Fantasy football projections, Week 4: Cowboys-49ers featuring Ezekiel Elliott, Dez Bryant, Carlos Hyde, more

The Week 4 matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers features two teams with talented young running backs. We’ve got the fantasy projections courtesy of numberFire.

Wide receiver Dez Bryant hopes to continue playing this season despite dealing with a hairline fracture in his knee, suffered during the team’s Week 3 win over the Chicago Bears. That said, Bryant is a long shot at best to suit up against the 49ers. If he can’t go, Terrance Williams would take over as the team’s No. 1 receiver.

Williams caught four passes for 88 yards against the Bears. He’s been with the Cowboys during other times that Bryant has been out and seen an uptick in value. This time around should be no different. Williams could finally find his first touchdown of the season with Dez watching from the sidelines. If Dez plays, it would be hard to trust him in fantasy lineups anyway.

The more likely scenario is that whether Bryant plays or not, running back Ezekiel Elliott gets more touches. Elliott saw a season-high 30 carries against Chicago last week and parlayed his busy afternoon into 140 rushing yards. That’s 4.6 yards per carry. Pretty impressive considering the high volume. Elliott may not get 30 rush attempts in Week 4, but he will have his hands on the ball a lot one way or another. He’ll be the best fantasy option on the field in this matchup.

The 49ers aren’t going to be keeping too many games close in 2016. That’s what makes Carlos Hyde’s Week 3 numbers encouraging. Despite the fact the team fell to the Seattle Seahawks by a wide margin, Hyde rushed for a season-high 103 yards on 21 carries and found the end zone twice. He now has two multi-touchdown games on the season.

That should instill a lot of confidence in his fantasy owners. Dallas is pretty good against the run, but San Francisco doesn’t offer much otherwise. Hyde may not surpass 100 yards rushing this week, but he won’t be a total bust given that he should be pretty busy on Sunday.

Given that the 49ers don’t exactly have a true go-to wide receiver, quarterback Blaine Gabbert might be the only other player on the roster worth a look in fantasy football. He was dominated in Seattle, but other than that his fantasy numbers have been serviceable.

Dallas ranks near the bottom of the league in defending fantasy quarterbacks. That’s why Gabbert might be a good substitute for quarterbacks on a bye week in deeper leagues. That said, don’t expect more than 250 passing yards and two touchdowns at best from Gabbert in Week 4.