Kirk Cousins, Justin Herbert, and 2 More Must-Sit Fantasy Football Quarterbacks in Week 4

Justin Herbert and Bo Nix have not quite met their preseason expectations through three games. Yes, Nix led a huge comeback victory on Monday Night, but he is still outside the top-20 quarterbacks in fantasy football. However, the NFL is a volatile league. No week is the same as the last. The following are not great forecasts for Week 4 fantasy football start projections.

All EPA Metrics are per draftwithdoug.com
All Completion Percentage metrics are per nfelo.com

Kirk Cousins

The QB12 in fantasy football is due for a regression. Maybe not in quality of play, but definitely in fantasy output. Cousins does not rush the ball at all. He is among the lowest-projected scramblers in the lowest-projected NFL, which significantly reduces his viability in fantasy football.

The Chiefs come to try to crush their undefeated rivals. Kansas City is 6th-best in Defensive EPA per Play and 6th in Defensive EPA per Pass Play Allowed.

Despite how great the Raiders have been offensively, power ratings and all, I do have them projected to fall short of 20 points in this game, mostly due to the defensive matchup on the road. After all, their first three opponents have a combined record of 1-8.

Justin Herbert

Herbert is doing himself no favors in the Chargers' 0-3 season start. He ranks 28th in PFF Passing Grade and 23rd in Adjusted Completion Percentage. Herbert ranks 33rd in Fantasy Points per Game among all quarterbacks who started at least one game in 2026.

I am truthfully scared to start Herbert. The morale is down, and while he tries to bounce back, the opponent won't take it easy. The Chargers face the Seahawks on the road, who rank 2nd in Defensive EPA Allowed per Play and are rated 2nd in ESPN's Defensive FPI.

Bo Nix

Both Nix and Herbert are probably the two most disappointing quarterbacks thus far, not named Drake Maye. Nix is QB24 in fantasy football. He ranks 29th in PFF Passing Grade, 22nd in Completion Percentage Over Expected, and 26th in EPA per Dropback.

The best team in the NFL right now is definitely the San Francisco 49ers. They have an average margin of victory of 16.0 points through three games. They now come home to host the Broncos, and according to the power index, the 49ers are 6.4 points better than the Broncos on a neutral field.

The one favor is that Nix may have his matchup. The 49ers are just a mediocre unit. Perhaps the game script gets Nix into a good game, but the poor metrics have me favoring a higher-upside option. In Week 4, I have Malik Willis as a top-10 quarterback, a potential streamer who could do much better than Nix.

Sam Darnold

Darnold comes in outside the top-20 quarterbacks of the week in my projections. Those will be released Wednesday afternoon. The Seahawks are simply a higher run-rate team.

In Week 3, Seattle ran the ball just 28% of the time, which is an outlier compared to their season-long expectations. The team was trailing nearly the entire game. They had to chase and thus pass the ball. That will not be common.

The Seahawks ran the ball 45% of the time in Week 1 and 58% in Week 2. They are projected to run the ball 45% of the time. Only the Falcons and Ravens expect to run it more often than Seattle. Darnold doesn't run the ball much himself, totaling 109 rushing yards over 17 games in 2025.

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