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Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame member Bob Harris and Gary Davenport have well over 40 years of experience as fantasy football analysts, with three Football Writer of the Year Awards between them. They know their stuff—or at least that's what they tell themselves.
Each week during the 2025 season, Harris and Davenport are going to come together here at Footballguys to answer five of that week's biggest fantasy questions.
It's still relatively early in the season, but as we hit Week 4, the fantasy landscape for this year is clearing up. Or so we think. That's the rub—what we think we know and what we actually know may be very different in just a few weeks. Welcome to fantasy football.
So, this week, Harris is here to tell you what he knows, and Davenport is here to tell you what he thinks.
It's established he doesn't know anything.
Throwing Darts
Between injuries and signal-callers with crossed signals, there is no shortage of quarterbacks who have failed to meet expectations this season.
Which quarterback ranked outside the top 15 has the best chance to get back on track and finish the season as a solid weekly starter? Which Dart-throw (pun intended) is the best Band-Aid of the week for fantasy managers in a Week 4 pinch?
Harris: I'm still in on my guy, Bo Nix, in Denver. Am I concerned the player I drafted inside the top 10 at his position is currently QB19? Yes. Do I think it's a permanent condition? No.
This is where I remind you that Nix was QB20 through his first three games last year. He went on to become the first rookie QB in NFL history with multiple games of 300-plus passing yards and four touchdowns. He also set the rookie record for most games with 200-plus yards, two scores, and no picks. He finished as fantasy's QB8, averaging 18.6 points per game with nine QB1 finishes. He cracked the top 10 five times, the top 5 three times, and posted a massive 33.5-point line in Week 18. From Week 10 on, he threw 21 TD passes -- tied with Burrow for third-most in the NFL.
And it wasn't just the arm. Nix added value on the ground, finishing third on the team in rushing yards (430) and tying for the lead in rushing TDs (four), as Sean Payton leaned more into his mobility. Expecting a similar turnaround this year.
Meanwhile, with starter J.J. McCarthy sidelined by a high-ankle sprain, Carson Wentz drew the start in Week 3 and led the Vikings to their best offensive performance of the season in a 48-10 victory over the Bengals. The veteran signal caller threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns while committing no turnovers. After a slow start, the veteran caught fire late in the second quarter and led the Vikings to a score on five of his final six possessions.
Wentz, working in a proven system and with one of the NFL's best receivers in Justin Jefferson at his disposal, finished the week as QB12.
This week, Wentz and the Vikings travel to Ireland to take on the Steelers. It's another favorable matchup that could allow him to flirt with QB1 production despite his shortcomings as a passer. The Steelers' pass defense has been among the league's most generous, giving up the fifth-most yards per attempt, the ninth-highest passer rating, the sixth-most passing yards per game, and the fifth-most fantasy points (22.2) per game.
Davenport: I tend to agree with Harris that Nix is the best bet outside the top 15 to rebound this season. Maybe last year's slow start was less about Nix being inexperienced and more about Nix just hating September's guts.
I'm not giving up on Dak Prescott in Dallas just yet—although that may be because I'm stubborn and talked him up over much of the summer. Yes, the loss of CeeDee Lamb for multiple weeks didn't help matters even a little. But while the QB18 through three games has just three touchdown passes, he's fourth in the league with 800 passing yards. Are the Cowboys a good team? Not really. Is the Dallas defense hot garbage? Worst in the NFL. Is Prescott going to be throwing the ball a lot from here out? Absolutely.
I can feel the regret building as I write this, because Harris and I have both been roasted like hams for talking up Bryce Young of the Carolina Panthers. The player who sits just behind Prescott in the quarterback rankings for the season has one fantasy-relevant start this season—and most of those numbers came in garbage time. But the Panthers face a New England pass defense Sunday that sits 29th in the NFL. So, I'll step on the landmine—again.
Backups Stepping Up
Time for another Showcase Showdown—Harris picks the one he wants to bid on. Injuries have thrust Arizona's Trey Benson and New York's Cam Skattebo into lead-back roles. Who will be the more valuable fantasy asset the rest of the way?
Who should fantasy managers be looking to outside the top 25 in Footballguys' Week 4 Rankings as a smash play in the backfield?
Harris: This is tough. I legitimately enjoy watching young Skattebo do his thing. That said, Benson was drafted for this very moment. Whether it was at some point last year, this year, or in the future, the 2024 third-round pick out of Florida was destined to take over the lead role in this offense.
At 220 pounds, Benson has the size and speed -- 4.39 seconds in the 40 -- to make the most of this opportunity, perhaps even delivering the same borderline RB1 numbers Conner did last year when he finished the year as RB11.
The pickings are pretty slim outside the top 25 this week. That being the case, I'll connect some dots and take a chance on Patriots rookie TreVeyon Henderson.
NFL Network's Michael F. Florio laid out the dots I'm connecting here: Henderson played 88 percent of the snaps last week after Rhamondre Stevenson (two) and Antonio Gibson (one) combined for three fumbles. While ESPN's Dan Graziano advised readers that Patriots coaches were saying after the game that they still need to be able to rely on Stevenson -- and to some extent Gibson -- as part of the plan on offense, thinking we might see more Henderson this week seems reasonable.
If we do, the rookie will have a great shot at outperforming his RB26 ranking against a Panthers defense that's given up the third-most rushing yards to running backs -- at a league-high 5.7-yard per carry clip. They also allow explosive runs at an above-average rate. Those play right into Henderson's strengths.
Davenport: Are you serious? You're going to jack Henderson and make me stick up for Skattebo? I thought we were friends, man.
Benson's the relatively easy call here—in part because we know that Conner isn't coming back this year. But I don't expect to see Tyrone Tracy Jr. anytime soon either, and by the time his dislocated shoulder heals, Skattebo is apt to have Wally Pipped him.
One game does not a season make, but Skattebo was just about the only thing that went well for the New York Giants last week. Against a solid Chiefs defense, Skattebo averaged six yards a carry, topped 120 total yards, and found the end zone. With rookie Jaxson Dart taking over under center for the Giants, Big Blue is going to want to lean on the ground game. That means touches for Skattebo.
Chicago's D'Andre Swift has been neither great nor terrible this year—he's RB23 in PPR points so far this season. He has averaged a decidedly mediocre 3.5 yards per carry. But Swift is getting touches—at least 15 in all three games this year. The Raiders' defense appears OK on paper so far in 2025, but that may say more about who they have played than how they have played. "Smash" may be pushing it, but Swift has a good shot to be a top-20 fantasy option in Week 4.
