Week 4 Fantasy PPR RB Rankings

We talked about it in this space last week, but it's worth doing again: More and more top running backs are catching passes at the expense of classic PPR backs. When making the Week 4 PPR RB rankings, it wasn't as easy to just slide Derrick Henry and Leonard Fournette down the list. Henry's being involved in the Tennessee screen game, while Jacksonville is simply leaving Fournette in on passing downs. Players like Josh Jacobs and Nick Chubb would also have been classic off-the-field-in-passing-down-situation guys, but this year, Oakland and Cleveland have shown no problem throwing to them.

That seemingly league-wide development makes it tougher to find PPR sleepers. Most of the names who figure into the weekly rankings are the same ones you'd find in standard-league ranks. At least James White is the player we've known and loved (or hated -- it's the Patriots), and he should be back this week after missing Week 3 due to the birth of his child. 

WEEK 4 NON-PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

Guys like Tarik Cohen, Dion Lewis and Nyheim Hines still receive small rankings bumps, as their respective teams have them on the field frequently enough that their PPR value is better than standard. It's just not by as much as it used to be. Even someone like Royce Freeman can baffle us. He's a big and strong runner to the point that Denver handed off to him as a fullback multiple times in Week 3, yet it also has lined Freeman up as the boundary wide receiver in all of their games this season -- and it hasn't been as a decoy, as they've thrown him screens and curl passes. Meanwhile, Phillip Lindsay is getting carries inside the one-yard line in addition to also being used as a receiver.

WEEK 4 PPR RANKINGS: Wide receiver | Tight end

So, what are you, the fantasy owner in a PPR league, to do about this trend? Step one is coming to our PPR rankings, so good work there. Beyond that, your best bet for deciphering PPR value in a given week is to predict game flow. If a team projects to be trailing, that could be good for any of their RBs to catch passes. Also, if you can spot anything in the underlying stats, like Atlanta's propensity to funnel targets to backs, then that can help, too.

WEEK 4 DFS LINEUPS:
DK cash | DK GPP | FD cash | FD GPP | Y! cash | Y! GPP

Overall, PPR fantasy strategy hasn't changed that much with lead backs getting more catches in unexpected places. You just might have to wash your brain of the classic names to buy or avoid in PPR.

One final note: Week 4 features byes for Le'Veon Bell, Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson, Jr. At least the first three all have PPR value in most weeks, so be sure to check out our rankings below to find the players to replace them for this week.

WEEK 4: Waiver pickups | FAAB planner | Trade values | Snap counts

Reminder: Check back for frequent updates during the week. For individual analysis of key RBs, check our standard RB rankings. 

MORE WEEK 4 DFS: Top values | Stacks | Lineup Builder

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Week 4 Fantasy PPR Rankings: RBs

These rankings are for full-point PPR leagues.