Fantasy Experts Love Ex-Cal QB Jared Goff Vs. NY Giants in NFL Week 4

Aaron Rodgers got some support, but it is the Rams quarterback who has the highest fanatsy expectations of any former Golden Bears player in the NFL this week

Fantasy experts have been hot and cold about the prospects of former Cal quarterback Jared Goff in previous games this season, but they were nearly unanimous this week in predicting that the Los Angeles Rams' quarterback will have a big game on Sunday against the New York Giants.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (vs. the Falcons) and Detroit Lions wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. (vs. the Saints) were the only other former Cal players who received a mention, but neither received the attention that Goff did.  

All of the advice on Goff was to start him this week, especially against the Giants' suspect defense.

The highest praise for Goff was provided by Yahoo.com's Nick Mensio, who labeled Goff the "Start of the Week," and said this about him:

Start of the Week: Jared Goff vs. Giants -- Goff is enjoying a nice start to a potential rebound season. He leads the league in yards per attempt (9.6) and is completing a career best 70% of his passes, a significant leap from his 62.7% career average. Goff has tossed multiple touchdowns in back-to-back games on the road against the Eagles and Bills in Weeks 2-3, posting the QB12 and QB5 days. The overall QB9 to this point, Goff and the Rams are coming back home as 13-point favorites over the lowly Giants. The G-Men surrendered 9.53 YPA and 343 yards to Nick Mullens last week in a 36-9 loss. And Big Ben cooked them for 229 yards and three scores in Week 1. The Giants are 10th in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks but check in at 30th in pass-defense DVOA. The Rams run the ball at the highest clip in football, but there’s still enough here for Goff to throw multiple scores and the Rams to put up 30-plus points in what should be a blowout. L.A. operates at the seventh-fastest offensive pace and currently comes in at 10th in offensive plays per game. The Rams are implied to score 30.5 points.

ESPN's Matthew Berry picked Goff as one of the three "Quarterbacks I Love in Week 4," sayng this:

You should start any fantasy defense facing the Giants. At this point, you should also consider starting any quarterback facing them, too. I mean, last week the Giants gave up 327 passing yards and 9.5 yards per attempt to Nick Mullens. Goff has a 10.0 YPA and five TD passes in his past two games and, on the season, the second-highest completion percentage on deep passes. Still available in over 50% of ESPN leagues, Goff was a preseason "Love" for me, as we pointed out his pass attempts and completions were still high, he had just gotten wildly unlucky with touchdowns. A top 10 fantasy QB in 2018, he's back inside my top 12 for this week. No need to get too deep on this one: Goff will have a lot of success Sunday.

NFL.com's Adam Rank also advised fantasy players to start Goff this week:

Now this is the Jared Goff I wanted to see when I started grabbing shares right at the end of August. Now, I don’t expect him to get down much in this game and have to scramble back like he did against the Bills last week. That was kind of a problem. But I don’t want to dismiss this matchup, either. The Giants have allowed at least two touchdown passes to quarterbacks in back-to-back games. Nick Mullens went for 343 against them last week with virtually nobody playing for San Francisco offensively. This is more like a lag-putt to me. You’re probably not going to drain a 35-pointer in this one, but if you can get close to 20, I’ll be happy with that. I mean, not you on the internet who wants to take a shot at everything (and I can appreciate that). But this feels like a safe floor for Goff this week. 

The Sporting News' Vinnie Iyer listed Goff as one his five "stronger starts" at the quarterback position:

Jared Goff, Rams (vs. NYG). The Giants just allowed Nick Mullens to drop three hundy on them, and the streaky Goff is red hot after that big near comeback in Buffalo.

CBS Sports' Jamey Eisenberg picked Goff and Rodgers as two of his five quarterbacks to start this week, providing this information about Goff:

Goff has come alive as a quality Fantasy quarterback in the past two games against Philadelphia and Buffalo with 59 Fantasy points combined over that span. He has 588 passing yards, six total touchdowns and one interception, and he should continue to play well this week against the Giants. They just allowed Nick Mullens to pass for 343 yards and a touchdown in Week 3, and the Giants allowed five passing touchdowns in the first two weeks of the year against Ben Roethlisberger and Mitchell Trubisky. Safety Jabrill Peppers (ankle) could also be out, and the Rams offense should have their way with the Giants defense in Week 4 at home.

And Eisenberg added this about Rodgers:

No Davante Adams? No problem for Rodgers in Week 3 at the Saints. With Adams out with a hamstring injury, Rodgers went off at New Orleans for 283 passing yards and three touchdowns. Hopefully, Adams is back in Week 4 against the Falcons, but Rodgers should be fine even without his No. 1 receiver. Atlanta allows the most Fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks — Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott and Nick Foles all had at least three total touchdowns — and Rodgers should stay hot in this game at home.

In other ex-Cal fatasy projections, Yahoo.com's Mensio suggested we sit Marvin Jones Jr. against the Saints, saying:

Jones is the current WR51 in half-PPR and is averaging a seven year-low 11.7 yards per catch as a 30-year-old. He’s seeing just 13% of the Lions’ air yards with a 6.7 yards average depth of target. With Kenny Golladay back in the lineup and T.J. Hockerson's role increasing, Jones is just a really tough sell as anything more than a WR4 against a Saints defense that has yielded the third-fewest catches to receivers. Marquez Vales-Scantling (1-5), Bryan Edwards (2-42), Henry Ruggs (1-4), and Mike Evans (1-2-1) have all struggled against New Orleans, with only Allen Lazard (6-146-1) producing the lone true outlier performance in three weeks. Golladay should draw Marshon Lattimore's coverage, opening up more looks for Jones, but we need to see him do something before trusting him as much more than a fringe fantasy starter. There are better Week 4 options than Jones.

But The Sporting News' Iyer suggested Jones would be a good bargain, explaining this:

Marvin Jones Jr., Lions (vs. NO, $4,900 on DraftKings, $6,000 on FanDuel). Jones has been quiet early, but Golladay’s return is sure to garner attention of the Saints secondary for him to have his best game of the season at home.

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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