Mitchell Trubisky, Chicago Bears, QB:
After Rams’ quarterback Jared Goff set the mark very high for the league’s top fantasy scorer on Thursday with 39.3 points, Mitchell Trubisky had an even better day on Sunday giving owners a whopping 43.5 points in standard scoring. The Chicago Bears had a show of force beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48-10. The game was even out of hand at halftime as the Bears had taken a 38-3 lead. Trubisky set a career-high with six passing touchdowns, as well as throwing for 354 yards and rushing for another 53. This was easily the best game of the second year quarterback’s career, and it is also impressive that he threw a touchdown to five different receivers. The Bears have really shown that they can be contenders as they have a very talented defense along with an offense that is finally starting to come along under new head coach Matt Nagy. Trubisky and Co. will get a rest in Week Five with a bye and will return to play all four AFC East teams in a row, starting with the Miami Dolphins and ending with the Buffalo Bills in Week Nine. Many expected a breakout for Trubisky in year two and we could be witnessing the start of it, he makes for a great candidate to trade for.
Golden Tate, Detroit Lions, WR:
In what ended up being a game that came down to the wire, the Detroit Lions-Dallas Cowboys game ended up producing two of the best fantasy performers of week four, those players being Golden Tate and Ezekiel Elliott (see below). Tate has been a very consistent fantasy player to start the season as he has at least six catches and 69 yards each week. Sunday was no different as the veteran wide receiver caught all eight of the balls thrown his way for 132 yards and two touchdowns resulting in 25.2 fantasy points in standard scoring. The touchdown catches were Tate’s second and third of the year through only four games and are a welcome sight for owners as he has only averaged around five touchdowns per season since he joined the Lions in 2014. After having at least 90 catches every year he has played in Detroit, the nine-year receiver is easily Matthew Stafford’s favorite target in a pass-heavy offense, leaving him with a very nice floor and solid WR2 value for the rest of the season.
Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys, RB:
Per usual, the Dallas Cowboys relied on Ezekiel Elliott to carry their offense, and on Sunday it resulted in an impressive win. Elliott, who is the NFL’s rushing leader after Week Four by nearly 100 yards, had his first 20+ carry game of the season and he had no problem producing like the workhorse running back that fantasy owners have come to expect. The third-year player ran the ball 25 times for 152 yards as well as catching all four of his targets for 88 yards and a touchdown. Elliott’s highlight play of the game was his impressive 34-yard catch to set the Cowboys up for a game-winning field goal in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. “Zeke” has been exactly what owners were expecting when they selected him with a top five pick this summer as he has back to back 100-yard rushing games and three total touchdowns through for games. Now that Dallas has shown they aren’t afraid to feed Elliott the ball more than 20 times a game, the star running back’s value is trending even higher than it already is and he is an easy start no matter the opponent.
Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts, QB:
After two subpar weeks of failing to throw for at least 200 yards, Andrew Luck put any worries about his arm strength to rest with a big performance against the Houston Texans. Although the game ended in a loss, Luck used overtime to boost his stats, ending his day with 464 passing yards and four touchdowns. The seventh-year quarterback easily had his best game of the young season as it gave owners 35.7 fantasy points in standard scoring. Luck had to throw the ball a whopping 62 times Sunday, and while that should not be expected every week, it shows just how much of the Colts’ offense runs through the passing game and that gives him a solid floor for the rest of the season. The veteran quarterback has always had top-five upside at the position, and he may finally be rounding into elite form heading into Week Five.
Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints, RB:
The NFL regular season is going into its fifth week and it is not Todd Gurley or Antonio Brown who lead all flex eligible players in fantasy points, but instead, it is Alvin Kamara. The second year running back has gotten off to a blazing start to the season as he is averaging 25.3 fantasy points in standard scoring. In PPR leagues Kamara has been averaging a whopping 34 fantasy points per game as he is on pace for 140 catches for 1,344 yards while also on pace for 1,100 rushing yards and a total of 24 touchdowns. It would seem very unlikely that the University of Tennessee product keeps this up with the return of fellow running back Mark Ingram coming up in Week Five, but there could be room for both of these playmakers to produce in this high octane offense just like last season. Kamara may slow down a little bit from his hot start, but there is no reason to think he can’t finish as the number one running back in fantasy football, let alone the top player overall.
Taylor Gabriel and Tarik Cohen, Chicago Bears, WR/RB:
Probably the biggest beneficiaries from Mitchell Trubisky’s big day had to have been wide receiver Taylor Gabriel and running back Tarik Cohen. Both playmakers scored exactly 23.4 points in standard formats, and both caught seven passes from Trubisky. Gabriel produced 104 yards through the air including two touchdowns while rushing once for 10 yards; Cohen, on the other hand, carried the ball 13 times for 53 yards and had 121 yards and a touchdown through the air. Looking at Cohen, it was positive to see that he heavily out touched fellow running back Jordan Howard 20-11, although that could be simply because of how far out of hand the game was. If Cohen could start to see at least the same amount of touches as Howard going forward the second year running would start to gain legit RB2 consideration week to week. Gabriel was easily Trubisky’s favorite wide receiver on Sunday as he paced all Bears’ except for Tarik Cohen in targets (seven) and yards (104). The former Atlanta Falcon is quietly on pace for an 88 catch season, but until he improves upon his 8.8 yards per catch average, he will most likely remain off of fantasy radars in standard scoring leagues. As it stands now, Gabriel can be a low-end WR3 in PPR formats with a chance to have that value rise if he continues to thrive on his new team.
