Week 4 Monday Night Fantasy Football Takeaways: Jared Goff's Perfect Game, Kenneth Walker's Big Return, Dolphins' Offense Struggles Again, and More

Discussing some fantasy football takeaways from the Monday night games between the Lions and Seahawks and Titans and Dolphins.

Week 4 of the NFL regular season wrapped up with two Monday night games. 

Before we dive further into week 5, let’s go over some fantasy football takeaways from Monday’s games.

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Jared Goff Perfect

Goff was absolutely on point on Monday night, helping the Lions defeat the Seahawks 42-29.

Goff completed all 18 of his passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a seven-yard touchdown pass.

It had been a bit of a slow start to the season for Goff, but this performance should ease the mind of fantasy owners thinking about playing Goff on their fantasy teams. The Lions’ offense is loaded, and this might be the game that helps several fantasy players get going.

Detroit’s Big Names Account for All Touchdowns

Goff was helped out by some of the bigger names on the offense.

Amon-Ra St. Brown caught all six of his targets for 45 yards and a touchdown, along with throwing the touchdown to Goff.

Jameson Williams had just two catches and targets, but a 70-yard touchdown helped him post a solid fantasy score.

Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 78 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. David Montgomery had a rushing score and 40 yards on 12 carries, while adding in a 40-yard catch on his lone target.

Tight end Sam LaPorta had his best game of the season, making four catches on as many targets for 53 yards. Tim Patrick was the only non-fantasy star that produced, going for 52 yards on his two catches and targets.

Like Goff, none of the Lions’ top-end players had produced really good fantasy scores in the first three weeks, but up against a tough Seahawks’ defense, many delivered. The overall performance should make it easier for fantasy owners to start and trust Goff, St. Brown, Gibbs, Montgomery, LaPorta and Williams going forward.

Smith, Walker, Metcalf Lead Seattle

Quarterback Geno Smith threw a whopping 56 passes as the Seahawks were playing from behind all night. He completed 38 passes for 395 yards, but just one touchdown and an interception. Smith added 38 rushing yards on five carries.

Smith has now thrown for at least 285 yards in the past three contests. But he’s only thrown three touchdowns and has as many picks over that span. I don’t think the big yardages are sustainable, and if that gets cut, his touchdowns need to increase and picks need to go down. That should keep Smith as a viable streaming option, but hold him back from being a starter in standard leagues.

Kenneth Walker III returned from a two-week absence and immediately regained his lead back role. He rushed for 80 yards and three touchdowns on 12 attempts and added 36 receiving yards on four catches and five targets.

I figured the Seahawks would ease Walker back into things, but he played 53 of the team’s 90 offensive snaps, while backup Zach Charbonnet played 38 snaps. Walker immediately goes back to being a starting option in all leagues, while Charbonnet is a handcuff and possible flex play in deeper setups.

Charbonnet had just two carries for 15 yards, but had 39 receiving yards on five catches and targets.

Seattle has three good receivers, but DK Metcalf continues to be the top option for Smith.

Metcalf had 104 yards on seven catches and 12 targets on Monday night. After a 29-yard performance in week 1, Metcalf has three straight games over 100 yards, with two touchdowns and 21 catches on 32 targets over that span.

Metcalf was drafted early in the fifth round on average - probably because of the presence of Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba - but Metcalf continues to clearly be the lead dog and is looking like a big-time draft steal so far.

Speaking of Lockett and Smith-Njigba, both wideouts had solid nights, which is what you’d expect with 56 passing attempts and 395 passing yards. Lockett had 61 yards on five catches and nine targets, while JSN went for 51 yards on eight grabs and 12 targets.

Smith-Njigba is the No. 2 wideout for the team so far, but both are producing enough to warrant flex consideration in standard leagues. They can be confidently started more in deeper leagues though.

Tennessee Backs Carry the Load

The Titans topped the Dolphins 31-12 in a really, really ugly game. Tennessee had just 244 total yards, while Miami had 184. There were 18 penalties, two turnovers and just three touchdowns scored.

Tennessee RB duo of Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears each had solid games. Pollard rushed for 88 yards and a score on 22 carries and caught both of his targets for an additional 20 yards. Spears had 39 rushing yards and a score on 15 attempts and didn’t gain any yards on his two catches and targets.

Pollard continues to serve as the clear lead back - he played 39 of the possible 65 snaps. Spears was at 27 snaps, and that number is just enough to have fantasy owners pause when it comes to deciding whether or not to play Pollard.

The Titans’ offense isn’t great, which doesn’t work in Pollard’s favor, and because the unit is usually on the field trailing, his workload will never be that of a true workhorse. Having Spears around only complicates things further. 

That probably will cap Pollard as a flex starting option most weeks, but he’s really only a confident play in deeper leagues. Spears has a little starting appeal in deeper leagues, but probably shouldn't be played unless Pollard is banged up.

Will Levis Injured

Levis isn’t a big-time fantasy asset, and now there’s some QB controversy in Tennessee after he went down with an early shoulder injury. 

Levis played just 11 snaps, and threw an interception before leaving with the injury. Mason Rudolph played the rest of the way and helped the team to its first win.

Titans head coach Brian Callahan said Levis will still be the starter, but with this game in mind, it might be easier to pull Levis in an upcoming game if he continues to struggle. This really only matters to those of you in deeper leagues and dynasties, but Levis’ fantasy value has definitely gone down with each week of the regular season.

The Dolphins’ Offense is a Mess

In Miami’s second game without Tua Tagovailoa, the offense continued to struggle.

Tyler Huntley got the start at QB, and ended up with under 100 passing yards on 22 attempts. He did have 40 rushing yards and a score, but the lack of a decent QB really hurt the Miami offensive playmakers.

Tyreek Hill had four catches for 23 yards on seven targets, with his longest catch being 17 yards. He added 19 rushing yards on three attempts, again with a 16-yard play really boosting the final numbers. 

De'Von Achane had just 15 rushing yards on 10 attempts, while adding 14 receiving yards on three catches and targets.

Jaylen Waddle had just 36 receiving yards on four grabs and six targets.

Tagovailoa is expected to return when he’s eligible to in week 8, but that still leaves two games between now and then (week 5 against New England, week 7 against Indianapolis).

It’s going to be incredibly hard to justify putting Hill, Waddle and Achane in your starting lineups for either of those weeks. In deeper leagues, I’d do it just because of the possible upside each of those players have, but in standard leagues, I’d probably try to find other options.

IDP Standouts

Seattle’s Tyrel Dodson had 10 combined tackles, including one that was for a loss, on Monday. He’s got 33 total tackles, a sack, a pass defensed and a forced fumble across four games, showing plenty of fantasy value for those of you in IDP leagues.

Detroit’s Carlton Davis had seven combined tackles, three passes defensed and a fumble recovery that he returned 49 yards. Davis has 28 total tackles now for the season, which is a healthy amount for a defensive back, and makes him a really solid IDP option.

Detroit’s Kerby Joseph had nine combined tackles, an interception and a pass defensed. Joseph has had a bit of a slow start when it comes to tackles, but already has three picks on the year. He’s an up-and-coming IDP asset, making him most valuable in deeper and keeper/dynasty leagues.

Miami’s Jordyn Brooks finished with 13 combined tackles, a sack and a pass defensed. He had 19 total tackles coming into the game, so this looks a bit more like an outlier to me. Brooks is still a pretty solid IDP option in deeper leagues.

Tennessee’s Kenneth Murray had nine combined tackles on Monday and now has 31 on the season. He continues to be a pretty good IDP option for fantasy owners.

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