Fantasy News & Analysis

NFL Week 4 Fantasy Football Recap: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa, Florida, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco (10) runs with the ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Evans: 8 receptions, 103 yards, 2 touchdowns

Travis Kelce: 9 receptions, 92 yards, 1 touchdown

For all fantasy football game recaps from Week 4, click here.


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MIA@CIN | MIN@NO | CLE@ATL | BUF@BAL | SEA@DET
LAC@HOU | TEN@IND | CHI@NYG | JAX@PHI | NYJ@PIT | ARZ@CAR
DEN@LVR | KC@TB |

Add Rachaad White: Leonard Fournette managed an ineffective -3 yards on three carries, which contributed to the rookie seeing significant playing time.

  • Fournette hadn’t played as well heading into this game, either.
  • His yards after contact per carry, first-down rate and avoided tackle rate are all down significantly from last season.
  • Fournette had appeared on the injury report in past weeks with a hamstring injury but wasn’t listed this week.
  • His fantasy value was saved by a five-yard touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter tonight.
  • White took two full drives in the first half and second half, rather than the Buccaneers rotating by situation.
  • Because the backs are used interchangeably, Tampa Bay could give White significantly more playing time if desired.
  • He’s worth a waiver wire addition just in case his playing time improves to that degree.

The Buccaneers' wide receivers are finally (relatively) healthy: The Buccaneers didn’t have most of their wide receivers a week ago but had the top four wideouts on their depth chart playing together for the first time.

  • Mike Evans and Chris Godwin remained clear starters for Tampa Bay despite the new competition.
  • Russell Gage and Julio Jones largely had to fight for playing time for the second spot.
  • It will be hard to trust Gage and Jones going forward if the Buccaneers follow this trend, as both players ran a route on less than 50% of the team’s dropbacks.
  • Godwin was the clear leader in snaps out of the slot, while Evans ran the second-most snaps out of the slot. Gage had been the primary slot receiver in the first three games, but he was stuck running routes on the outside.
  • Breshad Perriman missed this game, but he will likely be the fifth wide receiver when healthy. He could further complicate the situation.

Monitor the Cameron Brate injury: Brate suffered a concussion near the end of the first half and missed the rest of the game.

  • Brate was off to a fine start, totaling four catches for 32 yards on seven targets.
  • Cade Otton took over as the primary receiving tight end for the rest of the game.
  • Kyle Rudolph was a healthy inactive for Tampa Bay.
  • This is probably a situation to avoid if Brate misses a game, but Otton would be the player to pick up in deep leagues.

Isiah Pacheco’s increased usage: Pacheco garnered his most promising usage of the season, which is a trend that could continue.

  • Most of his snaps came at the expense of Jerick McKinnon rather than Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
  • Edwards-Helaire handled a larger majority of snaps on early downs compared to last week.
  • All three backs received noteworthy snaps in short-yardage and goal-line situations. This was also a situation dominated by McKinnon last week.
  • McKinnon maintained his role as the third down and two-minute drill back.
  • Edwards-Helaire remains a weekly fantasy starter.
  • It’s OK to add Pacheco in deeper leagues, but it would be difficult for him to become a fantasy starter without an Edwards-Helaire injury.
  • It’s OK to cut McKinnon in most leagues after him losing a lot of snaps.

Skyy Moore sees increased usage: Moore is the other Kansas City rookie who was more involved in the offense tonight, running just as many routes as he did over his first three games combined.

  • Moore surpassed Justin Watson for fourth on the depth chart, while Watson still saw limited playing time.
  • This rotation hurt all of the Chiefs' wide receivers, as no receiver ran a route on over 80% of the team’s pass routes.
  • Mecole Hardman has seen his role reduced the most and can be dropped in most league formats.
  • Moore could see his snaps increase further as the season progresses, but it might not reach a point where he can be relied on in fantasy leagues this year.

 


Table Notes
  • Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
  • Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
  • Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
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