Week 4 Start and Sit: Trust Jeremiyah Love, Bench Justin Herbert in Seattle

Jeremiyah Love is a must-start running back in Week 4, Justin Herbert is a quarterback to bench in Seattle, and Jalen Hurts has played his way off the auto-start list after the worst game of his season. Those are the three calls that matter most for fantasy managers setting lineups this week, and they come from three very different places: a rookie's role expanding, a new offense failing to launch, and a veteran star coming off a 27-7 home embarrassment.

Week 4 also arrives with a heavy injury overlay. Baker Mayfield is out at least three weeks in Tampa Bay, De'Von Achane's torn ACL has reshaped the Miami backfield, and Puka Nacua (hip), Justin Jefferson (ankle) and Nico Collins (hamstring) are all names to monitor before Sunday. This piece sticks to the start and sit decisions; check final statuses before kickoff.

Quarterbacks: start Purdy and Shough, sit Herbert and Cousins

Start Brock Purdy against Denver. Purdy has cleared 21 fantasy points in every game this season and posted his best line of the year in Week 3 against Arizona: 297 passing yards, four touchdowns and 34 rushing yards. He is doing it with a receiver room that has been gutted by injuries, which says more about his command of the offense than his weapons. Treat him as a weekly QB1 until the production stops.

Start Tyler Shough on Monday night against Atlanta. Shough has 917 passing yards through three games, second in the league, and threw a career-high four touchdowns in the 35-27 loss to the Raiders. The turnovers in that game were ugly, but fantasy scoring rewards the volume and the touchdown passes. The caveat is real: Atlanta's pass rush ranks among the league's best by pressure rate, so his floor is lower than his yardage total suggests.

Sit Justin Herbert at Seattle. The Chargers are 0-3 under Mike McDaniel and Herbert has not reached 14 fantasy points in any game. He has three touchdown passes against four interceptions, has finished under 230 passing yards in every contest, and sits in the bottom eight among qualified quarterbacks in completion rate and EPA per dropback. Seattle is a touchdown favorite at home. There is no case for him in one-quarterback leagues.

Sit Kirk Cousins against Kansas City. The Raiders are 3-0, but the Chiefs defense has allowed the fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. Cousins is a fine superflex starter and a poor streaming choice.

Downgrade Jalen Hurts against the Rams. Hurts completed 16 of 25 passes for 153 yards and an interception in Monday's 27-7 loss to a Bears team starting Case Keenum. His rushing touchdown saved the fantasy line. He is still a starter in most leagues because of the legs, but managers with a comparable option should no longer treat him as a locked-in top-eight play.

Deep-league sleeper: Marcus Mariota against the Colts in London. Mariota remains the expected starter for Washington while Jayden Daniels works back from his elbow injury, and his rushing gives him a usable floor in two-quarterback formats.

Running backs: trust the rookie and the volume

Start Jeremiyah Love at the Giants. Love took over Arizona's backfield in Week 3, carrying 21 times for 90 yards and catching all five targets for 19 yards and a touchdown. He played a season-high 64 percent of the snaps and handled more than 80 percent of early-down work. The Giants have already allowed three different backs to score at least 13.6 PPR points, and New York lost edge rusher Brian Burns for the season this week. Love is an RB1 in this spot.

Start Bhayshul Tuten at Cincinnati. Tuten has 43 carries for 204 yards and two touchdowns, a 4.7 yards-per-carry clip, and he plays in the highest-total game on the Week 4 board at 51.5. Jaylen Warren just ran for 127 yards against this Bengals front. Volume plus game environment makes Tuten a strong RB2.

Start Chuba Hubbard on Sunday night against Detroit. Lions and Panthers carries one of the highest totals of the week, and Hubbard should handle the bulk of the Carolina backfield with Jonathon Brooks reportedly sidelined. He is an RB2 with touchdown upside in a game expected to stay competitive.

Sit Bucky Irving against Green Bay. Irving's weekly totals have dropped each week, Tampa Bay has scored fewer than 20 points in each of its last two games, and now undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels starts at quarterback. The Packers are a middle-of-the-pack run defense, not a smash spot. Irving is a flex at best.

Sit Quinshon Judkins on Thursday night. Judkins got a season-high 18 carries in Week 3, but he has averaged roughly three yards per carry for a long stretch and plays in a game with a total under 40. He needs a touchdown to pay off.

Receivers and tight ends: Golden up, Egbuka and Thomas down

Start Matthew Golden at Tampa Bay. Golden has 15 catches on 30 targets for 253 yards and a touchdown, and his 416 targeted air yards rank third among all receivers. That is alpha usage for a second-year receiver, and it holds regardless of matchup. He is a WR2 with a WR1 ceiling.

Sit Emeka Egbuka against Green Bay. Egbuka has not topped 11.3 fantasy points in any game this season, and his quarterback is now Jalon Daniels. Some analysts expect Daniels to push the ball downfield, which helps Egbuka's ceiling, but the floor is too low for a standard lineup. He is a WR3 only in three-receiver leagues.

Sit Brian Thomas Jr. at Cincinnati. This is the hardest sit of the week because the game total is so high, but Thomas has only 12 targets through three games and is functioning as Jacksonville's third receiver behind Parker Washington and Jakobi Meyers. Play Washington instead if you roster both.

Fade Kyle Pitts at New Orleans. Pitts has been one of the quietest tight ends in fantasy through three weeks and was limited in practice with a toe injury. Drake London just went for nine catches and 194 yards; Atlanta's passing game runs through him and Bijan Robinson.

Downgrade Mark Andrews against Tennessee. Andrews is expected to slide into the No. 2 tight end role in Baltimore, and the Titans have allowed the third-fewest PPR points to the position.

Sleeper: Kenyon Sadiq against Chicago. The Jets rookie broke out in his third NFL game and Mason Taylor is week to week. Sadiq is a viable streamer in a thin tight end week.

Thursday night quick calls

Steelers at Browns is lined around 38.5, the lowest number of the week. Jaylen Warren is a start after 176 scrimmage yards against Cincinnati, and Rico Dowdle is out again. Harold Fannin Jr. is a start at tight end: he has 12 catches over his last two games, two touchdowns last week and an 85 percent snap share. Everyone else from this game belongs on the bench unless you are short-handed.

What to do in your league

The common thread this week is environment. Jaguars at Bengals (51.5) and Lions at Panthers on Sunday night are the two games to chase, and fringe starters from those games deserve the benefit of the doubt over similar players in totals below 40, such as Steelers at Browns, Packers at Buccaneers and Dolphins at Vikings.

For bettors, the start and sit list doubles as a player-prop map. Herbert's struggles and Seattle's home edge point the same direction, and Love's role change may not be fully reflected in rushing totals set off his first two weeks. Verdexed's game-by-game probabilities live at /nfl/predictions, and the full Week 4 card is at /blog/nfl-week-4-picks-2026.

What's next

Final injury reports land Friday for the Sunday games. The key designations to watch for lineup decisions are Nacua, Jefferson and Collins; any of the three sitting would elevate a teammate into start territory. Set Thursday players first, then make Sunday decisions with Friday's report in hand, and leave a flexible spot for the Sunday night or Monday night games when you can.