Fantasy Football NFL Week 4 Target Report: Is Prime Darren Waller Back?

These four weeks of data are crucial. Not only do bye weeks disrupt fantasy football, but this was the last week that all 32 teams will all be playing until Thanksgiving. From here, everything changes from counting stats to per-game numbers (as it generally should be anyway). And our focus turns more and more away from the season-long stashes towards weekly upside. 

We had some major injuries this week to guys like Malik Nabers and Tyreek Hill. That hurts. But it also creates room for upside out there on the waiver wire. Let’s dig into the data, as always, and figure out the best way to proceed moving forward. 

2025 Fantasy Football NFL Week 4 Target Report Preview

Why do we do the target report? Well, we have a pretty good indication historically of how many fantasy-relevant pass-catchers can come from each team. The short and sweet is that the vast majority of teams will have one, maybe two fantasy-relevant pass-catchers. And there will almost certainly be more teams with zero than there are with three. Most meaningful fantasy players get at least 100 targets - here is a look at how players on each team over the last decade have hit that milestone. 

In the chart below, what we will do is attempt to take each team and project A. the target pecking order, and B. what target range the players will likely fall into. At the bottom, we’ll include some notes as far as what went into the rankings and color-coded chart. So let’s dive in!

Fantasy Football Target Chart 2025 NFL Week 4

Fantasy Football Week 3 Target Report Advice & Takeaways

If a team has a ** next to them, it means they moved to a new section. If a team has a note, it means there is something we should monitor or some sort of change. If there are no notes, we can assume it is business as usual. After the first week of football, there are a lot of notes!

Clear Top Two

Arizona Cardinals

• Trey McBride
• Marvin Harrison Jr

Cincinnati Bengals

• Ja'Marr Chase
• Tee Higgins
  • Not much change here, but the quarterback play is a problem. 

Chicago Bears

• DJ Moore
• Rome Odunze
  • While Colston Loveland is out, Cole Kmet could have some streaming or DFS value. But they split too much when Loveland is active. Luther Burdon only played 19 of 68 snaps this week, so he’s still only a stash. 

Indianapolis Colts

• Michael Pittman
• Tyler Warren
  • As long as Alec Pierce is out, Adonai Mitchell should be second in snaps behind Michael Pittman. 

Las Vegas Raiders

• Brock Bowers
• Jakobi Meyers
  • Tre Tucker is a field stretcher - he leads the entire league in vertical breaking routes per Fantasy Points Data Suite. That can lead to a boom/bust nature with some big plays but also inconsistency. So he’s a decent dart throw from time to time, but Meyers and Bowers are the PPR options. 

Los Angeles Rams

• Puka Nacua
• Davante Adams

New England Patriots**

• Hunter Henry
• Stefon Diggs
  • Hunter Henry, Stefon Diggs, and Kayshon Boutte are pretty consistently leading this team in routes run, but Boutte is more of a field stretcher. Henry is clearly the top redzone target, and Diggs’s contract is loaded with incentives that he’s going to try to hit here, so I trust these guys in lineups right now. The rest of these wide receivers are droppable. 

New Orleans Saints

• Chris Olave
• Juwan Johnson
  • Brandin Cooks overtook Rashid Shaheed in terms of snaps, but hasn’t really garnered a useful number of targets. Olave and Juwan Johnson are the two guys we can trust in fantasy right now. For Juwan Johnson, we now cross our fingers and hope that Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau being activated doesn’t hurt his usage. 

Seattle Seahawks

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Cooper Kupp
  • Tory Horton was WR3 but only ran 12 routes out of 31 because of fullback and TE usage
     

High Consolidation

Atlanta Falcons

• Drake London
• Darnell Mooney
• Kyle Pitts
• Bijan Robinson
  • Darnell Mooney just left this game with a hamstring issue. If he misses time, Casey Washington will pick up the snaps and could be a DFS dart throw or a deep streamer. 

Dallas Cowboys**

• CeeDee Lamb*
• George Pickens
• Jake Ferguson
  • With CeeDee Lamb out, Jalen Tolbert picked up the snaps. He’s the more reliable PPR play, while Kavontae Turpin has the upside with his speed. It’s mostly just Pickens and Ferguson we care about until Lamb gets back, though. 

Los Angeles Chargers

• Ladd McConkey
• Quentin Johnston
• Keenan Allen
  • Each week, a different WR makes their case to be the “WR1” for this team. But the reality is more likely that they are just going to lean into certain matchups each week. As long as McConkey gets the focal point coverage of defenses, they will go elsewhere. All three are startable with Oronde Gadsden, a DFS dart while Will Dissley is out - and hopefully after. 

Miami Dolphins

• Jaylen Waddle
• De’von Achane
• Darren Waller*
  • We are adding Darren Waller everywhere on the waiver wire and not just because he caught two touchdown passes. He ran 87.5% of his routes from a WR spot and, with the Tyreek Hill injury, he could be leaned on the way Jonnu Smith was leaned on last year. Exciting times, but he’s still a risky play until he gets up to a full snap share and proves he can stay healthy. 

Philadelphia Eagles

• AJ Brown
• DeVonta Smith
• Dallas Goedert*
• Saquon Barkley
  • These guys all play a big snap share every week. But they aren’t always equally involved, as the offense is generally fairly efficient. Dallas Goedert to me is a sell high after this game, whereas with the other guys, I generally plan to just start them where I have them unless I have clear top 24 options available. 

San Francisco 49ers

• Ricky Pearsall
• Jauan Jennings
• George Kittle*
• Christian McCaffrey
  • Ricky Pearsall is the latest injured 49er; he left with a knee issue. If he misses time, it will be Kendrick Bourne opposite Jauan Jennings. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Mike Evans*
• Emeka Egbuka
• Chris Godwin
  • Both Egbuka and Godwin were heavily involved outside with Sterling Shepard in the slot. The question is now who moves into the slot when Mike Evans gets back, Emeka Egbuka or Chris Godwin?

Washington Commanders

• Terry McLaurin*
• Deebo Samuel
• Zach Ertz
  • Terry McLaurin was out, which saw Chris Moore get a boost in snaps and routes run. Jaylin Lane and Luke McCaffrey remained under 50% route participation.

One Stud, Then Uncertainty

Baltimore Ravens

• Zay Flowers
  • Isaiah Likely returned and cut into some of the routes for Mark Andrews, but the targets were still there in a negative game script. We’ll have to see how the split develops, but it was 23 routes of 40 for Andrews, 20 for Likely. 

Carolina Panthers

• Tetairoa McMillan 
  • With all these injuries, I’d try to stash Jalen Coker if you can. This week, with David Moore hurting his elbow, Brycen Tremayne had to step up and play a big role. Tommy Tremble is a DFS dart whenever JT Sanders is out - and vice versa. 

Denver Broncos

• Courtland Sutton
  • Troy Franklin continues to operate as the WR2. Evan Engram returned - the target share was promising, but as long as his snap share remains below 50%, he’s going to be tough to trust. Marvin Mims is the third man, though Pat Bryant played the most snaps and got the most targets he’s gotten so far. 

Detroit Lions

• Amon-Ra St. Brown
  • Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta are guys that you don’t feel good about starting, but just start anyway, where you have to. And I don’t think that changes. That’s why we seek out situations where the top two targets on the team are clear. 

Houston Texans

• Nico Collins 
  • Xavier Hutchinson played over Christian Kirk in two WR sets, which hurts the upside for Kirk. Kirk remains the second-best receiving option here are Nico Collins but he’s more of a decent floor, low ceiling PPR play right now. 

Jacksonville Jaguars

• Brian Thomas Jr
  • Parker Washington once again operated as the full-time WR ahead of Travis Hunter with Dyami Brown out. Hunter is a slot-only guy for the time being. 

Minnesota Vikings

• Justin Jefferson
  • The Vikings dropped back to pass 54 times here, so there were plenty of targets to go around. Jordan Addison could separate himself from T.J. Hockenson moving forward, so that is what we are monitoring. It’s also worth noting that Adam Thielen only played 12 snaps to 48 for Jalen Nailor. 

New York Giants*

• Wan’Dale Robinson
  • Big news here - Malik Nabers suffered an apparent ACL tear. Wan’Dale Robinson played 74 of 76 snaps, so he’s locked in. Darius Slayton was WR2, and Jalin Hyatt stepped up in three WR sets. Theo Johnson saw the most targets he has seen, but only ran 59% of the routes. 

New York Jets

• Garrett Wilson
  • Mason Taylor has now had back-to-back games with 6 and 7 targets. Maybe these were just one-off games, and he’ll settle back in. But, hopefully, he’s trending upwards for a team that isn’t loaded with pass-catchers. If he can settle in as a top two target on this team, he can be a useful player. That’s why he was in our waiver wire article this week. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

• DK Metcalf
  • Calvin Austin left with a minor injury - the Steelers are on bye next week, so we’ll see if he can return after. The tight end rotation here is a complete disaster. 

Wide Open

Buffalo Bills

• Keon Coleman
• Khalil Shakir
• Dalton Kincaid
  • Joshua Palmer, Curtis Samuel, and Elijah Moore are rotating far too much to be considered in any format right now. Keon Coleman leads in snaps, while Shakir plays his part-time role but gets consistent enough targets. Dalton Kincaid is getting redzone looks, which has bailed out his poor usage thus far. 

Cleveland Browns

• Jerry Jeudy
• Cedric Tillman*
• Harold Fannin
• David Njoku
  • Cedric Tillman went down with an injury here, which saw Isaiah Bond step up as the WR2. He had been carving out a role leading up to this, which is making him a sneaky add. Harold Fannin ran more routes than David Njoku for the first time this year - it was 27 to 26 routes, but still. 

Green Bay Packers

• Romeo Doubs
• Tucker Kraft
• Matthew Golden
• Dontayvion Wicks
  • Dontayvion Wicks actually played on the outside opposite Romeo Doubs, with Matthew Golden playing 75% of his snaps from the slot but only 9 out wide. That will likely be the setup until either Christian Watson or Jayden Reed gets back.

Kansas City Chiefs

• Xavier Worthy
• Travis Kelce
• Hollywood Brown
• Rashee Rice*
  • Xavier Worthy returned to a big role despite playing with a brace on. When all is said and done, it should be Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy as the studs, with Travis Kelce a “safe but boring” option at tight end. For the short term, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Hollywood Brown are doing their best to fill in for Rice, but are only spot-start options. 

Tennessee Titans**

• Calvin Ridley
• Elic Ayomanor
• Chig Okonkwo
• Tyler Lockett
  • No word yet on whether Calvin Ridley was benched or if he’s hurt, but he only ran 13 routes this week. Ayomanor, Okonkwo, and Lockett all ran at least 20. Something is going on here - the Titans could be looking to trade Ridley, but his contract is massive.