Fantasy Football: 4 Bold Predictions for Week 4

There's nothing quite like the NFL.

Football is one of the most intense, exciting sports on the planet. The source of the now-ubiquitous saying "Any Given Sunday," the NFL is a place where even struggling teams have a chance to topple the best in the league. Anything can happen when you only play 17 regular season games a year.

That uncertainty is a huge driver behind the excitement the NFL generates each and every season. What's more fun than watching something totally unexpected unfold before your eyes?

That's why, this year, we'll be bringing you four bold predictions to watch for in each week the 2023 NFL season.

NFL Bold Predictions for Week 4

Calvin Ridley Will Be a Top-5 Receiver

Week 3 was a rough one for the reigning AFC South champs. The Jacksonville Jaguars fell to the Houston Texans in the affair, bringing the team to a disappointing 1-2 record and last place in the division. They'll look to bounce back against a feisty Atlanta Falcons team in Week 4. And who better to spearhead that bounce back than former Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley?

Ridley's first game as a member of the Jaguars was an explosive one, but the former first round pick has had a pair of rough outings in his two games since. After catching 8 of 11 targets for 101 yards and a touchdown in Week 1, Ridley has caught just 5 of 15 targets over the last two games for 72 scoreless yards, finishing outside of the top 60 wide receivers in fantasy football in each contest.

While Ridley hasn't blown up the box score since Week 1, there's still plenty of reason to believe he can re-establish himself as one of the game's top receivers. He's drawing targets at an elite level (19th-most in the NFL) and is drawing them 10.8 yards down the field. When those targets start connecting, we're going to see him start piling up fantasy points in no time.

They've been so close to connecting, too. Ridley has dropped four passes so far this season -- tied for the most in the league -- and at least two of those drops have been would-be touchdowns. If he and Trevor Lawrence had been able to connect on those passes, we'd be looking at both players with completely different expectations heading into Week 4. Given that Ridley has been out of the NFL for over a year and a half, we should be willing to excuse some drops as he works off any rust. He's still getting open down the field, one of the best ways to produce fantasy points from the wide receiver position. His 39.25% team air yards share ranks eighth-best across the entire NFL after Week 3, which is a major indicator that he is in for some regression in a fantasy-friendly direction.

The Falcons' defense looks like a much tougher opponent in 2023 than we've grown accustomed to them being in previous seasons. Just one year removed from giving up the sixth-most yards in the league, their defense has allowed the sixth-fewest points (54) and the eighth-fewest yards (863). The Jaguars are a couple of fluky plays from looking like one of the better offenses in the league, and we're predicting the Calvin Ridley will get the better of Atlanta's secondary on his way to a top-five finish at the wide receiver position in fantasy football this week.

Zay Flowers Will Have His First 100-Yard Game

The Baltimore Ravens just cannot shake the injury bug these past few seasons. After finishing the 2021 and 2022 seasons among the most-injured teams in the league, they've already suffered a shocking number of injuries to key players just 3 weeks into the 2023 campaign, including injuries of varying severities to starting receivers Odell Beckham and Rashod Bateman and primary pass-catcher Mark Andrews. Fortunately, the team had the foresight this offseason to draft a dynamic pass-catching threat in the NFL Draft, and Zay Flowers has already begun to look the part of a legit NFL receiver.

Flowers has collected 25 targets since Week 1, catching 21 of those for 188 yards. The explosive rookie has also been involved in the Ravens' rushing attack, rushing 4 times for another 17 yards. Given his low 9.0 yards per reception, his even lower 4.8-yard average depth of target, and his usage as a rusher, it's fair to say that Baltimore has primarily utilized him as their underneath playmaker so far this season.

That role could be the key to winning their Week 4 game against the Cleveland Browns, whose defense has played some lights-out football this season. Through the first three weeks of the year, Cleveland's defense has allowed the fewest points (32) despite generating only 2 turnovers (second-fewest). They've limited opposing passers to just 3.5 net yards per pass attempt, the lowest mark in the league by almost a full yard. They've been getting after opposing quarterbacks and shutting down the running game, which could thrust Flowers into the spotlight as the Ravens' go-to guy for quick plays.

With injuries to the Ravens' running backs and wide receivers already piling up, Flowers is set up for his biggest workload of the season. The rookie is already averaging just under nine targets per game this year and could break double digits for the third time as Lamar Jackson tries to avoid the pressure from Cleveland's defense. He has been the only part of the Ravens' passing game that has worked so far this season and is going to put up his first 100-yard game in Week 4 when his team needs him more than ever.

Both Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet Will Score Touchdowns

Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III has been putting on a show in his second year. The former second round pick, who broke out partway through his rookie campaign before putting up 1,050 rushing yards and 9 scores on 228 carries, has been close to unstoppable this year, scoring 4 times in 3 games while showing off passing-game chops we didn't know he had. While the team's passing offense has taken a minute to find its footing, Walker has been an engine their team can lean on through Week 3.

Walker was already a budding star as a rookie, but he's taken another step forwards in 2023. According to numberFire's Net Expected Points (NEP) metric, which describes how many expected points a player adds or subtracts to their team's expected points total. Walker's 0.23 Rushing NEP per carry ranks third-best in the entire league. He's adding positive NEP on 48.94% of his rushes so far this season, the seventh-best rate in the league. He's elite.

He's not the only exciting running back on his team, though. 2023 second-round pick Zach Charbonnet looks like he's starting to heat up after his impressive Week 3 performance. He rushed 9 times for 46 yards at an efficient 5.11 yards per carry clip. He opened the year playing distinctly behind Walker and teammate DeeJay Dallas, but it seems like the former UCLA Bruins back is making it difficult for the Seahawks to keep him off the field. It looked like he had the two-minute work in favor of Dallas in Week 3 and even seemed to sub in for Walker every second or third series despite the game being close on the scoreboard.

Both backs have a decent chance of finding the end zone in Week 4 as the Seahawks take on the New York Giants, who have been extremely susceptible to the run this season. Running backs facing the Giants have compiled the fourth-most rushing yards, the second-most rushing attempts, and the sixth-most fantasy points so far this season. Head coach Pete Carroll has never shied away from a good opportunity to run the ball up the gut, and this week he's going to get both Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet into the end zone.

Justin Fields Will Finish as the QB1

As bad as things have been for Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears this year, at least they didn't just cough up 70 points and a record-setting number of offensive yards in Week 3. We can't say the same for their Week 4 opponents, unfortunately, which makes the Denver Broncos an excellent spot for the 0-3 Bears to course-correct.

The Broncos pretty much gave up in Week 3, allowing the Miami Dolphins' running backs to put up over 350 rushing yards in the outing. It was an embarrassing loss they'll hope to put behind them, but was also a symptom of a serious underlying issue for the team -- it doesn't look like they can stop the run or deep passes.

The Broncos' first game of the year saw them give up 17 points to a sub-par Las Vegas Raiders team that has topped out at 18 points in a game this year. In Week 2, we saw things start to fall apart against the Washington Commanders with second-year fifth-round pick Sam Howell under center, ceding almost 400 yards of offense. They gave up at least 5 explosive plays of 20 or more yards in the loss. That loss foreshadowed the fireworks show the Dolphins put on in Week 3, and things aren't looking so hot in Denver heading into Week 4.

The Broncos' weaknesses could help Fields, who has struggled this year, showcase his strengths in Week 4. To illustrate how rough he's been in Chicago this year, he's thrown more interceptions (4) than touchdowns (3), has completed only 58% of his passes, is still taking sacks at an absurd rate, and -- to make matters worse -- is rushing the ball a career-low 4.5 times per game. The Bears have been asking him to prove himself as a passer, but the wheels are falling off in Chicago, and it looks like the team is going to ask him to run the ball more going forward.

Fields was a fantasy football star last season due to his rushing prowess. He finished no worse than the QB8 in fantasy football over a span of eight weeks in 2022, and there's no reason he can't regain that kind of upside against a defense that is struggling as much as the Broncos' defense is. This will be the get-right spot he needs and will vault Fields up to the QB1 spot in fantasy football for Week 4.

Interested in playing NFL DFS? Head over to FanDuel’s daily fantasy football lobby to see all the offerings for this week's slates.

Sign up for FanDuel Sportsbook and FanDuel Daily Fantasy today!

The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.