Week 4 Fantasy Football Rankings Analysis - Laghezza vs. Mariano Rankings Comparisons

Week 4 fantasy football rankings analysis for 2025. John compares his custom fantasy football rankings and projections to identify players he's higher or lower than consensus.

Let's get freaky! Friday can only mean one thing, people... another round of RotoBaller's Week 4 Rankings: Clash Of The Titans! You want to be the best? You have to beat the best, so all season I'll be putting my own custom work up against our resident living legend, Nick Mariano. Last week, I took down the crown — fades on Jake Browning, James Conner plus Tetairoa McMillan capped off a strong weekend of avoiding landmines.

Even though we may lock horns in these little skirmishes, don't get us wrong. Mariano and I are like family -- and just like real family, we don't always agree. I generate custom player projections, and sometimes find myself consumed in a bubble at times. So much work goes into forming opinions; they can become overly rigid, but not this time...

Every single week, I'll conduct a comparative analysis by scraping our resident expert Nick Mariano's on-site consensus projections and pitting them against my own for any major differences. Enjoy our little fantasy clash, and feel free to let me know what you think on social media.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
• Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
• Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
• FLEX fantasy football rankings
• Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
• Kicker (K) fantasy football rankings
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings

Week 4 Ranking Disputes: Quarterback

I'm Higher Than Consensus On Justin Fields, New York Jets (at MIA)

It only took a month of winless football to finally back a single New York Jet, but we made it. So far, I'd say Jets' fans received the full Justin Fields fantasy experience. Low pass volume rife with inaccuracy, and all the excitement of a top-5 rushing QB — replete with a concussion-based stop inside the dreaded blue tent. However, the newest NYJ shot caller began practicing again in full this week, setting him up a start against the division rival Dolphins. Interest piqued.

Frankly, Fields' industry wide projections this weekend surprised me, given the combination of rushing floor and soft matchup. Not sure anyone's played worse defensively than Miami, leading the way in a race to the bottom on that side of the ball.

Miami Dolphins Defense, 2025:

• 32.3 Points Allowed Per Game: Last
• 6.1 Yards Allowed Per Play: T-30th
• -0.22 Defensive EPA Per Play: Last
• 41.9 Average Drive Distance: Last
• 68.0% Scoring Drive Success: Last
• 78.8% Completion Rate Allowed: Last
• -0.40 EPA Per Dropback: 31st
• 128.9 Opposing Passer Rating: Last
• 25.3% Pressure Rate: 30th

That's... pretty rough. And we know exactly what to expect with Fields in this Tanner Engstrand offense, for better or worse. Presume plenty of shotgun looks with delayed options over the top — just like the ones that worked so well against Pittsburgh in Week 1. Anytime Justin Fields faces a defense unable to bring pressure like Miami, I'm jamming him in my top five QB ranks and letting the rest work itself out. In fact, all three QBs to face the Dolphins in 2025 finished top-5 at the position.

JUSTIN FIELDS HIGH STEPPIN

PITvsNYJ on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/aQz4Zy857a

— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025

I'm Lower On Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts (at LAR) 

Like it or not, Daniel Jones scored more fantasy points than Jalen Hurts so far, and that's just the world we live in. Not to take anything away from Jones, he's played a major role in what can only be described as the league's biggest reclamation so far in Indy. That said, two-thirds of the Colts competition to date (MIA, TEN) represent the absolute worst defensive units in football. They fared well versus Denver but relied heavily on a few big plays.

This time around, Jones and the Colts face off against the Rams, playing much better up front than expected. Sure, Los Angeles lost to the Eagles Sunday, but in it showed me their top-3 metrics in yards allowed/play (4.4) and EPA/play (+0.11) are legitimate. Again, my point's not to banish Jones' weekly rank to the shadow realms, as much as highlight the intense need for efficiency on such a low pass rate (52.4% pass, 32.7 dropbacks/game) and average target depth (8.0).

I'm calling for a touch of nature correcting Sunday, with Jones and the Colts finally looking human to lead the way.

Daniel Jones made some high difficulty throws, but I wasn't floored by his film. He had a lot of WIDE OPEN pass-catchers, who converted YAC.

He also had some bad misses and bad decisions.

You can rebrand Danny Dimes to Indiana Jones. But man, I'm not sold yet. #Colts pic.twitter.com/DQJW2PAueV

— Henry McKenna (@henrycmckenna) September 16, 2025

Week 4 Ranking Disputes: Running Back

I'm Higher Than Consensus On Nick Chubb, Houston Texans (vs. TEN)

(holds breath, takes plunge) If fortune favors the bold, that's a notch in our belt off the rip for backing Texans' veteran RB Nick Chubb. The once all-world runner's leading the Texans' backfield in usage by an order of magnitude — yet hasn't cracked a top-20 weekly RB finish. Sigh.

This weekend, the single-digit point streak ends... I hope. Well, put it this way. Chubb better get on the board Sunday or it's welcome to Drop City. Tennessee's struggling to stop the run as an understatement, completely unable to tackle — leading to bottom-5 ranks in EPA/attempt (-0.17), yards allowed/rush (5.3), yards after contact per rush (4.54), and explosive rush rate (13.3%). Houston's got to get right at 0-3, finally reaching 20 points with Nick Chubb at the center.

Nick Chubb puts the Texans ahead 👀

(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/dNu1njQCJ9

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 16, 2025

I'm Lower On Jaylen Warren, Pittsburgh Steelers (vs MIN)

It's a trap! Forget any baked-in weirdness from breaking routines for international play, the travel or unpredictable field conditions — I was throwing in the towel on Pittsburgh's offense regardless. Week 1 did anyone supporting the Steelers a massive disservice, building up false hope for a team moving entirely too slow for fantasy success.

Remove the wildly anomalous Week 1 efficiency-fest against the Jets. What's been going on since more clearly reflects what to expect going forward — bottom-3 in rate of play, yards before contact per attempt, yards per carry and zero +20-yard rushes. Warren's taken over the PIT backfield but it's simply the best of a bad situation, one I'd try to avoid where possible against a really good defensive unit for Minnesota.

UPDATE: Jaylen Warren popped up on the Steelers' injury report Friday morning. Bench him and everyone else in black and yellow for that matter.

Week 4 Ranking Disputes: Wide Receiver

I'm Higher Than Consensus On Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders (vs CHI)

Some players just never seem to get the love they deserve, and Jakobi Meyers always comes to mind first when the topic arises. Despite WR1 outputs in terms of utilization (39.1 routes/game, 8.7 targets/game) and production (76.0 receiving yards/game), Meyers consistently slips through the fantasy cracks from offseason to in-season.

Geno Smith just broke out in Week 3 but sadly didn't take Meyers along for the entire ride (3-63-0; WR40) — though 9.3 points didn't bury us. Expect Meyers to get back into the front-end WR2 conversation against a Bears' secondary allowing the second-most fantasy points to opposing WRs this season. Chicago's DC Dennis Allen deploys a lot of press-man under two-high safeties, leading to all the elevated passing stats against on the spreadsheet (75.5% completion, 110.0 passer rating, 247.7 yards/game, 8 +20-yard completions).

I'm hoping last week's breakout represents more of what's to come from Geno Smith in Chip Kelly's offense.

Jakobi Meyers Emerging as Raiders' Target Monster https://t.co/Tzgnlc50fX

— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) September 12, 2025

I'm Lower On Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars (at SF)

One of the most productive risk venture lessons preaches this loud and clear — stop trying to catch a falling knife. In short, markets can stay irrational longer than we're able to stay solvent, so don't interrupt momentum. Of course we want to buy assets low, but disciplined traders will tell you it's only after identifying some type of bullish signal. Bottoms rarely get called to the tick, remember that.

We've all seen the memes, drops, and gifs of misaligned Jaguars dropping wide-open passes. It's brutal. Open any corner of fantasy football social media and instantly get bombarded with gamers crying over burnt first-round picks. The utilization still rocks but cope all you like — the QB play in Jacksonville does not. Not to mention I'm honestly worried about the severity of Thomas' injured wrist, which could explain both the drops and contact avoidance. I'm out on BTJ until we see at least one spectacular play.

Thomas' catch rate charted by route type blew my mind, I had to share it — they're not doing anything well right now.

Courtesy of trumedianetworks.com

More Fantasy Football Analysis

Updated Waiver Wire Rankings for Week 11

High-Upside Waiver Wire Bench Stashes

WR/CB Matchups to Target and Avoid

Sneaky Starts, Pivot Plays and Waiver Stashes