Fantasy football stats: The sleepers of Week 4
A sleeper is a good performance that comes out of nowhere. Rookies are often out of nowhere. Well, that makes sense.
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The surprising, sleeper performances of Week 4 were concentrated on the youth, with surprising rookies putting up numbers for Minnesota, New York and Tampa Bay, and some performances from young guys elsewhere as well.
There was also Joe Flacco, who is not particularly young anymore, but hey, surprises are surprises:
Sleeper quarterbacks in Week 4
Joe Flacco, BAL (327 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns, 3 rushing yards, 25 fantasy points)
Dead cats do bounce. Flacco puts these games up every now and then, but he’s never really been able to string them together into any great shakes in fantasy. He’s a low-end fill-in who will do this occasionally, but good luck identifying and taking advantage of those games.
Teddy Bridgewater, MIN (317 passing yards, 27 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown, successful two-point conversion try, 22 fantasy points)
It was one heck of a debut as a starter for the first-round draft pick, who led the Vikings to more than 500 yards of offense and put up a passer rating of 98.9. With many of the primary Minnesota weapons off the field for a variety of reasons, a success out of Bridgewater would be a huge help to that team. Of course, it came against an awful defense, and Bridgewater was carted off the field late in the game with an ankle injury, so that needs to be monitored, but if he's healthy, his stock is skyrocketing.
Sleeper running backs in Week 4
Jerick McKinnon, MIN (135 rushing yards, 17 receiving yards, 14 fantasy points)
Another entry, another Viking. McKinnon looked like the best running back on the Vikings in a game when his counterpart had three rushing touchdowns. To be fair, the Atlanta run defense would have trouble stopping a particularly determined vacuum cleaner, but McKinnon is still the best future the Vikings have at the position. I expect the workload to shift more McKinnon’s way going forward.
Andre Williams, NYG (66 rushing yards, 1 touchdown, 12 fantasy points)
Williams was a popular sleeper pick in preseason, with some thinking he'd be the goal-line and change-of-pace back, with a chance at increased time should Rashad Jennings get hurt, as he is wont to do. I never bought in, and frankly, I still don't. Jennings left the game early Thursday, but it appeared to be more of a workload-management thing, with the game out of hand and the running back coming off of a game with huge carries. Unless Jennings does get hurt, I'm not sure Williams is worth a whole lot.
Sleeper wide receivers in Week 4
Andre Holmes, OAK (74 receiving yards, 1 touchdown, 13 fantasy points)
Holmes might not be any great shakes. He's a fine NFL player, but probably not much more. But Rod Streater is on the shelf for what looks like a while, and the Raiders look like they're just done with Denarius Moore. That leaves Holmes and James Jones. So Holmes will likely continue to get looks. He's not someone I'm wanting to add in fantasy, but I could envision a scenario in which he gets there.
Mike Evans, TB (65 receiving yards, 1 touchdown, 12 fantasy points)
This is the kind of game Evans' fantasy owners have been waiting for, with a score and enough yards to make it worthwhile. Considering Vincent Jackson also had his best game of the season, the Buccaneers won a game, and newcomer Louis Murphy nearly got to 100 yards, it sure looks like the team make a mistake going with Josh McCown at quarterback to start the season, and while Mike Glennon isn't great, he's a better option.
Sleeper tight end in Week 4
Coby Fleener, IND (26 receiving yards, 1 touchdown, 8 fantasy points)
After virtually no production the first two weeks of the season, Fleener now has touchdowns in back-to-back games, making him at least relevant. Still, after four catches and seven targets in Week 3, he fell back to two and three Sunday. As long as he’s getting touchdowns, he’s nice, but he’s just not a big enough part of the offense to run with.
