We are already through three weeks of the NFL season. It doesn’t seem possible. We continue to work to determine who are the best Plays and Fades for IDP fantasy football weekly.
If you are reading this article about IDP players, then congratulations. You have already taken the fantastic step of becoming an IDP Fantasy Football Player.
Below are my educated guesses of players to Play and others to Fade for Week 4 of the NFL season. As we continue to get more data, we get a better idea of who to lean on throughout the season. It’s that time of the season when injuries are starting to pop up and players’ roles on defense are changing.
As always, I am going to give you some players I think could have a better week than expected or might have a worse game than predicted.
Here we go with my IDP Plays And Fades: Week 4 (2024)!
Defensive Linemen:
Plays
Nick Herbig, DL/EDGE Steelers at Colts
Herbig came in for an injured Alex Highsmith against the Chargers in Week 2.
Herbig played 100% of the team’s defensive snaps in the second half. He had a 95.4 PFF pass rush grade, a 50% win rate and a 37.5% pressure rate. Those are elite numbers.
Herbig had two sacks against the Chargers. He looks like he has been learning a lot from TJ Watt, and he should see a ton of usage in Week 4 against the Colts. He just wreaks havoc when he is on the field.
Andrew Van Ginkle, DL/EDGE Vikings at Packers
Van Ginkle is finally getting a chance to see more snaps for the Vikings since coming over from the Dolphins. He is taking advantage of the extra-snap share with a sack in each of the first three games of the season. He had five solo tackles and an assisted tackle last week as well.
His snap share percentage has been a little up and down, but he has performed well despite getting only 80% or higher of the snaps in one game this year.
Devonte Wyatt, DL Packers vs the Vikings
Wyatt is one of the top scoring DT in the league this season. He is a must start in leagues where you start a DT.
He had a 64.9% pass rush grade last week. He is only seeing about a 50% snap share as the Packers are rotating players up front, but this seems to be keeping Wyatt fresh throughout the game.
He has seven tackles and three sacks this season, while leading the team in QB pressures with nine.
Fades
Josh Hines-Allen, DL/EDGE Jaguars vs Texans
Hines-Allen was a must-start edge rusher last season. Hines-Allen has always been a talented player, but he finally put it together last year with 17.5 sacks.
That production has not carried over so far this season. Hines-Allen has nine tackles, only four solo, and one sack this season with a pressure rate of just 4%.
The Jaguars, as a team, have looked awful. Now they travel to division rival Houston for Week 4. The Texans could jump out to an early lead, which would slow down this Jacksonville pass rush.
Kwity Paye, DE Colts vs Steelers
Paye injured his quad late in Week 3. If he plays this week, I can see a big reduction in snap share to try to protect him. He also struggled with just a 6.8% win rate, which doesn’t make me feel any better about counting on Paye.
Rookie Laiatu Latu got his first career sack on a just 38.9% snap share. I think that is going to keep increasing, especially if Paye isn’t 100%.
Bryce Huff, DE Eagles at Buccaneers
Huff has disappeared for the Eagles. He isn’t happy with the organization and they aren’t happy with him.
He is the fourth option at defensive end for Philadelphia with only a 32.1% snap share. Huff has only two tackles and two pressures this season, and the Eagles don’t seem like they are interested in getting him anymore involved at this point.
Linebackers:
Plays
EJ Speed, LB Colts vs Steelers
The Colts have had more defensive plays than any other team in the league so far this season. Speed played 100% snap share last week, and hasn’t played less than 97% of snaps in a game this year.
Speed has had double-digit tackles in each game this season, and now he gets the Steelers, who are third in the league with a rushing percentage of 57.1% of plays.
The Steelers will run a lot of double TE sets. They don’t like to spread it out. This should be another situation where Speed scores better than his projection, which he has done in every game this season.
Troy Andersen, LB Falcons vs Saints
With Nate Landman now on IR, Andersen has become a full-time starter with Kaden Ellis. His snap share increased from 46% in Week 1 up to nearly 99% in Week 3.
Andersen had 12 tackles with seven solos in Week 3. When he has been on the field he has made plays and been a tackle machine. His playing time isn’t questioned at least for the next few games with Landman out.
Andersen is someone I will be deploying in my lineups as long as he continues to get over 90% of the snap share.
Germaine Pratt, LB Bengals vs Panthers
The Panthers inserted Andy Dalton at QB last week and their offense took off after a disastrous start to the season. While the Panthers offense is feeling better, the Bengals defense hasn’t been able to slow anyone down.
I highlighted Logan Wilson as a Play last week, and now I’m suggesting his LB partner Pratt. He has been really good to start the season. He is currently the third highest-scoring LB on FantasyPros with 52.9 points.
LBs have had nice outings against the Panthers this season and I think that continues this week. Pratt has played over 94% of snaps in every game this season and should see a lot of defensive plays again.
Fades
Trenton Simpson, LB Ravens vs Bills
The usage is concerning. Simpson had a good Week 1, which gave fantasy owners belief that he would be a one for one replacement for Patrick Queen, who left in the offseason for Pittsburgh.
But after playing 100% of snaps in Week 2, Simpson only played 51% of snaps in Week 3. He also came off the field for most passing downs, which is not a good sign for his future use.
Ventrell Miller and Chad Muma, LB Jaguars at Texans
IDP managers took a huge hit last week when LB Foyesade Oluokun went down with a foot injury last week. We don’t yet know how long he will be out of the lineup, but it seems like it could be at least a couple weeks.
Who takes his snaps? Miller got 43.8% of the snap share with 45.1% coming on 1st and 2nd down. Muma got a 42.2% snap share with 45.1% coming on 1st and 2nd down. Who knows if they will share time or if someone gets the upper hand.
I’m really hoping it’s Muma. I have been a big Muma fan since he came out of Wyoming. He has been extremely productive when he actually sees a good snap share, and also had a 22.2% tackle efficiency rate last week. I need another week to see how this shakes out before I can commit to someone.
De’Vondre Campbell, LB 49ers vs Patriots
Campbell has seen a nice snap share this season, but it isn’t turning into productivity. He has seen 100%, 94%, and 83% snap share to start the season, but the numbers are slowly declining.
No matter the snaps, Campbell has no more than five tackles in any game this season and he has no impact plays. I want to find someone else to fill my lineup.
Defensive Backs:
Plays
Jalen Pitre, CB Texans vs Jaguars
After having a monster rookie season, Pitre was a bit of a disappointment last season. He has moved from safety to slot corner and seems to be settling in.
Pitre is playing nearly 100% of snaps. Last week he saw 46.8% of snaps in the box and 45.2% of snaps in the slot. He has 18 tackles in the last two games and now gets a Jaguars team who needs to start finding their slot receivers if they are going to have any chance in this game. Pitre can have another double-digit tackle game this week.
Quentin Lake, CB Rams at Bears
Lake has taken over the slot corner role on a team that usually plays either a nickel or dime defense, meaning Lake is getting a combined 67% of his 100% snap share in the box and at slot corner. This has helped Lake to make 31 tackles so far this season.
Now the Rams get the Bears. Rookie QB Caleb Williams threw the ball 52 times against the Colts in Week 3 and already has four interceptions. Lake should see a lot of work this week covering rookie Rome Odunze, who is coming off his best game of his career with six catches on 11 targets for 112 yards.
Nick Cross, S Colts vs Steelers
I’m going with Cross for the second week in a row. Here is why I’m going to keep touting him. He is still on waiver wires in some leagues, even though he is leading the league in tackles with 39.
After Julian Blackmon missed Week 2 with a shoulder injury, he returned to the lineup in Week 3. But in a somewhat surprising move, Cross stayed in the box safety role, while Blackman was moved back to the deep safety spot, which is what he had previously played until last season.
If Cross continues to play the box safety and the Colts continue to stay on the field an awful lot on defense, Cross is going to continue to be an IDP stud.
Fades
Nate Hobbs, CB Raiders vs Browns
While Hobbs is still seeing a high number of slot corner snaps with 70%, his overall snap share dropped to 77% in Week 3. Hobbs came off the field more on two-wide receiver sets in Week 3, which isn’t a good sign.
Hobbs has 10 tackles and two passes defended in three games. There are a ton of other players who can currently give you better return in the secondary.
Dax Hill, CB Bengals at Panthers
Hill had a fantastic season at safety last year for the Bengals. He has been moved to an outside CB spot this season, and it is greatly affecting his IDP performances.
Hill is playing 71.9% of his snaps at wide corner, which is not a recipe for success. If you were still holding Hill because of what he did last year, you are likely going to be very disappointed.
Mike Sainristil, CB Commanders at Cardinals
I’m a fan of the rookie out of Michigan. He is a dynamic player. The issue is, he was expected to come in and be the slot corner for the Commanders, but he has been moved outside and played wide corner 98.4% of the time in Week 3.
This is a huge disappointment for IDP managers, who expected him to be a nice play in CB start leagues. But it looks like the Commanders have other ideas for now. I’m avoiding Sainristil unless he gets moved back to slot corner nearly full time.
Thanks for checking out my IDP Plays And Fades: Week 4 (2024). If you have a question about starting a certain player over another, please check the Fantasy In Frames IDP rankings and go off of those first for start/sit decisions.
From there, check out my Plays and Fades for players I might like or dislike a bit more than the typical rankings in a given week. For individual start and sit questions or anything else fantasy football related please follow and message Justin Taylor on X @jtorange.
