Fantasy Football Buy and Sell Candidates For Week 4

Joe Gallina analyzes the top buy and sell candidates for 2014 Fantasy Football. These undervalued or overrated players should be targeted in trades for Week 4.

Don't Do Something That You'll Regret

Week four in the NFL will be especially challenging for fantasy sports players as six teams are on their bye week. You may be one of the Fantasy Football Owner’s hurting from having star players like Peyton Manning and Marshawn Lynch sitting on the bench but you can also use this situation to your benefit. Some fantasy football managers might have dropped some valuable players to replace their bye-week starters, and if you carefully monitor your league’s waiver wire, you might be surprised as to who may be available.

Whether you're down 0-3 or up 3-0, you need to do whatever you can and find some players either through the waiver wire or via a trade that will help your team turn the corner or continue its rampage. Being 0-4 isn’t exactly a death sentence but it is darn close and trust me you don’t want to lose four straight fantasy games to start the season. This may be the week that you may want to consider trading your under achieving first round pick.

My recommendation is that if you’re desperate enough to make that kind of move, you need to make sure you get the right kind of value back in any deal you agree to. Don’t accept anything less than first round type of value or your team may never recover. Whatever you do, don’t despair because I’ve got some ideas that can help your fantasy roster. My four buy recommendations include some established fantasy stars and some players who are just now making a name for themselves and have high upside. Like last week I’ve also chosen two players that you should sell while they still have some value left. Keep it together and we’ll make it through week four. Good luck!

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Week 4 Fantasy Football Buys

Eddie Lacy - RB, Green Bay Packers

Owned in 95% of Fleaflicker leagues

Eddie Lacy was a first round pick and along with Jamaal Charles, LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson and Matt Forte was considered to be a can’t miss running back choice in this season’s fantasy drafts. However, as we approach week four in the NFL, fantasy managers who own shares in Lacy are second guessing themselves and wishing they had drafted a Giovani Bernard or a Le’Veon Bell instead. Your job this week is to identify Lacy owners who feel that way and work out a deal where you buy him low.

The perfect trading partner would be the 0-3 fantasy team owner that has Eddie Lacy as one of their primary backs. He or she is probably in full blown panic mode and might be susceptible to trading away Lacy at a discount. Lacy has had his issues thus far this season. Through his first three games Lacy has only 113 rushing yards, with an average of just 3.1 yards per carry, and 38 receiving yards on six receptions. Those numbers are pretty pathetic for a first round fantasy pick right? So why am I telling you to trade for Lacy?

Well for one thing his first three games were played against three of the toughest run defenses in the free world. He was diagnosed with a concussion after week one against the Seahawk’s Legion of Boom defense but was still in the starting lineup against the Jets’ solid run D in week two (maybe he should have sat out a week). Lacy is a major cog in one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL and it’s just a matter of time before that offense starts to click. Lacy’s value will never be as low as it is now. His upcoming schedule gets a bit easier and at just 24 years of age there is a ton of life left in Lacy’s legs. If he is truly healthy and there are no lingering effects from his week one concussion, he is someone that you should target before his value climbs sky high.

DeAndre Hopkins - WR, Houston Texans

Owned in 90% of Fleaflicker leagues

For years Andre Johnson has been “the guy” in Houston. He is still a premiere wide receiver but there’s a new kid in town and his name is DeAndre Hopkins and he’s pretty darn good. Hopkins is beginning to emerge as a viable second option for Houston QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and with Johnson nursing an ankle injury the Texans may need to rely on the rookie wide receiver more heavily in the coming weeks.

In the Texans game three 30-17 loss to the Giants, Hopkins was targeted nine times and pulled in six catches for 116 yards. He runs great routes, plays a physical game and has a knack for making spectacular plays. Hopkins has a favorable matchup against an ineffective Bills secondary this Sunday and will be further motivated to put up big numbers since he’ll be playing on the opposite side of the field from Sammy Watkins, his former teammate at Clemson. Hopkins has great upside and is definitely worth trading for.

Lorenzo Taliaferro - RB, Baltimore Ravens

Owned in 29% of Fleaflicker leagues

Last week I told you to buy Kirk Cousins for several reasons. What put the icing on the cake and convinced me to recommend him highly were the rumors circulating out there that the head coach wanted to name him the starting QB during the preseason (I know Cousins had a bad week four start but I’m confident that he will be able to rebound and finish his season strong).

Now I’m telling you to buy rookie Raven RB Lorenzo Taliaferro because of his talent, his impressive week three performance against the run defense challenged Cleveland Browns, and in part because of what Ravens head coach Jim Harbaugh had to say about Taliaferro’s Sunday performance. Taliaferro scored a touchdown and rushed for 91 yards on 18 carries. Obviously impressed, Harbaugh was quoted as saying "I think the results speak for themselves with Lorenzo. He was running downhill, physical and was hard to tackle. That is an element that is a big plus for an offense." The Ravens need to find Ray Rice’s heir apparent and with 29 year old journeyman Justin Forsett and Bernard Pierce, who was benched after he lost a fumble in week one, not exactly lighting it up so far this season, the Ravens will give Taliaferro a long hard look.

As the season progresses he has the potential to carve out a big chunk of playing time. He’s a quick, elusive runner who is able to find holes in opposing defenses. With the number of running backs who have been injured in the NFL this season he is definitely someone that you should pick up off of the waiver wire if you have the depth in your bench. He might not be a good start this week but watch his progress; he may be someone that you can plug into your lineup every week very soon.

Allen Robinson - WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Owned in 11% of Fleaflicker leagues

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been going nowhere fast this season and you can’t blame the Jags for benching QB Chad Henne and going with Blake Bortles for the rest of the season. They played it smart and waited until the team was 0-3. If Bortles had been the starter from day one and lost his first three games it might have ruined his confidence and put a hiccup in his career. Let’s face it, with the Jags’ poor play so far this season, there is less pressure on Bortles and he can learn the position from the ground up and develop a rapport with his receivers, especially fellow rookie Allen Robinson.

Sometimes you can find a fantasy jewel even amongst the worst teams in the NFL. This is especially true for wide receivers that play on bad teams since they often trail in games and will tend to throw the ball more. Robinson’s targets have steadily increased each week, starting with just three in week one and ballooning to 10 in week 3. Bortles will have an easy time locating the impressive 6’3” 210 lb Robinson on the football field and the fact that they are both rookies will help them develop that great QB/WR bond that is common with so many QB/WR tandems.

A great quarterback who truly knows his receiver can communicate with him by just giving him “that look”, but that type of familiarity doesn’t just happen overnight, it develops over time. You have a good chance of picking Robinson up off of your league’s waiver wire as he's only 11% owned. Grab him and hopefully you’ll be watching the development of a beautiful relationship that will find Bortles frequently visiting Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood.

Week 4 Fantasy Football Sells

Cam Newton - QB, Carolina Panthers

Owned in 92% of Fleaflicker leagues

Something just isn’t right with Cam Newton. The Panthers are playing it close to the vest and they’re not telling us much of anything. He has been an effective fantasy QB throughout his young career. He’s a good passer but what makes him stand out and take his game to the next level is his ability to run the football. For his career he has averaged eight carries per game with an average of over five yards gained per carry. After missing the first game of the season due to injured ribs he hasn’t been running as much. This past Sunday he registered just two rushing attempts.

Only time will tell if Newton’s ribs will let him get back to playing football the way he is used to playing it. Newton will need some help. If his offensive line plays like it did against the Steelers this past weekend, constantly allowing him to be pressured and allowing him to be sacked three times, Newton, his ribs and the Carolina Panthers are going to be in for a long season. Work your magic and trade him if you can.

Mohamed Sanu - WR, Cincinnati Bengals

Owned in 42% of Fleaflicker leagues

Michael Sanu was a great waiver wire pickup after week two when it looked like Bengals star wide receiver A.J. Green would be out with a serious toe injury. Although Green was surprisingly able to play effectively in week three, Sanu still provided fantasy owners with good value as he caught five passes for 44 yards.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that he also threw an 18 yard TD pass to QB Andy Dalton? He is a dynamic player who can provide you with fantasy points through unconventional means but unfortunately for him starting in week five Marvin Jones should be healthy enough to return to the Bengals starting lineup and since he has a knack for finding the end zone, Jones will probably take a significant bite out of the eight targets that Sanu saw in week three and he will probably no longer be a viable WR2 option.