In a fantasy football world in which nearly half the Week 4 quarterbacks made it to 20 fantasy points, it is a bit tough to recommend Chicago Bears starter Mitchell Trubisky even after he embarrassed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with six touchdown passes on Sunday, five in the first half. Trubisky entered play with nine touchdown passes in 15 career games, and he was off to a rather slow and dispiriting start this season. One game against a porous defense should not alter the big picture, but at least the second-year passer pushed several of his teammates into relevancy while also, according to Tristan H. Cockcroft, compiling the 12th-most fantasy points by a quarterback since 1950.
Trubisky threw for 354 yards and also rushed for 53, that valuable scrambling skill helping him to supply 43.5 fantasy points, the seventh time this season a player topped 40 PPR points (later in the day Alvin Kamara made it eight!). Yes, that is a lot! Quarterbacks are producing ridiculous numbers so far, with this six-touchdown game following up Kansas City Chiefs sophomore Patrick Mahomes' reaching that mark in Week 2. Mahomes is also in his second NFL season. I sense a trend here. Trubisky struggled as a rookie, while Mahomes barely played, but the Bears upgraded the offensive and defensive weapons and certainly the coaching around their quarterback and now things have become interesting again in Chicago.
Wide receiver Allen Robinson entered Week 4 with nary a touchdown reception, but now he has one. Tight end Trey Burton entered the game with 90 receiving yards and one score, then nearly doubled his season total in yards against the Buccaneers and scored a touchdown. Running back Tarik Cohen, a tremendous receiving option buried behind traditional runner Jordan Howard, caught seven passes the first three games. On Sunday, with Howard annoyingly quiet, Cohen caught seven passes for 121 yards and his first receiving touchdown. Taylor Gabriel (two touchdowns) and Joshua Bellamy also enjoyed Week 4.
None of this means Trubisky, rostered in a mere 19 percent of ESPN standard leagues, warrants immediate free-agent attention, because quarterback is crazy deep this season and it takes a month of awesome performances to pique our collective interest. Even then, what are you gonna do, bench Aaron Rodgers? Well, if Trubisky keeps doing this, like Mahomes has, then perhaps. In 10- and 12-team standard formats, there is no excuse not to have a strong quarterback or two. In multiquarterback leagues, however, Trubisky finally broke out, albeit against a terrible defense. I still think he can matter for fantasy managers, much like Derek Carr, Carson Wentz and Jared Goff have in recent seasons in Year 2, and I suspect several of the current rookies, like Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, will shine next season.
The Bears enter their bye week, so the momentum from Sunday will soon fade, and fantasy managers in standard formats have good reason to ignore Trubisky in free agency this week. His next game is Week 6 at Miami, the first of four games with the AFC East, and by the way, three of the four AFC East teams played terrible football this Sunday. Even if Trubisky fails to become a QB1 this season, at least his weapons shined, sans Howard, who remains a solid RB2 in my season rankings and for Week 6 despite a 2.5 PPR outing. Robinson is again a WR2. Burton never left TE1 status, mainly because injuries have ravaged the position, but he certainly concerned his investors. Cohen rejoins the likes of Chris Thompson and James White as reliable pass-catching running backs. In addition, the Bears D/ST, with Khalil Mack leading the way and dominating every darn week, has four consecutive games with 13 or more fantasy points. No unit boasts more points this season.
Second down: Speaking of pass-catching running backs, Indianapolis Colts rookie Nyheim Hines deserves inclusion as well after he caught nine passes, two of them for touchdowns, in the wild overtime loss to the Houston Texans. Hines is available in 85 percent of ESPN standard leagues, and given the state of the team's other running backs, he clearly matters. Quarterback Andrew Luck threw 62 times for 464 yards and four touchdowns, and wide receiver T.Y. Hilton played a key role, but Hines looks like a future flex option since fellow rookie Jordan Wilkins has underachieved and Marlon Mack cannot get on the field. Three of the top seven running backs in Week 4 PPR scoring (White, Cohen, Hines) did most of their damage catching passes. It works for us.
Meanwhile, a mere two running backs in the early Sunday games managed to rush for more than 100 yards (five more did so in the late-afternoon portion). Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott cruised to 240 total yards and caught a touchdown, and his fantastic 38-yard, over-the-shoulder reception in the closing seconds set up the game-winning field goal to beat the Detroit Lions. We know Elliott is awesome, a contender for top overall option if redrafting today, and he figures to lead the league in rushing yards this season. Could New England Patriots rookie Sony Michel challenge him? Probably not, because the Patriots have many weapons, but the Georgia product finally broke out, torching the Miami Dolphins for 112 rushing yards and a touchdown mere days after Rex Burkhead hit injured reserve. Now that we have clarity, Michel looks like a RB2.
As for the later games, Kamara, Melvin Gordon, Mike Davis, Nick Chubb and Marshawn Lynch reached triple digits in rushing yards. Seattle's Davis and Cleveland's Chubb deserve further explanation, since they are the ones readily available in ESPN leagues. Davis filled in for injured Chris Carson and leapfrogged rookie Rashaad Penny on the depth chart, earning 25 touches and scoring two touchdowns. He is rostered in 0.1 percent of standard leagues. We do not know if Carson will play in Week 5, but regardless, Davis does not seem like a great fantasy addition. Chubb, meanwhile, is clearly behind Carlos Hyde. Chubb turned his three rushing attempts into 105 yards and two scores. That seems aberrant. If Hyde cannot stay healthy, however, you will want the speedy Chubb.
Third down: Two wide receivers in the overtime game in Nashville made news on Sunday and will certainly rise in the end-of-season rankings. Tennessee Titans sophomore Corey Davis, in his 15th NFL game, surpassed 100 receiving yards for the first time and caught his first touchdown pass to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in overtime. Davis has been seeing plenty of targets and his skills are obvious; he was the No. 5 selection in the 2017 NFL draft and boasts the size and speed to dominate. On Sunday, for the first time, it all clicked. Davis is actually on the most dropped list after his suboptimal Week 3 outing, but that will surely change this week after nine receptions for 161 yards, and on 15 targets. This is a strong WR3 moving forward, and he should push to top-20 status soon depending on how others perform and whether he can become consistent.
One of the players he might have to leapfrog to get there is Eagles veteran Alshon Jeffery, who made a successful season debut with eight catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. Jeffery played through shoulder problems last season and debuted late this month after offseason surgery, but fit right in with Wentz and likely returns to WR2 status. The Eagles host the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5, a critical NFC game, but the way the Vikings have defended in recent weeks that might not be such a perilous matchup. Jeffrey's return coincided with Nelson Agholor's struggles, and it is possible the latter is no longer a viable WR4 option.
Fourth down: We love to highlight the top performances in this space each Sunday night, but of course fantasy managers have to deal with unexpected struggles and key injuries as well. Among quarterbacks, Tampa Bay veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick, who entered play with a record three consecutive 400-yard passing games and leading all of fantasy in scoring, performed so terribly at Chicago that Jameis Winston, active after his suspension ended, replaced him in the second half. Only 10 quarterbacks were active in more ESPN leagues than Fitzpatrick, and he scored three points. Now it is time to drop him. Top-10 quarterbacks Drew Brees and Russell Wilson, in favorable matchups, also failed to reach double digits in fantasy scoring, while Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake, after another game with precious few touches (8 rushes in two games), has to leave RB2 territory.
As for the injured, Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette, a consensus top-10 option at his position and first-round choice in many leagues, returned to the lineup after missing two games and, after compiling 4.5 PPR points, left prematurely after reaggravating his hamstring pull. Angry Fournette investors will want to move on, whether he misses more games or not, but of course that is a hasty decision and the wrong one. Fournette might not be as durable as we would like, but he remains a must-roster option. Then again, so does backup T.J. Yeldon, who turned his 21 touches into 100 yards and two touchdowns, and warrants RB2 attention when Fournette is out, and perhaps flex viability even when he is active.
We say farewell to beleaguered Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert, who has struggled for years to stay on the field. He saw his season end in Atlanta after breaking his ankle. Eifert caught his first touchdown pass in the game, but for the fourth time in five seasons, he will not be playing in more than eight games. He was the No. 11 most active tight end in ESPN leagues. Tampa Bay's promising O.J. Howard left his game with a knee injury, and we await clarity on potential missed games. Regardless, the tight end position is suffering a bit for safe, weekly options, with Jared Cook, George Kittle and Eric Ebron threatening top-10 status for sure.