LAST-MINUTE Week 4 Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Advice! Actives/Inactives & Q/A (09/28 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Fantasy Football Today

Episode: LAST-MINUTE Week 4 Fantasy Football Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Advice! Actives/Inactives & Q/A
Date: September 28, 2025
Hosts/Analysts: Adam Aizer (Host), Fantasy Analysts (key speaker labeled “C”)
Duration: ~13 minutes (content segment)

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode delivers crucial last-minute fantasy football advice tailor-made for Week 4—focusing on active/inactive updates, nuanced start/sit decisions, and rapid-fire answers to listener questions. The hosts dissect player value considering injuries, matchups, and late-breaking news, aiming to help listeners set competitive lineups before the early Sunday games.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Game Alert & Schedule Update

• Hosts emphasize the importance of early roster management due to the week's altered game schedule and live streams.

  "[08:30 to 09:30, noon to 1 Eastern]. YouTube.com fantasy football today for the Bucs Eagles game." (01:14)

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Bucs vs. Eagles: Injury Updates & Start/Sit Advice

• Baker Mayfield (QB, TB):
  • Playing through a biceps injury but expected to start.
  • Analyst ranks him QB13 but prefers streaming alternatives such as Geno Smith, Justin Fields, Jordan Love, and Brock Purdy.

  "I would prefer not to start Baker Mayfield, but he is still QB13. Our top streamer, Geno Smith...But he's still ahead of someone like Jared Goff." (02:10)

• Chris Godwin (WR, TB):
  • Expected to play, potentially limited by a snap count.
  • Considered a risky start with low upside, especially compared to other options.

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San Francisco 49ers WR Situation

• Jauan Jennings:

  • Returns, possibly limited snap count.
  • Considered a mid-tier WR3 with upside; ranked WR31 this week.

  "He's wide receiver 31 for me, ahead of Trey Tucker...still behind DK Metcalf, who I don't really want to start but is playing this morning." (02:42)

• Ricky Pearsall:

  • Viewed as a must-start; higher confidence than Jennings.

• Start/Sit Comparisons:

  • Jennings over Wandale Robinson.
  • Jennings preferred over Travion Henderson (especially in full PPR).

  "I've got him projected for 12 fantasy points. I would start him over Henderson in full PPR." (03:20)

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Justin Fields (QB, CHI)

• Healthy and viewed as a top-8 QB this week.
• Ready for a potential breakout given favorable matchup.

  "He is QB8. Has the potential to be QB1. Fantastic, fantastic matchup. And he's healthy." (03:44)

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Patriots Running Back Conundrum

• Ramondre Stevenson (NE):
  • Mixed signals: Report says "business as usual" after Week 3 punishment for fumbles.
  • Analyst mistrusts workload stability: touches have fluctuated in early weeks.
  • Stevenson ranked RB35 (full PPR).
• Travion Henderson (NE):
  • Slightly preferred over Stevenson, especially in PPR formats (ranked RB29).

  "I'm still starting Henderson over Stevenson. Neither one are top 24 running backs in full PPR...Henderson's RB29. Stevenson's RB35 for me." (04:59)

• Offensive Line Status:
  • Patriots’ O-line depleted, which may negatively impact both RBs.
• Key Quote on Uncertainty:

  "I don't think we know anything and I don't think that it has been predetermined at the beginning of this week that one guy is going to get a certain number of touches. It's been pretty fluid so far this year." (04:59)

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Notable Start/Sit & Ranking Questions

Wide Receiver/Tight End Updates

• Xavier Worthy (WR, KC): Expected to play. Ranked ahead of Chris Godwin due to higher upside.

  "I'm gonna go Worthy. I think the difference between the two is I could see a massive game for Xavier Worthy. I don't really see the huge upside for Chris Godwin." (08:19)

• Mark Andrews (TE, BAL):
  • Slight downgrade due to Isaiah Likely's availability.

  "Mark Andrews was not someone you could really rank based on a projection...This makes me even more skeptical." (08:01)

Notable Lower-Impact Player Notes

• Jacory Croskey-Merritt (RB, DEN):
  • Questionable, likeliest an RB33 start; tough to predict workload.
  • Ranked just ahead of Isaiah Pacheco.
• Troy Franklin:
  • No strong interest, better options elsewhere.

Rapid-Fire Start/Sit

• Tony Pollard or Brian Thomas Jr. (Flex, PPR):
  • Brian Thomas Jr., if full PPR. (09:43)
• Golden vs. Henderson—two RBs for a possible breakout:
  • Analyst leans toward two RBs, but acknowledges Matthew Golden's breakout potential due to increased snap share and matchup.

  "It's just hard to project that." (09:54)

• Keenan Allen, Ricky Pearsall, Debo Samuel (Pick 2, PPR):

  "I'll go Pearsall and Debo." (10:58)

• Juwan Jennings or Jalen Waddle:

  "I would start Jennings, but just barely." (11:24)

• Henderson or Jalen Warren:

  "Jalen Warren." (11:38)

• Brian Thomas Jr. or David Montgomery (Half PPR):

  "I've got [Montgomery] at 10.4. I've got Brian Thomas at better than that. I'm starting Thomas." (11:57)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Fantasy Football Uncertainty, Patriot RBs:

  "I don't think we know anything and I don't think that it has been predetermined...it's been pretty fluid so far this year." (04:59, Analyst)

• Coffee Ice Cream Debate:

  • Lighthearted break where Adam is surprised by his co-host’s support for coffee ice cream, referencing a poll.

  “I’m surprised that you’re in on coffee ice cream. Why would anybody ruin ice cream by making it taste like coffee?” (09:06, Adam)
  "56% like or love it, 20% don't care, and 20% don't like it." (09:26, Analyst)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:14] Schedule & Early Game Lineup Reminder
• [02:10] Baker Mayfield Start/Sit Analysis
• [02:42] 49ers WRs: Jennings, Pearsall, Rankings
• [03:44] Justin Fields High Projection
• [04:59] Patriots RBs: Stevenson vs. Henderson & Touch Count Uncertainty
• [08:19] Worthy vs. Godwin
• [09:43-11:38] Rapid-Fire Start/Sit Q&A (Pollard vs. Thomas Jr., Golden/Henderson, Allen/Pearsall/Debo, Jennings/Waddle, Henderson/Warren, Thomas Jr./Montgomery)
• [09:06] Coffee Ice Cream Poll Segment

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Summary & Takeaways

This rapid-fire episode equips fantasy players with actionable advice for Week 4, focusing on navigating late injury reports, especially for critical start/sit dilemmas at QB, RB, and WR. Key takeaways include caution with Patriots running backs due to volatility, optimism for Justin Fields, and preference for high-upside WRs like Xavier Worthy. The show’s dynamic tone and playful interjections (e.g., the coffee ice cream debate) make it engaging while delivering immediately usable insight for fantasy managers under the countdown to kickoff.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

Nationwide Investment Services Corporation Ember Finra Columbus, Ohio all right, we got an early game today. Let's get those lineups set right now on fantasy football Today Express. Yeah. Good morning. It's an early one this 15 minutes. He.

[C]

Makes a big difference for you.

[A]

It does. I don't know why, but listen. Reminder to everyone. We've got an 8:30am to 9:30am live stream and then noon to 1. Slightly different schedule today. So please join us for both of those. 8:30 to 9:30, noon to 1 Eastern. YouTube.com fantasy football today for the Bucs Eagles game. Looks like the Bucks are coming into this game healthy or at least healthy enough for these guys to play. Not Mike Evans, but Baker Mayfield. Tristan Worf's their left tackle, Chris Godwin all expected to play today against the Eagles. Godwin could be on a snap count. Mayfield's had this biceps injury. His offensive coordinator talking about how he's gutting it out or something like that. Any trepidation starting Mayfield? And what about Godwin?

[C]

So are you. Are you accepting the bicep injury or is this faker Mayfield?

[A]

That's a great question. Oh, I wish I knew.

[C]

I. I would prefer not to start Baker Mayfield, but he is still QB13. Our top streamer, Geno Smith. I would start over him. Justin Fields is going to be active now. I would start Justin Fields over him. I'd start Jordan Love, Brock Purdy over him. But he's still ahead of someone like Jared Goff.

[A]

Okay, here's one of the more annoying ones I think is now that Juwan Jennings is playing, how do we rank the 49ers wide receivers?

[C]

Or there's also been some talk.

[A]

Expected to play. Sorry.

[C]

Yeah. Jennings could be on a snap count himself. So I'm still Viewing Ricky Pearsall as a must start wide receiver. I'm viewing Jennings as a number three wide receiver. He's wide receiver 31 for me, ahead of Trey Tucker, who we were pretty excited to get Deck or who had a great week last week. But still behind DK Metcalf, who I don't really want to start but is playing this morning.

[A]

Okay. Would you start Juwan Jennings or like a Wandale Robinson kind of player, Juwan Jennings. Okay. Juwan Jennings or Travion Henderson.

[C]

So that's probably going to come down to format. Jennings is. Listen, he still has the upside to be a top 20 wide receiver for sure. I've got him projected for 12 fantasy points. I would start him over Henderson in full ppr.

[A]

Okay. All right, let's go. Let's move on here to Justin Fields. You said you're starting him over Baker Mayfield. Where is he in your rankings?

[C]

He is QB8. Has the potential to be QB1. Fantastic, fantastic matchup. And he's healthy. It's not like he's coming off of an ankle and we don't know how much he'll run. I expect him to be.

[A]

Justin Fields and Tyree Kill and Darren Waller are expected to play. Tetero McMillan and Chuba Hubbard are expected to play. Colson Loveland is not expected to play. And here's a frustrating one. Ramandre Stevenson, according to Chad Graph, who covers the Patriots for the Athletic. Well, according to Mike Rabel. He's just quoting Mike Rabel. Not expected to see a reduction in playing time. So I had Henderson in the lineup. I'm gonna have to talk it over with my co manager, but I'm at, at the moment planning to bench him for Zach Ertz in the PPR league.

[C]

So it's interesting because when you say not expected to be punished, is that beyond how he was punished last week.

[A]

It said business as usual. What Chad Graff said. I think he said business for the.

[C]

Patriots running backs in the second half of that game last week. I don't know that Ramon Ray Stevenson touched the ball and Travion henderson had like 11 touches.

[A]

No, the implication is he is going to get his regular role. He is not going to be punished. He was punished in last week. In week three. Not this week, Week four. That's. That was the report. That's what Vrabel said.

[C]

Well, yeah, I, I don't. I mean, listen, I don't think we know anything and I don't think that it has been predetermined at the beginning of this week. That one guy is going to get a certain number of touches because it's been pretty fluid so far this year. It was nine touches in week one for Ramondre. It was 16 in week two and it was seven last week. So I, I, I'm still starting Henderson over Stevenson. Neither one of them are top 24 running backs in full PPR, which is Henderson's best format. He's RB 29. Stevenson's RB 35 for me.

[A]

Okay, I'll just read the exact tweet. Mike Vrabel said Ramandre Stevenson won't be punished by cutting his playing time for the two fumbles last week. Business as usual at running back for the Patriots and people you can do with that?

[C]

Yeah, I just, and I wasn't trying to dispute that. I just don't think based on what's happened through three games, business as usual tells us very much.

[A]

Yeah, well, it tells me that that's not a great role for Travion Henderson. Yeah, that's that way. But he also, Chad Graff also mentions that starting left guard Jared Wilson is out and starting right guard Mike On Wayneu is questionable. So the Patriots could be shorthanded on the offensive line against the one thing that the Raiders keep doing well defensively. They are a good run defense. Oh, I'm sorry. They're playing, playing the Bears, not the Raiders. My apologies. They've already played the Raiders. All right, let's take a break.

[C]

Bears are playing the Raiders.

[A]

That, that's, that must have been. Yeah, yeah. That's one of the properties of math that I use there. Okay, so we're gonna take a break. I would have not have gotten that wrong at 8am I'll tell you that. 7:45am Start. Yeah, I don't, I don't know the matchups. We'll be right back with a few more news items and your questions after this.

[B]

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[A]

Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching. Over.

[B]

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[A]

All right, Some ones that probably don't matter to you. Noah Fant is out and Marvin Mims is questionable. And Evan Ingram will play. They've got Cincinnati. It's Monday night, so we won't maybe not even know if Marvin Mims is going to play. But any interest in Troy Franklin this week?

[C]

I really don't want to. And I just want to clarify. The Patriots are playing the Panthers, which is a great.

[A]

Yep. Right? Yes, they are. And they're expected to play Chuba Hubbard and Tedro McMillan, who I mentioned earlier.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Anyway, Franklin.

[C]

No, thank you.

[A]

And Isaiah likely expected to play. Did this downgrade Mark Andrews for you?

[C]

Yeah, he's. I mean, Mark Andrews was not someone you could really rank based on a projection. At least not very high anyway when he had three points in the first two weeks of the season. This makes me even more skeptical of trusting the one good week.

[A]

Two more things here. Xavier Worthy expected to play Worthy or Godwin?

[C]

I'm gonna go Worthy. I think the difference between the two is I could see a massive game for Xavier Worthy. I don't really see the huge upside for Chris Godwin. And so Worthy's like our wide receiver. 37. Godwin is. Just try to sit him for me.

[A]

Worthy or Jennings?

[C]

I'm gonna go Jennings.

[A]

Jacori Crosky. Merit is questionable. You're ranking him.

[C]

Yes, he is expected to play I again. What's his number of touches going to be? I don't think it's reliable. He's RB33 for me. One spot ahead of Isaiah Pacheco.

[A]

Adam needs some coffee ice cream this morning.

[C]

I can't believe you had such a bad take about that.

[A]

I.

[C]

Don't be surprised.

[A]

No, you should be. I mean, I'm surprised. I'm surprised that you're in on coffee ice cream. I mean, why would anybody ruin ice cream by making it taste like coffee? It just doesn't make any sense to me.

[C]

You saw the results. I am in the majority.

[A]

What was the. What results? My.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

All right, I'm going to take a look at that.

[C]

But let's 56% like or love it, 20% don't care, and 20% don't like it.

[A]

I wish I didn't have to bring that up. All right, Tony Pollard or Brian Thomas Jr. In flex.

[C]

Oh, I will go with Brian Thomas Jr. As long as it's full PPR.

[A]

Scatter. Boo Henderson. Golden start two.

[C]

I'm gonna start the two running backs. I agree with Jamie's call that this could be the breakout game for Matthew Golden. It's just hard to project that.

[A]

Right. But I. I mean, I feel a little more confident in a Golden breakout than a Henderson breakout. Golden played about 75 of the snaps last week. He's got the, you know, a great matchup. So. Right. If you compare Henderson and Golden, who's more set up, you think Henderson is still more set up for that?

[C]

Well, they both. They both have a great matchup. Henderson has maybe the best matchup for.

[A]

I don't know who Anderson's playing.

[C]

So, yeah, he's playing the Panthers. And I like, I think we're totally guessing on the number of touches for the Patriots running backs. Like, even week one, Travyon Henderson had six targets. If you're telling me Trevion Henderson's gonna have six targets, that's a great spot for a breakout. It might. It might be more than Matthew Golden.

[A]

Six target. That'd be. Yeah, that'd be nice. The only thing that should taste like coffee is coffee. I agree with that. But this one says coffee ice cream is so good. Ppr, Pick two. Keenan Allen, Ricky Piersol, Debo Samuel.

[C]

I'll go Pierce all and Debo.

[A]

By the way, on that last question, you have Judkins. I'm sorry, you have Scatterboo, head of Travion.

[C]

Oh, yes. Scatterboo is a top 24ish or 20th shortning wreck. Okay.

[A]

Judkins or Jordan Mason? PPR. Jordan Mason, Juwan Jennings or Jalen Waddle or Crosby Merritt?

[C]

It's tough because with Darren Waller there obviously playing the John who Smith role, we could see Jalen Waddles, targets impacted. I would start Jennings, but just barely.

[A]

Just wait. You just wait. Henderson or Jalen Warren?

[C]

Jalen Warren.

[A]

Half PPR. Brian Thomas Jr. Or David Montgomery? Ooh.

[C]

Half PPR is a good one. And Montgomery's role in the passing game has been a bit of a mystery. Really good. A couple of weeks, I've got him at 10.4. I've got Brian Thomas at better than that. I'm starting Thomas.

[A]

All right, last one. Jameson Williams. Xavier Worthy or baseball today? Yeah. Who's B ball? Am I missing something?

[C]

Yeah, I have no idea who B ball is. I would start Worthy over Jameson Williams.

[A]

All right, enjoy B ball. We'll see you in 29 minutes for our live stream, folks. I'll be up by then. Talk to you then. See ya.

[C]

The Panthers. The Patriots play the Panthers.

[B]

It.

[A]

Paramount podcasts.