- Start Tetairoa McMillan: He already has six 20-plus-yard receptions in 2025, tied for the most in the league through the first three weeks with Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, while the New England Patriots have allowed the most 20-plus-yard receptions (14) this season.
- Sit Dak Prescott: The Green Bay Packers have allowed just 11.4 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks in 2025, while holding opponents to 4.8 pass yards per attempt — the only team allowing under 5.5 per attempt.
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Estimated Reading Time: 6minutes
Are you struggling to set your Week 4 fantasy lineups? Maybe I can help… Below you can find my top fire (boom) and ice (bust) players at each position for Week 4. I also include my sleeper of the week at each position in case you are in a deeper league or in need of a replacement for an ice player.
Don’t miss my Fire and Ice chart at the bottom of this page. There, I have listed out all of my fire, good, sleeper and ice plays for Week 4 of the 2025 fantasy football season.
Quarterbacks
Fire QB Start of the Week: Justin Fields (at MIA)
Justin Fields has one excellent and one terrible fantasy performance under his belt in 2025. He missed Week 3 due to a concussion but is trending in the right direction to return in Week 4. If he plays, he should be in your starting lineup. The Dolphins have allowed the second most fantasy points to quarterbacks through the first three weeks, with Daniel Jones (29.5), Drake Maye (26.3) and Josh Allen (23.0) each scoring at least 23 points against them. Plus, Fields is one of the safest bets among quarterbacks to score with his legs, while no team has allowed more rushing touchdowns (3) to quarterbacks this season than the Dolphins.
Sleeper QB of the Week: Jordan Love (at DAL)
The Dallas Cowboys have allowed the most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season, while allowing a league-high 300 passing yards per game and seven passing touchdowns to the position. Each of the three quarterbacks to face the Cowboys this year has scored at least 24 fantasy points: Russell Wilson (30.3), Caleb Williams (29.1) and Jalen Hurts (24.3). Jordan Love has been a mediocre fantasy asset through the first three weeks, but he should have no issues putting up big numbers this Sunday night in Dallas.
Ice QB Start of the Week: Dak Prescott (vs GB)
It appears that it will be another disappointing year for Cowboys fans, as they will be stuck watching a team with underwhelming offensive output and atrocious defense play. Dak Prescott has scored just three touchdowns on the season with three interceptions to go with them. In two of his three games, he has managed to score just 7.8 and 12.0 fantasy points. Things will not get any easier for Prescott this Sunday night against a very tough defense, and his top wide receiver, CeeDee Lamb, sidelined.
The Green Bay Packers have allowed just 11.4 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks in 2025, while holding opponents to 4.8 pass yards per attempt — the only team allowing under 5.5 per attempt. On top of all of that, Prescott will have to deal with the repercussions of Micah Parsons trying to get revenge on Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones.
Running Backs
Fire RB Start of the Week: Omarion Hampton (at NYG)
It started to get nerve-wracking there for Omarion Hampton fantasy managers with Najee Harris starting to steal a lot of snaps and touches in the backfield. But now, with Harris sidelined for the season with an Achilles injury, Hampton’s workload should be incredibly high moving forward. Hampton turned it up last week, gaining 129 yards and a touchdown on 25 touches. He should be able to continue to build upon that success in a favorable matchup against the New York Giants. The Giants’ defense has allowed the second-most rush yards, fifth-most yards per carry and fourth-most fantasy points per game to the running back position this season.
Sleeper RB of the Week: TreVeyon Henderson (vs CAR)
Josh McDaniels and company can want to be stubborn all they want, but sticking with a starting running back who can’t hold onto the ball, just because he is a veteran, would be a bad business decision. After losing another two fumbles in Week 3, including one at the goal line, Rhamondre Stevenson now has nine fumbles since the start of last season, three more than any other running back.
Rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson was able to be on the field for a career-high 34 offensive snaps in Week 3, while leading the backfield with 11 carries and 14 total touches. If his workload continues to increase, he should have a breakout performance in Week 4 in a great matchup. The Carolina Panthers have allowed the most yards per carry (5.7) to running backs in 2025, after also allowing the most yards per carry in 2024.
Ice RB Start of the Week: Chase Brown (at DEN)
Without Joe Burrow, there is very little hope for the Cincinnati Bengals‘ offense outside of Ja’Marr Chase. Through the first three weeks, Chase Brown is the RB31 with just 9.2 fantasy points per game, averaging fewer points than guys like Cameron Skattebo, Dylan Sampson and Nick Chubb. His fantasy points have declined each week, starting at 13.1 points in Week 1, down to 8.5 points in Week 2, and then just 6.0 points in Week 3. The Bengals’ offense was atrocious in their first game with Jake Browning starting this season, which led to Brown averaging just 0.3 yards per carry in Week 3. Brown is now averaging just 1.98 yards on 47 carries in 2025. That is the fewest yards per carry in a team’s first three games of a season over the last 30 years (min. 40 carries). If you have the opportunity to keep Brown on your bench, I would.
Wide Receivers
Fire WR Start of the Week: Tetairoa McMillan (at NE)
Carolina Panthers‘ first first-round rookie wide receiver, Tetairoa McMillan, has yet to have a huge performance, but it is on the horizon. McMillan has seen at least eight targets in each of his first three NFL games, while averaging 15.4 yards per reception and 72 yards per game. He already has six 20-plus-yard receptions in 2025, tied for the most in the league through the first three weeks with Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, while the New England Patriots have allowed the most 20-plus-yard receptions (14) this season.
The Patriots have already allowed three wide receivers to score 17+ points against them this year (Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Jakobi Meyers). McMillan’s zero touchdowns on the year have held down his fantasy production, but there is a good probability he finds the end zone for the first time in his NFL career this Sunday. The Patriots have allowed four different wide receivers to score a touchdown this season: DK Metcalf, Calvin Austin III, Waddle and Tre Tucker.
Sleeper WR Start of the Week: Tre Tucker (vs CHI)
No, I am not trying to chase Tre Tucker’s 145-yard, three-touchdown massive performance in Week 3 — fantasy managers should not expect another performance like that this Sunday. However, he has seen at least eight targets in each of the last two weeks, and if that trend continues, Tucker should still be a very good flex play in Week 4. The Chicago Bears have allowed the most yards per reception and receiving touchdowns to the wide receiver position this season, while Tucker is averaging 16.2 yards per catch and already has four touchdowns on the year.
Ice WR Starts of the Week: DK Metcalf (vs MIN)
DK Metcalf has been a decent fantasy producer with Aaron Rodgers, scoring at least 11 fantasy points in all three games but never more than 12.3 in any of them. He is a good bet to score a touchdown in any given week, but his receptions and targets have been very limited, as he has just 17 targets and 10 receptions on the season. With Metcalf’s fantasy production being so touchdown-dependent, it is unfortunate that he will face the Minnesota Vikings this Sunday, and they have allowed just two touchdowns to the wide receiver position in 2025, tied for the fewest in the league.
The Vikings have allowed the fewest fantasy points to the wide receivers through the first three weeks, despite facing many great players, including Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Drake London and DJ Moore. Those four were all held to fewer than nine fantasy points in their matchup against the Vikings. No wide receiver has hit 70 receiving yards against the Vikings yet this season and only Rome Odunze has found the end zone.
Tight Ends
Fire TE Start of the Week: Jake Ferguson (vs GB)
Only Puka Nacua (35) and Chris Olave (37) had more targets than Dallas Cowboys’ tight end Jake Ferguson (32) through the first three weeks of the season. Ferguson has 26 targets over his last games, recording over 75 receiving yards in both weeks. With CeeDee Lamb sidelined, Ferguson’s target share should remain very high. The Green Bay Packers‘ defense has been elite this year, but they have struggled against tight ends.
The Packers have allowed the third-most receiving yards and sixth-most fantasy points to the tight end position in 2025 — Sam Laporta scored 13.9 points against them without scoring a touchdown in Week 1 (6 rec, 79 yds), Zach Ertz had 18.4 points in Week 2, and Cleveland Browns tight ends, David Njoku and Harold Fannin Jrs, combined for 14.5 points combined against them in Week 3.
Sleeper TE of the Week: Cade Otton (vs PHI)
Cade Otton has just three receptions for 25 yards on the season; however, his usage could increase significantly with Mike Evans sidelined. Last season, Evans suffered an injury early in Week 7 and missed Weeks 8-10. Over that span, Otton averaged 9.8 targets per game, 7.5 receptions per game and 19.3 fantasy points per game – he had double-digit targets and scored at least 18 fantasy points in three of those four weeks. Otton averaged just 6.3 fantasy points in all other weeks that season.
Unfortunately, it is not an easy matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, who have been good against tight ends. However, I will not be surprised if Otton sees at least eight targets in Week 4. If you are desperate to find a viable starting tight end this week, Otton is the guy to take the chance on.
Ice TE Start of the Week: Mark Andrews (at KC)
After two dumpster fire performances in Weeks 1 and 2, Mark Andrews had a massive game on Monday night with 91 yards and two touchdowns. However, it is essential to point out that his second touchdown of the day (27 27-yarder) came in garbage time. With about 30 seconds left in the game and his team down 12 points, Andrews scored on a wide-open play with the Detroit Lions in prevent defense. Without that play, he still had a solid day with five receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown, but the reaction to that performance would have been much different in the fantasy community heading into Week 4.
The Kansas City Chiefs have allowed zero touchdowns on the season to a tight end and have allowed the third fewest fantasy points to the position. Andrews had just two receptions for 14 yards, zero touchdowns against the Chiefs in their matchup last season. In fact, Andrews has been kept to fewer than 25 receiving yards and six fantasy points in five of six career matchups against the Chiefs, and his best game is just 10.7 points in Week 2, 2021.
Fire & Ice Fantasy Football Plays
Here, I categorize every relevant fantasy player into five different buckets: (1) fire starts (best starts of the week); (2) thumbs up (good starts); (3) Risky players with upside (sleepers); (4) Ice starts (predicting bad performance from good player); (5) Stop (must sits).
Note: If a player/defense is not listed, I am not considering starting them in Week 4. I did not include Seahawks/Cardinals players as they will have already played by the time this article is published.
Fire 🔥
Thumbs Up 👍
Upside 📈
- DEF: Patriots, Jets, Commanders, Titans,
