Week 4 Upgrades & Downgrades
I’d like to start off this week by apologizing to those of you who came to the website last week only to not be able to check out the week 3 Upgrades & Downgrades. Between work and personal life I just didn’t have time to knock it out because writing this article does actually take quite a bit of time each week. With that, I would like to say that it should not be a problem going forward and that every week you can come to the Overtime Network and expect to see this week’s Up and Downgrades.
As I said in week 2, with the new setup, keep in mind that for players I have listed as “downgrades”, I simply mean you should expect less than their statistical average given the current matchup, expected offensive game plan, injury, or a few other factors. They may still start for you and of course, they still may have a good week, but you shouldn’t expect as much from them. For “upgrades”, you can expect them to score more than they typically do but they may not be a starter in your league or for your team. Let’s get started!
Position: Quarterback
Upgrades –
- Drew Brees, Dolphins have allowed QBs to complete 80% of their passes and they played against the anemic Jet’s offense last week
- Russell Wilson, Broke out BIG TIME last week which was surely coming, and now he gets the Colts
- Dak Prescott, Rams let the 49ers score 19 points in the 4th last week so this could be an offensive explosion
- Andy Dalton, Looked good with his new OC and he gets the Browns this week, start him with confidence in all 2 QB leagues
- Trevor Siemian, Has been surprisingly good so far this season and Oakland has one of the bottom 5 pass defenses
Downgrades –
- Derek Carr, His track record against Denver is just poor and he looked like a deer in headlights last week
- Jameis Winston, the Giant’s D is just really good but I know I’m going to regret this because Giants also pass the 2nd most in the league which means there will be a lot of plays in this game
- Ben Roethlisberger, Looked really bad last week against the Bears and now has to go on the road to a Ravens team that got handled by the Jags, you know what to do
- Blake Bortles, I know what he did last week but do you really trust him to provide against a team that just whooped the Dolphins? Me neither
- Jacoby Brissett, Lit it up last week with running mate TY Hilton but now he gets the Legion of Boom IN Seattle. Start him at your own risk
Position: Running Back
Upgrades –
- Jay Ajayi, Put up a 11/16/0 stat line last week and now gets New Orleans, my money’s on him coming out with a vengeance
- LeSean McCoy, His production has been bad but catching passes has been his saving grace. Falcons have been giving up a lot of passes to opposing RBs though
- Joe Mixon, Finally the Bengals figured out what the rest of the world already knew: Mixon is the best back in this backfield. Oh, and he’s against the Browns, yes please
- Chris Carson, Playing against Indy. ‘Nough said
- CJ Anderson, Bottled up last week but Oakland’s defense is poor and if they get up early they are going to kill the clock with his legs
- Christian McCaffrey, Really showed a connection last week in the passing game with Cam and the Patriots are likely going to try and stop the run. PPR gold right here ladies and gentleman
- Duke Johnson Jr., My guess is the Bengals go up early in this one which means the doctor is prescribing a heavy dose of DJ
- Javorius Allen, Steelers got gouged last week by the Bears and you know that pissed them off. Allen is going to be busy in the passing game in this one
Downgrades –
- Leonard Fournette, He’s probably going to go nuts but Ajayi just got held to 11/16/0 last week, I’m not completely excited about this one
- DeMarco Murray, His saving grace last week was a 75 yard TD run, do you really think he’s going to do that again?
- Chris Thompson, I mean he’s like the 5th highest scoring RB in fantasy right now, I don’t think I even need to put him on here but he’s going to slow down soon
- Lamar Miller, Mellowing in mediocrity is what Miller does and I think sooner, rather than later, the coaching staff is going to turn to Foreman for answers
- Marshawn Lynch, Really don’t like the Denver matchup for the Raiders this week, Raiders players are all over this week’s article
- Frank Gore, Going to Seattle and he just hasn’t been productive
- Terrance West, Like I said about Allen above, I think game script is going to favor Allen over West
- Ameer Abdullah, Not loving the matchup against Minnesota and he hasn’t been productive at all so far this season
Position: Wide Receiver
Upgrades –
- Julio Jones, Bills have been weak over the top so I’m loving this as the game he finally lets loose and has a Julio type of day
- AJ Green, Browns only stopped him past when Hayden was healthy and he was fed the rock last week
- Keenan Allen, He’s had a solid production floor to start the season and it only takes 1 game to break out, and I like the Eagle’s pass D to let him do just that
- Emmanuel Sanders, Just as I don’t like Oakland I am LOVING the Bronco’s players this week, especially those involved in the passing game
- Demaryius Thomas, See Sander, Emmanuel above
- DeVante Parker, NO has been weak deep and going deep is what Parker does, could be a week-winner this week
- Allen Hurns, Even though I am not thrilled with Bortles this week as a whole I think Hurns has a decent matchup
- Martavis Bryant, Just missed a big TD last week and Ben has been going to him, it’s only a matter of time before they click on a long one which is all he needs for you
Downgrades –
- Michael Crabtree, See Carr, Derek above
- Amari Cooper, Not only do I not like the matchup (in case you haven’t been paying attention) but he’s off to a dreadful start so far this season
- Mike Evans, Giant’s D is really good but I do like the D Jax play a lot better
- Golden Tate, Going to see a lot of Xavier Rhodes, not sure I’ve loving that
- Sammy Watkins, Went nuts last week but hadn’t done much the previous 2 weeks, I’d consider it more of an anomaly than his expected average forthcoming
- Pierre Garcon, Last week was a bit of an aberration just like I said with Watkins and now he gets to face Arizona
- TY Hilton, Went bonkers last week but going to Seattle this week is about as negative of a matchup as possible
- Will Snead, Anyone savvy enough to snag him late in the draft or even pick him up post-draft should be looking forward to what he can bring to the table, just not this week
Position: Tight End
Upgrades –
- Jared Cook, What? An Oakland player not on the Downgrade list this week? I know, but SOMEONE has to catch the ball this week and I like TEs against Denver
- Jimmy Graham, Finally had himself a good week last week and I think this is just the beginning for him. Plus, you know, Indy coming to town and all that Jazz
- Julius Thomas, Playing against the Saints and the Fins got embarrassed last week against the Jets, looking like it could be a rebound game
- Kyle Rudolph, Even though he has been slow so far this year I think he’s still a good TE and the matchup definitely favors him against Detroit
- Jack Doyle, Like I said with Cooks, someone has to produce this week and the security blanket is usually the best option against a great D like Seattle
Downgrades –
- Zach Ertz, The man has been absolutely on fire but he’s bound to slow down eventually
- Jordan Reed, Didn’t even play last week so not 100% healthy obviously and KC has one of the better defenses in the league
- Benjamin Watson, Steelers have someone of the fastest LBs in the league so not a great matchup on paper
- Jason Witten, Rams have been good against the TE so far yet this season and this game may turn into RB vs RB
- Mercedes Lewis, He caught 3 TDs last week which he had never done in his long career to this point, do you really think he can replicate that? Thought so
