Welcome to the fourth of seventeen weekly articles spotlighting the fantasy fades of the week! I am your host, Matt Okada, and I’ll be bringing you half a dozen potential busts each and every Friday, from now until fantasy championships.
As a note, just because a player earns a “fade” or “bust” designation doesn’t automatically mean they should be benched — it depends on the rest of your roster or the options on your waiver wire. But you can expect them to fall short of expectations (when I get them right). I include a “What to Do” section for every player to help with that.
Without further ado, here is my list for Week 4 of the 2026 season.
Justin Herbert, QB, Chargers at Seahawks
This is Herbert’s second appearance in this column in a span of three weeks, but he’s the most relevant choice, considering how highly he was drafted and how many managers are still holding onto QB1 dreams. Listen, they may materialize eventually, though it’s getting progressively less likely, but they’re not materializing this week. Herbert has not yet hit 14 fantasy points in a game, after matchups with the Cardinals, Raiders and Bills. He’s sporting a 73.4 passer rating and 59.1% completion rate through three weeks, and the Chargers offense still hasn’t scored more than 16 points in a game. It certainly doesn’t help that they’re allowing the fourth-highest quick pressure rate in the league (pressures within 2.5 seconds from the snap), as the supposed-to-be-better offensive line … has not been.
Now Herbert and Co. are headed to Seattle. The Seahawks have not yet allowed 200 passing yards to a quarterback, leading the league with 152 passing yards allowed per game, and four interceptions as well. They also specifically have the third-highest quick pressure rate in the league, behind the Vikings (and their absurd blitz rate) and the Falcons. Herbert is going to be forced to get rid of the football earlier than he’d like all game, and will be very hard-pressed to find any downfield production. He’s not just outside starter range, he’s outside the top 20 and might even be benchable in 2QB or Superflex leagues.
What to do ❓ Sit Herbert for just about anyone. You’d be better served dropping to streamers like Marcus Mariota, Daniel Jones, Jacoby Brissett or Geno Smith.
Omarion Hampton, RB, Chargers at Seahawks
Can you tell I’m not a fan of the Chargers’ rudderless offense against the Seahawks’ smothering defense? This one’s admittedly much tougher than benching Herbert, as you probably drafted Omarion Hampton to be your RB1 somewhere in the first two rounds. Unfortunately, things have not trended well. He did have an excellent game with 115 scrimmage yards and a touchdown in Week 2, but he’s also fumbled twice and lost significant work to Keaton Mitchell, particularly in the red zone (where Mitchell scored L.A.’s lone touchdown last week). In what should have been a decent Week 3 matchup against Buffalo, Hampton saw 15 carries to Mitchell’s eight, but only outpaced him 56 to 52 in yards. Oh, and fullback Alec Ingold heavily outproduced him as a receiver.
And, once again, the Seahawks defense. They haven’t allowed more than 12 fantasy points to any running back this season and held Jeremiyah Love to just six two weeks ago. They’re allowing just 2.9 yards per carry to RBs (second-fewest in the league), haven’t surrendered a single rushing touchdown and boast a league-best -0.43 EPA/carry against the position. They’re also 7-point favorites, leaving the Chargers with an implied total of just 17.75 points … which honestly feels high. No matter where you drafted Hampton, sacrificing points in your starting lineup out of stubbornness is a losing battle.
What to do ❓ Hampton can be played as a relatively high-floor FLEX, but he’s outside my top 24 at running back. Do not expect RB1 or RB2 production, and if you can go with a higher-upside wide receiver in the FLEX instead, lean that way.
Jadarian Price, RB, Seahawks vs. Chargers
Three fades, three players from the same game?! I promise I’ll diversify with the pass-catchers, but we need to address the reality with Seahawks rookie Jadarian Price. He’s completely unplayable. After totaling just 11.3 fantasy points across the first two games, despite 27 touches, Price had just five carries and one catch in the loss to Washington last week, finishing with 0.7 fantasy points and fumbling for the second consecutive game. He played through a chest injury, and has been limited in practice this week, but is likely to play again in Week 4. And George Holani and Emanuel Wilson have been more involved than Price’s managers would like to see either way. He’s posted an absolutely brutal -0.54 EPA per carry, the lowest among qualified running backs, even below Packers’ MarShawn Lloyd.
And while Price has had very strong missed tackle and explosive run rates, he also sports the second-highest stuff rate in the league, behind only Woody Marks. Price is boom-bust and is not seeing enough volume to make the boom reliable. Now, Seattle has designated Zach Charbonnet to return to practice, spelling the imminent end of Price’s role as the lead back. The Chargers’ run defense has been one of their few bright spots this first month, but Price would be hard to trust against anyone. In fact, you may want to try trading him for anything better than a waiver pickup before he essentially loses all perceived value with Charbonnet’s return.
What to do ❓ Bench Price for any reasonable starting RB or a wide variety of FLEX plays. Heck, I’d rather play Juwan Johnson as my FLEX.
Emeka Egbuka, WR, Bucs vs. Packers
Disclaimer up front: every once in a while, a bad-on-paper QB change creates a sort of strange chemistry-based phenomenon where one pass-catcher suddenly breaks out. We sort of saw this with Case Keenum and Luther Burden III on Monday night, as an example. So, it could be that undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels starts finding Egbuka downfield in ways Baker Mayfield had not been. But that feels very unlikely. Daniels was a six-year QB at Kansas, where his career highs were 2,531 passing yards and 22 touchdowns. And even though Mayfield had been borderline terrible before his dislocated thumb last week, expecting improvement from an undrafted rookie would be misplaced.
Meanwhile, Egbuka headlined my “Fallers” in the weekly Stock Report article on Monday. While he has been consistently alright for fantasy, Egbuka has not rediscovered his early-rookie-season upside since injuries to both him and Mayfield throughout the 2025 season. Egbuka has maxed out at five catches and 63 receiving yards, and his one touchdown came in a game where he had just three catches for 16 yards. It’s been tough, especially given just how impressive his first five weeks as a rookie were, but until we see it again, Egbuka is hard to trust as a starting-caliber fantasy wideout.
What to do ❓ If you need a very low-upside FLEX, Egbuka is somewhat viable, even with the QB change. But he’s incredibly risky and you’re just as likely to get two points as 20. I’d aim to bench him until we see at least one game with Daniels.
Deebo Samuel Sr., WR, 49ers vs. Broncos
It feels like Deebo Samuel Sr. is going to be a popular play in Week 4, after his 15.4 points in Week 3 and amid Mike Evans’ potential injury absence. But let’s not get too carried away just yet. First, Samuel scored 14.0 of his 15.4 points on a single, once-in-a-season hook-and-ladder play last week. He didn’t see a single target in the game, which brings his total over the last two weeks to three catches on four targets for 31 receiving yards … and technically another 80 on the trick play. Keep in mind, Evans suffered his injury in the second quarter, and while Samuel did run the most routes among the wide receivers, he was out-targeted by Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins.
Then there’s the opponent. While the Broncos were gashed by Davante Adams and Konata Mumpfield last week, they’re much different receivers than Samuel. Denver has still held opposing wideouts to a 50.9% completion rate (second-lowest in the league) and just 22.9 fantasy points per game (11th-fewest). Brock Purdy and San Francisco will cobble together a productive day through their wide variety of unique weapons — à la George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey — and Samuel may have an impact play or two. But it’s very hard to trust a receiver with a 13.6% target share and 6.0% air yards share.
What to do ❓ Like Egbuka, Samuel could be a decent FLEX play, but I would not trust him as a WR2 and would prefer receivers with more trustworthy involvement, like Stefon Diggs against Indy, Devaughn Vele against Atlanta or particularly Keenan Allen versus Washington.
Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Jets at Bears
I was tempted to return to Kyle Pitts Sr. or Colston Loveland (again), but at this point, at a shallow position, that feels too redundant. So I’m taking a much bigger risk and fading rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq after his breakout game in Week 3. Why? Largely because of the drop-off in matchup. Sadiq torched the Lions for 20.0 fantasy points, but the Lions have been by far the softest matchup for tight ends in all of fantasy. In fact, they’ve been the softest matchup for the position to start any season in living memory, allowing 28.5 fantasy points per game to tight ends as a whole. If you straight up removed Sadiq’s performance, they would still have allowed more fantasy points than the next-softest matchup (the Commanders).
Meanwhile, the Bears have allowed fewer fantasy points to tight ends all season (18.8) than the Lions surrendered to Sadiq last week. They haven’t faced great competition — T.J. Hockenson, Darren Waller, off-the-couch Zach Ertz — but the gap is still undeniably wide. Also, Chicago is 20th in passing yards allowed across all positions and has surrendered just three passing touchdowns, tied for fourth-fewest in the league. Sadiq is exciting and obviously flashed the talent that made him a first-round pick. But he also had just five catches for 38 yards on six targets through the first two weeks, before the run-in with Detroit. He’s a good asset to have on your roster, but probably not in your starting lineup (at least for this week).
What to do ❓ Sadiq is outside my top 12 at tight end, and you probably weren’t starting him before last week, so you should have a solid alternate. Juwan Johnson is tops on that list, but I’d also go with Dalton Schultz and Isaiah Likely, as well as Tucker Kraft, despite the early disappointment.
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