson had his best game of the season in Week 3, but given that he got hurt running the ball, I'm a little worried that part of his game may be lacking, and I'm not quite ready to trust him fully against the Ravens. He's more like a QB2 for me in this one. | Njoku is another situation that bears watching. He suffered burns on his arm and face during an accident at home, and while he is pushing to play, The Athletic's Diane Russini reported Sunday morning that Njoku is having trouble wearing his helmet because of the burns and may not be able to play. I legitimately have no idea how to approach this situation, but at this point, I'd lean toward finding someone like Gerald Everett or Zach Ertz to start ahead of him. | | Out or probably out | - Jimmy Garoppolo, QB, Raiders (concussion)
- Saquon Barkley, RB, Giants (ankle)
- Austin Ekeler, RB, Chargers (ankle)
- Elijah Mitchell, RB, 49ers (knee)
- Treylon Burks, WR, Titans (knee)
- Zay Jones, WR, Jaguars
- Odell Beckham, WR, Ravens (ankle)
- Rashod Bateman, WR, Ravens (hamstring)
| With Garoppolo out, rookie fourth-rounder Aidan O'Connell is expected to start for the Raiders over veteran Brian Hoyer . O'Connell impressed during the preseason and took most of the first-team reps with Garoppolo out in practice this week. He's an intriguing QB2 for Week 4, but I wouldn't expect too much – he doesn't bring much rushing production to the table, so he'll have to lean heavily on Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers to do much of anything. I've downgraded Adams and Meyers just a bit for the uncertainty of playing with a rookie in his first start, but I'm not too scared off of either given how concentrated targets have been in this offense. Adams is still a WR1 to me, while Meyers remains in the WR3 discussion. | | #AskFFT Mailbag | | In Friday's Newsletter, I dropped my email address to take some questions. For the ones not featured here, I try to respond personally, so if you want your questions answered, send them to Chris.Towers@Paramount.com with the subject line "#AskFFT." Here are my answers to some of your tough questions: | Tom: Start two: De'Von Achane, Kyren Williams, or Miles Sanders? | | This is a tough one for me. By workload, it's hard to do better than what Sanders or Williams have done so far – Sanders has 41 carries and 20 targets through three games, while Williams has 39 and 19, respectively, while playing pretty much every snap for the Rams. In terms of floor, both Sanders and Williams have pretty high ones, and their workloads make them decent upside plays if they find the end zone. | | But Achane? He's all upside, baby. It's not realistic to expect a repeat of Week 3 from him, but it's worth noting that he's the No. 7 RB in PPR scoring for the season now, despite having 1.9 points prior to last week. He's just behind Williams for the season, of course, but then Williams has been full-time back all three weeks, so that comparison doesn't really make Williams look better. | The way I have it ranked, I would go with Sanders and Williams. But I'll grant that might be the coward's way out. Achane was so explosive last week that it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up working as Miami's lead back before long, possibly as soon as this week. Even if he's working in a timeshare with Raheem Mostert, he might just be capable of a big Fantasy game every week in this offense, which should continue to put him in position to produce big plays. I'm ranking him as more of a low-end RB2 for this week, a few spots behind Williams and Sanders – especially with a tough Bills defense on the schedule – but this might be the last week it happens. | | | | This one is pretty close, because I do think Thomas is probably a better bet to see more targets than Collins, so it becomes a question of how much more Collins can do with his. So far, he's done quite a bit more, with nearly 100 more yards than Thomas despite three fewer targets. That comes down to a few factors: Collins' average depth of target is about 4.5 yards higher than Thomas' right now, leading to more big plays, which is then compounded by the fact that Thomas has just 17 yards after the catch on his 18 catches. He's looked decent otherwise, but with his current role, Thomas just isn't showing much upside, and Derek Carr's injury is enough reason to downgrade him behind Collins. | K.C.: Who would you start in flex if Deebo Samuel doesn't play? Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, Josh Palmer, or Rashee Rice. | | It sounds like Samuel is going to play, but I think I'd be fine sitting him here. It might be a case of me continuing to run my head into the wall over and over, but I still have Henry and Mixon as top-10 RBs for this week, with Mixon ranked ahead. Mixon's matchup against the Titans is a tough one, and I don't expect him to run the ball particularly efficiently. However, he's averaging 15 carries per game, so the volume will be there, and he always has a pretty good chance of a touchdown; add in potentially five targets (something he's done in two of three games) and I just think the workload is too valuable to fade at this point. I would start him ahead of Samuel even if he plays. | Cheryl: Is it time to drop Elijah Moore or Breece Hall? Both are on my bench every week. | The way the Browns used Moore last week bodes well for his chances of becoming a contributor, as he had a ton of touches early and ended up with nine catches and three carries. That could remain a big part of their offense with Nick Chubb out, and it makes me hesitant to drop him despite the lackluster production overall. He's a hole, and Hall definitely is. It's been a frustrating start, to be sure, but he inched up to a 49% snap share in Week 3 and I'd expect that to be the floor most weeks. Yes, the offense around him is a disaster; but we've already seen Hall be a must-start Fantasy option in a Zach Wilson-led offense, as he averaged 17.3 PPR points per game in his first six games last season. He's not the same big-play threat he was last season yet, but if he gets anywhere near there, you would definitely regret dropping him. Just keep him stashed on your bench until he looks like himself. | | Week 4 rankings updates | | QB rankings | | | | RB rankings | | | | WR rankings | | | | TE rankings | | | | Flex top 125 rankings | | | | |  | |  | | | | | Tune in for the series premiere of Lotería Loca, Tonight at 9|8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Watch Trailer
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