Erickson: Fantasy football waiver wire targets ahead of NFL Week 4

Another week of NFL action is in the books, and lucky for us we didn’t see as many major injuries as we did last week.

Still, we did have some injuries hit the following players, so potential replacements are going to be needed ASAP: Michael Pittman Jr., Jared Cook, Chris Godwin, Chris Carson, DeSean Jackson, Dallas Goedert, John Brown, Russell Gage, Jordan Reed, Diontae Johnson and Tarik Cohen. Cohen’s injury was the worst of Week 3 as he suffered a torn ACL and will miss the rest of 2020.

To make matters worse, Week 5 also starts the beginning of the dreaded bye weeks. The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers will be off next week, so teams relying on players like Aaron Jones and Kenny Golladay need to think ahead.

For the waiver wire targets for Week 4, the list of players includes anyone rostered in approximately 50% of Yahoo leagues or less, with deep league options at every position as well. I’ll also share my thoughts on FAB (Free Agent Budget) bids and how much to spend on each player accordingly.

QUARTERBACKS

Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings – 26% Rostered, 8% of FAB

A week after his abysmal performance in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts, Cousins bounced back big time with his second 25-point performance of the season, this time coming against the Tennessee Titans in Week 3.

Cousins has only averaged 26 passing attempts per season, but that should be more than enough volume to get it done versus the Houston Texans. They've allowed an average of two passing touchdowns per game and have been suspect against play-action throws in 2020.

Houston has faced the second-most play action passes this season (33.6%); in Cousins’ best two games this season, he went 5-for-8 for 150 yards and three touchdowns off-play action throws. His yards per attempt (18.8) and PFF passing grade (94.7) both ranked first.

This Minnesota-Houston game also opened with the third-highest projected point total on the main NFL slate (52). Because the Texans are favored, Cousins might not have the luxury of just feeding Dalvin Cook on every single play, further bolstering him as a solid streaming quarterback option in Week 4.

He also gets the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5 and then the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6. It could be a solid three-week stretch for Cousins before the team’s bye week in Week 7.