Fantasy Football Week 4 Running Back Preview: Waiver adds, deep stashes, starts, sits, and more

One of the hot topics coming into the 2024 Fantasy Football season was the huge number of veteran running backs who changed teams this past offseason. I wrote often that historical evidence suggested that veteran running backs who changed teams fared worse than veterans who stayed on the same team. Through three weeks, that has not been the case in 2024.

Saquon Barkley is currently the RB2, Derrick Henry is the RB7, and Aaron Jones is the RB9. J.K. Dobbins, Devin Singletary, Zack Moss, and Tony Pollard are all top 24 backs. Joe Mixon is as well on a per-game basis. It’s been a great start to the year for those veterans. If you faded those backs, you probably aren’t feeling great about it. If you drafted them, you may be wondering if you should sell high on them. 

I am not specifically looking to sell high on all the veterans, but I am on those backs that are more veteran. And that includes backs that stayed on their own teams. Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry, and Aaron Jones are all 29 or older. So is James Conner. You may have missed your sell window with Conner after his dud in Week 3, but I am expecting that window to open back up after he plays the Commanders in Week 4. I do not believe that three outstanding weeks at the beginning of the year does anything to guarantee these older backs will not fall off later in the year. Now is the time they should be fresh. 

Just remember what sell high means. I am not suggesting you sell these older backs for what they cost on Draft Day. Sell them based on what they’ve been, and for Kamara, that’s the number one running back in Fantasy Football. He should pull an enormous haul, or he should stay on your roster.

Now, let’s get to the rest of the Week 4 RB Preview:

Week 4 RB Preview

The following players are not being projected to play Week 4 at this time. Here’s what it means:

• 23.7 — Alvin Kamara is averaging 23.7 touches per game. He’s been over 20 touches per game once in his career.
• 78.3% — Kyren Williams has handled 78.3% of the Rams rush attempts, by far the highest mark in the league.
• 4.83 — Antonio Gibson is averaging 4.83 yards after contact per rush attempt. His rush share could increase as a result.
• 1.8 — D’Andre Swift is averaging 1.8 yards per carry. It’s no wonder Roschon Johnson saw more work last week.
• 5.3 — Emanuel Wilson has broken a tackle every 5.3 rush attempts. He is rising up the handcuff rankings.
• 15 — Saquon Barkley has 15 red zone rush attempts, only Kyren Williams and Jordan Mason have that many.
• 19.4% — Aaron Jones has a 19.4% target share, which is second only to Breece Hall at running back.
• 4.1 — Bucky Irving is averaging 4.1 yards per attempt more than Rachaad White is this year.

My full set of Week 4 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You’ll find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don’t live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 4. Projected stats for all starting running backs are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.