5 biggest Week 4 fantasy football sleepers: Rico Dowdle, Aaron Rodgers and more

As Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “to sleep — perchance to dream.” Now, he wasn’t talking about fantasy football in 1602 because as far as I can tell, people weren’t playing fantasy football that year. It’s only been around since, what … the 1700s? (Please don’t fact-check me.)

But we can twist the line to think about fantasy football, right? We’re all looking for sleepers each week — these lower-ranked players who will break out of the dreaming world and lead our teams to glory like Hamlet … I don’t know. I have a PhD in English but I got a C in my only Shakespeare class, so I don’t remember what Hamlet does. Sorry for losing the metaphor here. Let’s just talk about football, okay?

To count as a sleeper, quarterbacks and tight ends need to be ranked outside the top 15 at their position on FantasyPros’ weekly rankings, while running backs are ranked outside the top 20 and wide receivers are ranked outside the top 25.

Aaron Rodgers - QB - New York Jets

Week 4 ranking: QB21

I’m a little surprised that the fantasy community is collectively this low on Aaron Rodgers heading into Week 4. I mean, sure … in Week 1 and Week 2, he looked like a shell of himself, throwing for under 200 yards in both games, but Rodgers came to life against the Patriots in Week 3.

In Thursday’s victory, Rodgers was 27-for-35 for 281 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 18 yards as well. It was easily the most that this version of Rodgers has looked like the vintage version of Rodgers.

This matchup against the Broncos will be fascinating, because it’s really hard to get a sense on if the Denver defense has made huge strides in 2024 or not. Last season, Denver was in the bottom 10 in both passing yards and passing touchdowns allowed, but in 2024 the team has allowed the fewest passing yards in the league through three games.

But the team has played against Geno Smith, Justin Fields and Baker Mayfield, which isn’t exactly a murderer’s row of QBs. I’m not saying Rodgers is going to go out there and finish as the overall QB1 against this defense, but he can provide more value than his low-end QB2 ranking.

Rico Dowdle - RB - Dallas Cowboys

Week 4 ranking: RB29

While Rico Dowdle hasn’t been particularly good this season, it appears that Week 3 saw him finally get past the biggest obstacle to his success: Ezekiel Elliott.

Dallas brought Zeke back this season, but after two ineffective weeks, the team finally put the brakes on him in Week 3, with Elliott carrying the ball just three times and playing just 19% if the team’s snaps. Meanwhile, Dowdle played a season-high 46 percent of offensive plays.

Dowdle only finished with 32 rushing yards on eight carries while catching three passes for 24 yards, so he’s not setting the world on fire at this point. However, this game against the Giants could be a strong one for Dowdle.

That’s because the New York defense is allowing 5.0 yards per carry this season, the sixth-most in the league. This really is a great spot for Dowdle to prove whether or not he can be the primary back for the Cowboys.

Christian Kirk  - WR - Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 4 ranking: WR365

Jaguars wide receiver Christian Kirk really struggled through the first two games of the season, catching just two passes. But against Buffalo in Week 3, we finally got to see the real Kirk, as he was targeted 10 times, catching eight passes for 79 yards.

This, I believe, is the real Christian Kirk. Sure, the Jaguars upgraded the receiver room around him this season by adding Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas Jr., but coming into the season I still viewed Kirk as the most talented player here and the one most likely to be a target hog.

Now, Kirk is set to face a Texans team that he found the end zone against in both games last season. The Texans have allowed the fourth-most touchdown passes in the NFL in 2024, so while Kirk has yet to find the end zone this season, Week 4 offers him his best shot so far at getting there.

Xavier Legette - WR - Carolina Panthers

Week 4 ranking: WR63

With Adam Thielen on IR, Panthers rookie wide receiver Xavier Legette is set to play a larger role in Week 4. While he’ll play a clear second fiddle to Diontae Johnson, there’s still going to be plenty of room to make an impact against an 0-3 Bengals team that was just eaten up in Week 3 by the Washington Commanders passing attack.

Legette’s had an uneven start to his NFL career. He was targeted seven times in Week 1, but then not a single time in Week 2 against the Chargers. But the Panthers made a major move after that game, inserting Andy Dalton at quarterback to replace Bryce Young, and the team instantly saw a rise in its overall production.

That game also saw Legette finish with 42 receiving yards, his most so far — though I guess that isn’t saying too much since we’re working on a three-game sample. Still, his 35-yard grab in the second quarter showed how the Panthers can make use of him in the deep game, something that becomes a lot more possible with Dalton throwing the rock.

Elijah Higgins - TE - Arizona Cardinals

Week 4 ranking: TE34

Alright, here’s a real deep one.

The Arizona Cardinals love using tight end Trey McBride, but McBride is expected to miss this week’s game against the Washington Commanders with a concussion.

Washington has one of the league’s worst pass defenses, and honestly — that feels like a generous thing to say about it. The team has allowed the second-most passing yards and the most passing touchdowns in the NFL this season, and while opposing tight ends haven’t feasted on them, that feels more of an issue of facing two teams — Tampa Bay and the New York Giants — that don’t make especially good use of their tight ends. Last week, Mike Gesicki had four catches for 47 yards against Washington.

Look: Elijah Higgins is probably no Trey McBride. There’s a reason McBride has already been targeted 21 times this year, and it’s because he’s one of the NFL’s best tight ends.

But outside of Marvin Harrison Jr., the Cardinals don’t have a clear-cut player to take over McBride’s targets, and MHJ’s target share probably can’t grow too much more at this point. Higgins hasn’t been targeted more than twice in any game this year, but he’s found the end zone once and could be utilized much more than usual this weekend.