2024 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 4: Sam Darnold, Jauan Jennings

The biggest movement in our fantasy football rankings comes following Week 1. That’s obviously when we get the newest information by far. The next biggest? Week 4. That’s when we have a three-game sample size of NFL football, and we can actually establish some trends. 

Sure, there will still be flukes in there. But the 2024 fantasy football waiver wire for Week 4 might be the best time to strike on a player you think is the real deal. Like last week, there isn’t a flashy name that you need to drop your entire FAAB budget on regarding this week’s best waiver wire picks. 

There’s no Jordan Mason taking over the starting job for one of the league’s best offenses. But there are some plays that we think could pay off both in the short and long term, depending what is best for your team. So, let’s dig in.

2024 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 4 Top Targets

If this 2024 fantasy football waiver wire for Week 4 is your first time seeing this series, here’s a little idea of how we break it down. 

There are too many articles out there who don’t take into account YOUR team needs. Whether you just want the best player, you want someone to start now, or you are loaded and you want the best upside stashed, we have you covered. And we break it down like this:

• 2024 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 4: This is the current article where we focus on the best waiver wire picks for any format or team needs. Guys that can potentially be started now but also have season long upside
   
• 2024 Fantasy Football Streamers Week 4: These are players that are decent starts for Week 4 but might not have great long-term upside (perhaps it’s just a good matchup or the starter has a short-term injury, for instance)
   
• 2024 Fantasy Football Stashes Week 4: These are players that are very difficult to trust in a lineup right now. But we believe in the talent and the possibility of upside down the stretch. Every year there are certain rookies or backups that get a big opportunity and run with it at some point - like Trey McBride last year.

The 2024 fantasy football waiver wire for Week 4 you are currently looking at is free for everyone. The Week 4 waiver wire stashes and Week 4 waiver wire streamers articles are for Fantasy Alarm members only.  

If you aren’t a Fantasy Alarm member yet, you can not only get 40% off your annual membership if you sign up right now or 50% off your first month with promo code LETSGO, but we are offering a 7-day free trial RIGHT NOW! You can check out everything we have to offer this week and decide if it's right for you!

P.S. At the very bottom of this article, I will update my Yin & Yang Tight End chart each week!

NFL Week 4 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

Sam Darnold - Minnesota Vikings, Yahoo: 29% | ESPN: 16% | Sleeper: 38%  

We’ve had Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr, and Sam Darnold included in this article for the last couple of weeks - now Mayfield and Carr are rostered in over 60% of leagues. And, despite their poor showings this week, we still believe in those guys. It was a tough matchup for Mike Evans for Baker and Carr has a better day if Rashid Shaheed comes down with even one of the deep balls they couldn’t connect on.

For the rest of us, we need guys who are actually available so, if you didn’t grab Mayfield or Carr when you had the chance, Sam Darnold still fits the bill. In fact, there is a world where Darnold is even better. I mean, he currently leads the league in TD passes. 

We’ve been banging the drum for him so far after some high graded performances but the 4 TD game this week should finally catch some folks’ attention. If he can play this well as is, just imagine what it might be like when Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson return? If you didn’t stash him already, you might have to pay up now after his big game. 

• Waiver Priority: Low or Free Add
• FAAB: 5-10% (or more if he starts for you right away)

Justin Fields - Pittsburgh Steelers, Yahoo: 16% | ESPN: 24% | Sleeper: 27%

We had Justin Fields in the “Streamers” article last week. And we might need to continue to treat him that way to a certain degree just in case the tide does turn. There’s obviously a reason he has a shorter leash than most other QBs. But right now the Pittsburgh Steelers are one of four undefeated teams so it’s hard to imagine they are in a big rush to swap out their winning quarterback for the unknown in Russell Wilson.

And, although the passing ability of Fields is not ideal for the pass-catchers on this team, his mobility naturally creates upside for fantasy football. We saw the floor side of it in Week 1 where he put up double-digit fantasy points despite throwing for only 156 yards without the team scoring a TD. 

And we got a glimpse of the ceiling side with him scoring close to 20 fantasy points while throwing a TD and rushing for another this past week. We always have to keep in mind that mobile QBs do not need to be great at throwing the ball to be QB1s in fantasy. 

• Waiver Priority: Low or Free Add
• FAAB: 5-10% (or more if he starts for you right away)

NFL Week 4 Waiver Wire Running Back

Bucky Irving - Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Yahoo: 35% | ESPN: 33% | Sleeper: 44%

We’ve been telling you for a couple of weeks - now Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles is trying to tell you himself. 

This move is straight from the Bruce Arians Playbook. Use the media to motivate your players. Bruce Arians was famous for doing it both with the Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This announcement serves as both negative reinforcement for Rachaad White and positive reinforcement for Bucky Irving. Now we see how they respond.

So far Bucky Irving has been efficient carrying the football. Which should scare Rachaad White considering that Irving was also the best pass-catching RB in this class. Maybe White takes this message to heart and turns things around. But maybe Todd Bowles is being honest with everyone here that Bucky Irving has a real shot to take over a bulk of the work. We’ve been holding onto Irving for a couple of weeks now to see. 

• Waiver Priority: Free Add or Late Priority
• FAAB: 5-10%

Rico Dowdle - Dallas Cowboys, Yahoo: 42% | ESPN: 37% | Sleeper: 49%

He’s only available in shallow leagues but technically under 50% rostered on all platforms so we have to mention him here. Zeke Elliott is slowly fading further and further onto the backburner - he only played 15 snaps to 37 for Rico Dowdle. Hunter Luepke, the fullback, actually played 30 here. Zeke honestly does not need to be rostered in many formats.

Not only has Dowdle started and led this team in carries but he’s also gotten five targets in each of the last two games. Barring some sort of trade or a miracle resurgence from Zeke or Dalvin Cook, Dowdle is looking like the guy here. And there aren’t many teams, of any caliber, where “the guy” is out there on waiver wires. 

• Waiver Priority: Low or free add
• FAAB: 0-5%

Roschon Johnson - Chicago Bears, Yahoo: 2% | ESPN: 0.8% | Sleeper: 6%

If you need someone to start for you this week, you might want to look at a guy like Emmanuel Wilson or Antonio Gibson that have more of a defined role carved out (as we’ll discuss in our Streamers article). But Roschon Johnson is going to be included for us here in the main waiver article for one specific reason - we need to prioritize guys that are either starting now or have a shot at taking over the starting gig. And Roschon has that glimmer of hope. 

I hate to say the Chicago Bears may have been “tricked”. But the Carolina Panthers were certainly tricked into signing Miles Sanders after his performance with the Philadelphia Eagles. Heck, I was tricked into drafting him in fantasy last year. As we now know, it turned out Chuba Hubbard was simply the better back. 

So far this season, D’Andre Swift has run for only one first down and he’s averaging 1.8 yards per carry. This week he had 10 carries for 30 yards for his best game yet of 3.0 yards per carry but that included a 20 yard run. So on the rest he had 9 carries for 10 yards. And this was against the Colts who allowed the most rushing yards per game of any team coming into this game.

Was Roschon Johnson much better? Not really with 8 carries for 30 yards. But he did have 4 catches on 5 targets for 32 yards. He also played 33 snaps this week which shows they were willing to mix him in in his first game active. D’Andre Swift can only play so bad for so long before they just give the next guy a shot. 

• Waiver Priority: Free Add
• FAAB: 0%

NFL Week 4 Waiver Wire Wide Receiver

Darnell Mooney - Atlanta Falcons, Yahoo: 26% | ESPN: 63% | Sleeper: 43%

The discrepancy in the rostership numbers from one site to the next for Darnell Mooney is pretty wild. But given the popularity of Yahoo and the low number for him there, we have to mention to add him if he is out there.

Last year Darnell Mooney did not look great. But he was coming off Tightrope surgery for a serious high ankle injury. And he was playing with Justin Fields. Now he’s looking explosive and he’s clearly a preferred target for Kirk Cousins. We can’t force Cousins to throw the ball to Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and Bijan Robinson just because we want him to.  

• Waiver Priority: First
• FAAB: 10-15%

Jauan Jennings - San Francisco, Yahoo: 32% | ESPN: 36% | Sleeper: 44%

Jauan Jennings is really more of a “streamer” than a bonafide choice for our best waiver wire picks. And he will certainly be at the top of our Streamers article like he was last week. But it’s fairly rare for a WR to land in such an advantageous situation, even if it is short term. So, if you need someone to start for you right away, you’ve got to give Jennings a shot.

The good news short term is that, because of how much fullback his team uses, the snaps are highly consolidated among the top two WRs. Which is usually Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. Not only was Deebo out this week but so was CMC and George Kittle. That created the perfect storm that we saw this week. The bad news? When Deebo returns, they aren’t going to stop using the fullback. So, Jennings goes back to a part-time role. 

• Waiver Priority: Medium Priority
• FAAB: 5-10% (more if he goes directly into your lineup)

Josh Downs - Indianapolis Colts, Yahoo: 25% | ESPN: 10% | Sleeper: 34%

Josh Downs has been in our Stashes article every single week of this year. And that’s because we believe in the talent. We’ve been told all offseason that Josh Downs is a dog and he’s a favorite target of Anthony Richardson. Then, right before the season, he gets hurt. Now he’s back.

In his very first game back, he tied Michael Pittman for the team lead in targets with 5. And he took his job back in the slot - Adonai Mitchell only played 7 snaps. The next goal here is for him to prove that he is so good that they can’t take him off the field for two WR sets (currently it’s Pittman and Alec Pierce playing in those). 

Jaxon Smith-Njigba in his second year just earned that job over Tyler Lockett based on recept snap counts. We’re hoping Downs can do the same. Even as a part time slot guy he could be a solid option, just like Jayden Reed is for the Packers. 

• Waiver Priority: Free or low priority
• FAAB: 0-5%

NFL Week 4 Waiver Tight End + Yin & Yang TE

Zach Ertz - Washington Commanders, Yahoo: 23% | ESPN: 20% | Sleeper: 30%

With Zach Ertz, you know exactly what you are getting. He has never been one to rip off big chunk plays, going back all the way to his time with the Eagles. Despite all the targets he’s gotten over his career, he only has one 1,000 yard season. And he needed 156 targets to do it.

What you are getting from Ertz is reliable hands and, in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense, consistent targets. He’s not getting the 6.5 targets per game that he was getting in the Cardinals Kliff Kinsbury offense but, in the modern tight end landscape, we’ll take the 4-5 targets where we can get them. And the sure-handed Ertz has caught 12 of his 13 targets which is solid enough for us in PPR.

In more leagues we are going Yin-Yang Tight End where we roster two guys - one guys who is “safe” enough to start and another who is the highest risk, highest reward option. 

• Waiver Priority: Late or Free
• FAAB: 0-5%

Hunter Henry - New England Patriots, Yahoo: 51% | ESPN: 45% | Sleeper: 57%

We aren’t giving up on Hunter Henry after one down game. But he may have to go on the backburner for the time being. Such is the life of a “Yang” tight end in our system. We’re targeting high risk, high reward players which is why we often need someone else to start for us for the short term.

In the first two games, Henry led all Patriots WR/TEs in snaps and routes run. In this game? He dropped to 62-63% in both categories which was third. The Patriots played on Thursday, so they practiced yesterday during their “mini-bye” but Hunter Henry has not been seen at the portion of practice open to reporters, per Dan Roche. 

Henry started the game and had two catches in the first quarter then was used fairly sparingly down the stretch. Have to wonder if maybe he tweaked something there. Given how bleak the tight end landscape is, I’m doing my best to hold onto Henry. Not only are we hoping this game was a one off and that he goes back to being a focal point of the offense but there is a second path to upside for Henry. 

We’re all expecting Drake Maye to take over this offense at some point. That could be a bad thing for Henry but it could be a great thing. With so many tight ends out there having no shot at being a top two target on their team, let alone THE top target, we have to give ourselves a chance at upside with guys like this. If someone in your league gives up and you can spare the roster spot, I’d do it. 

• Waiver Priority: Late or free add
• FAAB: 0% 

Week 4 Yin & Yang Tight End

As promised, here are our updated Yin & Yang Tight End rankings going into Week 4. If you are not familiar with this strategy, the full write-up on it is available in our 2024 Fantasy Football Draft Guide. The short and sweet is that, if you don’t get an elite tight end, you roster two – someone “safe” to start early on (Yin) and the highest risk, highest reward option on the bench (Yang). 

As you can see, we separate who we consider a Standalone tight end option where we only care about their bye week vs. the situations where you should roster two. You can use your own judgment on that based on your league size and you can also roster two Yang tight ends if you want to play the high risk, high rewards game or two from the Yin side if you are super conservative. We’ll be updating this throughout the season.