Wide Receiver Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Picks for Fantasy Football Week 4 (2025)

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John's wide receiver start 'em, sit 'em picks for fantasy football Week 4 lineups (2025). Read his expert WR start/sit advice for Zay Flowers, Tee Higgins, D.J. Moore, others.

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Week 4 Concerns - Potential Fantasy Football Busts

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Wide receivers in fantasy football have a ton of volatility. As you'll see later in this article, the first player we mention is a perfect example of this.

There are plenty of examples of why players can have such variance in their scoring, as we'll get into later, of course, and trying to find the right games to start those players can be a challenging task -- that I'll try to help you with of course.

But there are some players that have shown such clear red flags that it's hard to trust them in starting lineups at all, so I'll also be recommending a few that you should leave on the bench. So let's dive in to five start 'em, sit' em picks at the WR position for Week 4 of 2025!

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Week 4 Starts - Potential Fantasy Football Booms

Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens

Flowers essentially disappeared in Week 3 against the Detroit Lions. At times, unfortunately, Flowers is the Harry Houdini of receivers, becoming an absolute non-factor in certain games seemingly without reason. But the schematic matchups that Baltimore's offense exploits could explain it.

Tight end Mark Andrews had a massive game, catching all six of his targets for 91 yards and two touchdowns, while Flowers was only targeted three times by quarterback Lamar Jackson. He caught two of those passes for 13 yards. Jackson only completed 21 passes.

After running the ball on 53.55% of their offensive plays in 2024, the Baltimore Ravens have just a 43.95% rush rate through three games. Almost an 18% decline. Big part of this is their defense playing terribly, but it's bearish for Derrick Henry and bullish for Zay Flowers

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 27, 2025

The good news is the Ravens are at least running the ball much less than they did last season. Thus far, they are running the ball far less than they did last year. And the matchup for Andrews is much less favorable in Week 4, when he faces the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs currently allow just 4.8 fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends. That's tied for the third-lowest in the league. They allow the 12th-fewest points to WRs, which is much closer to league average and much more forgiving.

Flowers plays well against man coverage and cover 2 shells, displaying nice efficiency against both. He's not a red zone weapon, but he should have a better game in Week 4. Baltimore's defense has struggled, so the Ravens offense should be forced to be productive.

Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

Higgins has had a rough season so far. He lost his starting quarterback, Joe Burrow (toe), to an injury that will have him out for multiple months. In his place, backup QB Jake Browning played abysmally against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3. He threw two interceptions and was sacked three times.

The Vikings' highly-talented and blitz-heavy defense heavily exploited the weakness of Cincinnati's offensive line, and the matchup in general was a nightmare. But with Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II likely set to shadow WR Ja'Marr Chase, Higgins could sneakily have a good game.

Tee Higgins the last time the #Bengals faced the Broncos:

🐅 11 receptions
🐅 131 yards
🐅 3 TD
🐅 Game-winner in overtime

pic.twitter.com/cg4H6uB1QL

— SleeperBengals (@SleeperBengals) September 25, 2025

Though it was without Burrow, Higgins capitalized heavily on the softer coverage to have an excellent game against Denver last season. No. 5 is just the WR61 through three games, which is absolutely abysmal, but this should be a solid contest for him as long as Browning doesn't completely falter.

That's a possibility, of course, but most fantasy managers drafted Higgins in the third round of their drafts, and I'd still recommend starting Higgins over waiver wire replacements.

Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders

Meyers has quietly put together a very solid season despite the general ineptitude of the Raiders offense he plays in. He was targeted 22 times in his first two contests, averaging just under 15.3 fantasy points per game in those contests. Last week, he didn't get much work at all, and was a bust.

But it was a weird game script for Las Vegas against the Washington Commanders, and WR Tre Tucker had a massive game because the Commanders kept busting coverages against him. The Chicago Bears, who the Raiders face in Week 4, have a ton of injuries in their secondary.

#Bears Friday Injury Report pic.twitter.com/51mSZ1oAAB

— Bears Communications (@BearsPR) September 26, 2025

They should be a bit stronger this week, which seems to favor them not busting so many coverages and Raiders quarterback Geno Smith going back to Meyers, who is one of his trusted targets. Meyers is worth putting in starting lineups, at least as a flex.

And despite only getting three catches in Week 3, Meyers gained 63 yards. He's putting together a nice season.

Week 4 Concerns - Potential Fantasy Football Busts

Jerry Jeudy, WR, Cleveland Browns

Jeudy's explosive "breakout" in 2024 is well in the rearview mirror now. The Browns' offense was much more productive last season in the passing game than it is this year, thanks largely to the contributions of absolute gunslinger quarterback Jameis Winston.

But even the team's current starter, Joe Flacco, isn't putting up anything like the passing numbers he did with his last stint with the team in 2023. He's passing the ball very heavily, but is averaging just over 210 passing yards per game.

the Browns ran what should have been a 30+ yard flea flicker except, whoops, Joe Flacco checked it down from a clean pocket??? pic.twitter.com/y4a4WYb7q7

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) September 21, 2025

Hinging your entire season on a 40-year-old quarterback seems like a strategy more suited for taking for the next quarterback class than having a productive offense and winning a lot of games. And that's how things are working out for Cleveland so far.

They do have one of the NFL's best defenses, and a defensive roster loaded with talent, but the receivers simply aren't very productive right now for fantasy football. Jeudy caught just one pass for 17 yards last week, symbolic of the anemic state of the offense overall.

It's hard to recommend starting him this week in any leagues.

D.J. Moore, Chicago Bears

The retooled and revamped Bears offense, under the guidance of new head coach Ben Johnson, hasn't done any favors for Moore's production. In fact, he's been worse this season than he was last year. He's the WR45 through three games. He's been easily supplanted as the team's WR1 by Rome Odunze.

What's interesting is that despite drafting tight end Colston Loveland (hip) and WR Luther Burden III in the first two rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft, it's hard to excuse Moore's lack of production with that as a reason. Loveland and Burden have been only minimally involved in the offense.

DJ Moore through 3 weeks:

>1.42 Yards per Route Run (WR53/94)
>0.17 TPRR (WR60)
>0.158 Average Separation Score (WR9)

Despite still separating well, he's been phased out of the offense more than in 2024. And this is without Luther Burden or Colston Loveland very involved

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 27, 2025

The problem with Moore's game isn't necessarily his play, but that he's not seeing a lot of targets even though he's done a good job of getting open in Johnson's scheme, which shouldn't be a surprise. With Burden and Loveland likely to gradually get more involved, Moore is a hard player to trust in starting lineups.

Loveland is dealing with injury issues, but Burden had his first big game in Week 3, going over 100 receiving yards and scoring a touchdown. With Odunze getting plenty of usage on the perimeter, it's possible Burden could settle into a slot role.

Both Burden and Loveland dealt with injuries in the offseason, so it's possible they simply need more reps to get acclimated to the offense. Johnson likely wanted to work his early picks into the team's passing game earlier, but it takes time to learn a new offensive system and get acclimated to the NFL.

Seeing a lot of folks amazed by this play, but Matt Eberflus forgetting about DJ Moore's usage should have surprised no one pic.twitter.com/VbzlquPWrd

— Bear Weather Fans (@BearWeatherFans) September 24, 2025

Moore did have a touchdown last week, but it came on an incredibly busted coverage in which he was wide open against what is likely the NFL's worst defense in the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas was shredded by QB Russell Wilson, who went on to get benched a week later.

So I'd be leaving Moore on the bench outside of deep leagues.