Best/Worst Matchups - 2025 Week 4

Hope you guys have had a stellar start to the 2025 fantasy football season! If you've played into the back-to-back Drake Maye play that I advised, you'd have seen a Top 5 fantasy QB over those combined two weeks. This week, he plays against a much tougher matchup. It's wild how the right matchup can really be a game-changer in terms of how much production a player can offer.

While you can count on guys like Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson to be plugged in without question week after week, you have to pay attention to the matchups you can't miss out on and the ones you should definitely avoid. Drake Maye has not been given the respect to be played week-in and week-out yet so I will tell you why he might need to be sat among several other options.

Let's get going into the quarter season mark! (already? I feel like the season just started...)

QUARTERBACKS

START Geno Smith vs Chicago Bears

This might be a tough sell based on the name and the offense associated with the name, but... Geno Smith currently sits as the QB12 this season, which sets him as a QB1 unofficially. He exploited a questionable defense in garbage time and managed to finish as QB4 last week. This week he gets to play the Bears who have given up the 3rd most points over the first 3 games as reported on our "Fantasy Points Against" tab above (check it out!). This could be a sneaky high-scoring game and Geno Smith is finding his chemistry with his receivers after a slow start.

Honorable Mention: Carson Wentz vs PIT, Brock Purdy (if healthy) vs JAX

SIT Drake Maye vs Carolina Panthers

As stated above, Maye is not an advised play this week. He is a bench and should remain on your bench after a great stretch. This Panther defense just SHUT-OUT the Falcons last week. Talk about a 180! That defense is holding QBs to the least number of points to QBs and bottom-five to WRs. This game is about to be a slug-fest where running backs will go toe-to-toe. You can start up Maye again next week when they attempt to keep up with Buffalo.

Honorable Mention: Kyler Murray vs SEA, Dak Prescott vs GB

RUNNING BACKS

START Kareem Hunt vs Baltimore Ravens

Is this 2018? Kareem Hunt leading the Chiefs in rushing again? Hunt seems to be growing his workload gradually over the first three games, creeping up towards 50%. His fantasy output has been notable too as he saw the same number of carries as supposed starter Isiah Pacheco last week. Except, Hunt saw the end zone last week and Pacheco has yet to find paydirt... or score over 6 PPR points. This trend could bode well for Hunt who gets a rivalry game against Baltimore who have been trampled by RBs this season (AVG 33.6 combined points to RBs per game). Even if Hunt gets a fraction of that 33.6, that's still a healthy start. Fire him up!

Honorable Mention: Braelon Allen vs MIA, Bhayshul Tuten vs SF

SIT Jacory Croskey-Merritt vs Atlanta Falcons

Stop trying to make "Bill" happen... I'm not trying to be 'mean', but it's just the reality of the situation. JCM is not a starting RB yet. He should not hold high regard in your lineups yet. His spotty snap share is not to be forgotten even with Austin Ekeler gone. With Chris Rodriguez and Jeremy McNichols factoring into the Commanders' scheme, they each garnered close to equal the attention with McNichols receiving the big play. This is not a startable backfield at the moment and definitely a sit for all of them against the Falcons this week. The Falcons are bottom-five for RB points allowed this season and your ceiling will be especially capped when it's a three-headed monster back there.

Honorable Mention: D'Andre Swift vs LV, Cam Skattebo vs LAC

WIDE RECEIVER

START Tre Tucker vs Chicago Bears

This goes in line with Geno Smith above. It's just too pretty of a matchup to avoid and Tre Tucker is coming off a memorable game after scoring 3 TDs. Tucker has received 17 targets over the past two games and should continue in a juicy matchup against the Bears. The Smith-Tucker stack should get you a nice game if you need streamers due to injury. The Raiders offense has been quietly average instead of dreadful like last season (16th in total yards per game). It's time for the Raiders' weapons to shine and be utilized in fantasy!

Honorable Mention: Tory Horton vs ARI, Cedric Tillman vs DET

SIT Travis Hunter vs San Francisco 49ers

The passing game for the Jaguars has been terribly underwhelming this season. They have been mainly led by their rushing attack and the return of Travis Etienne. Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter have suffered as a result and, for some reason, other lesser-known pass catchers have been getting more work... Like Parker Washington got more targets last week than Hunter AND BTJ. While Brian Thomas has been very underwhelming, it's hard not to start him as the WR1 in that offense. But as for Hunter, he's a clear sit for the time being. Especially with the incoming matchup against the Niners and their 31st most points allowed to WRs this season.

Honorable Mention: Josh Downs vs LAR, Stefon Diggs vs CAR

TIGHT ENDS

START Travis Kelce vs Baltimore Ravens

We're starting to sense a theme here. The LV/CHI and KC/BAL matchups are going to offer fireworks. The latter mostly due to the rivalry factor in being AFC juggernauts for that past several seasons. Kelce is destined to rebound after a slowdown during Week 3. He's put up decent numbers in the first two games (over 10 PPR points in Week 1 and 2) and a decent number of targets (13 combined over Week 1 and 2). This also has a "personal" feel to it where Kelce breaks out of a funk and finds the end-zone against a Ravens team that has allowed the 7th most points to TEs over the first 3 games.

Honorable Mention: Brenton Strange vs SF, Kyle Pitts vs WAS

SIT Mark Andrews vs Kansas City Chiefs

We'll flip to the other side of the coin here. Andrews had a massive return to relevancy in Week 3. We cannot, however, excuse his disappearance in Weeks 1 and 2 just yet. We cannot discredit the Chiefs defense who are a bottom-five team against TEs this season (under 5 PPR points allowed per game against the TE position). Don't be fooled just yet at the outburst from Andrews, it will be short-lived.

Honorable Mention: Zach Ertz vs ATL, Dallas Goedert vs TB

#DRock313