Lions vs. Panthers Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 4

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Lions vs. Panthers Week 4 matchup on Sunday Night Football.

Find a breakdown of every Week 4 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Lions vs. Panthers Fantasy Quarterback Preview

Jared Goff

Goff is off to another good start this season.

He has completed 70.6% of his passes (5th) for 7.4 yards per attempt (12th), and a 7.3% touchdown rate (7th).

He has thrown multiple touchdown passes in all three games.

Keep rolling out Goff as a QB1 with upside here.

This is an intriguing matchup.

Goff leads the NFL in play-action rate (39.4%) to open the year.

The Panthers have once again opened the year by defending play-action passing well, allowing a league-low 45% completion rate and 5.8 Y/A (6th).

They have had a light schedule after Caleb Williams in Week 1, but they were also first in yards allowed per pass attempt on play-action passes in 2025 (5.6) and eighth in completion rate (61.4%).

Carolina leads the NFL in rate of changing their safety looks post-snap (50.4%), which plays into those rates.

When passers turn their backs to the defense, the windows have changed.

While that is a fun cat-and-mouse dynamic, the Panthers may have too many injuries to overcome and make an impact.

Starting cornerbacks Jaycee Horn (quad) and Mike Jackson (groin) will miss Week 4.

Missing multiple defensive backs against this offense is rough.

We also have to question whether this defense is one to worry about in general, and injuries could make it worse.

The Panthers have faced Cooper Rush and Deshaun Watson for the past two weeks.

The one functional offense they faced scored 59 points in Week 1.

Bryce Young

Young returned to the pack on Sunday, completing 26 of 48 (54.2%) passes for 291 yards (6.1 Y/A) with a touchdown and an interception in Cleveland.

He ended the week as the QB22 (13.6 points) after QB3 and QB7 scoring weeks to open the year.

We came into last weekend wanting to see how Young would fare against an aggressive man coverage.

He performed just fine when the Browns played man coverage, which they did at the second-highest rate in Week 3 (37.9%).

When Cleveland was in man coverage, Young completed 12 of 17 passes (70.6%) for 152 yards (8.9 Y/A) with 1 interception.

Young's undoing was the sheer rate of pressure the Browns put on him.

Young was pressured on a league-high 56% of his dropbacks in Week 3, completing 11 of 25 (44%) passes for 125 yards (5.0 Y/A) when pressured.

This offensive line is in a bad place entering Week 4.

Monroe Freeling is in concussion protocol.

Damien Lewis has an elbow injury.

This unit is already missing Taylor Moton, Brady Christensen, and Ikem Ekwonu from the preseason.

If Freeling does not clear protocol, Stone Forsythe would start.

Forsythe allowed the most sacks in the NFL last year (11) with the Raiders.

In recent weeks, we've seen with Jordan Love, Justin Herbert, and Drake Maye that the state of an offensive line can derail an offense.

The Lions are not a good defense, but they are eighth in pressure rate (39.5%).

They have 12 sacks, second in the NFL.

They are blitzing 31.3% of the time, 10th in the league.

To compound matters, Carolina may not have Jalen Coker.

They also could be without Xavier Legette, but I am not sure that is a needle-mover.

Carolina has a bye in Week 5, so all the banged-up pieces could take early time off and be back for Week 6.

All of those injuries cast a cloud over an otherwise great matchup.

The Lions allow 24.4 passing points per game (31st), a 69.4% completion rate (28th), 7.9 yards per pass attempt (25th), and a 7.3% touchdown rate (28th).

To open the year, Detroit has allowed big games to Tyler Shough (23.2 points), Josh Allen (40.8 points), and Geno Smith (26 points).

One thing we do know is that Carolina is a good bet to keep throwing, despite the injuries.

Detroit should push them to score points, too.

The Panthers have thrown 7.5% over pass-rate expectations (4th) and thrown at a higher-than-expected rate in all three games.

All of the injuries add volatility for Young, but the game environment could still push him as a boom-or-bust QB2.

Lions vs. Panthers Fantasy Running Back Preview

Jahmyr Gibbs

Gibbs has been as good as gamers hoped this summer, kicking off 2026 as the RB3, RB3, and RB1 in weekly scoring.

He has scored the most fantasy points over expectations among running backs while also having the most expected points at the position, which is a super ceiling combination.

He is second in the NFL with 463 total yards and has 6 touchdowns.

Gibbs leads the league in touches (83).

I don't need to tell you that he is the premier running back in fantasy right now.

He runs into a great spot here, albeit on the road.

The Panthers have allowed a league-high 5.9 yards per carry to running backs.

Their early-season output is weighted by getting trampled in Week 1 by Chicago.

But even over the past two weeks, the Panthers have allowed 4.6 YPC to backs (26th), with a run of 10 or more yards on 10.9% of attempts (24th).

They are also 15th in receiving points allowed to backs through three weeks.

Chuba Hubbard

Having the backfield to himself on Sunday. Hubbard played 83.8% of the offensive snaps (3rd highest in Week 3), handling 23 touches for 110 total yards.

He rushed 19 times for 82 yards and caught 4 passes for 28 yards.

The offensive line injuries do add some instability, but Hubbard's workload is enough to make him a volume-based player on the RB1/RB2 line.

This game should feature points.

Detroit has been middle of the pack against backs to open the year, allowing 4.4 yards per touch (14th), and 107.0 total yards per game (10th) to the position.

Lions vs. Panthers Fantasy Wide Receiver Preview

Amon-Ra St. Brown

St. Brown had only 4 catches for 19 yards (8 targets) on Sunday, but he got into the end zone for the third straight game (5th time total) to salvage his day.

St. Brown has 32.4% of Detroit's targets (WR3) and 42.9% of red-zone targets.

With Carolina's top two cornerbacks out, St. Brown should be lined up for a strong game as a front-end WR1.

To open this season, St. Brown has 32.6% of the team's targets facing Cover 3.

Tetairoa McMillan

McMillan was held in check last week by Denzel Ward and the Browns, catching 2 of 5 targets for 17 yards.

Notably, his output last week after Jalen Coker left the game lines up with what we saw a year ago.

McMillan has been a worse player with Coker off the field.

On 147 routes without Coker since last year, McMillan has been targeted on 21.3% of his routes, averaging 1.65 yards per route.

With Coker on the field (368 routes), McMillan has 27.3% of the targets with 1.93 yards per route.

Carolina doesn't have much depth to draw attention away from McMillan, but the matchup is strong.

Detroit has been crushed by receivers so far, allowing a 73.7% catch rate (29th), 9.9 yards per target (30th), and a 5.3% touchdown rate (18th) to wideouts.

McMillan has been targeted at a team-high 27.3% rate against the blitz, which aligns with the matchup.

Even if we price in some offensive-line fragility and his splits without Coker, McMillan is an upside WR2 based on the matchup and target opportunity.

Jameson Williams

Williams has started the season quietly, catching 10 of 17 targets for 127 yards through three games.

He is not beating the allegations that he has struggled to earn targets when playing with Sam LaPorta, since Detroit splits those opportunities up between the pair.

Since last season, Williams has been targeted on 14.9% of his routes with LaPorta on the field compared to 18.9% with him off the field.

The positive news is that he is still running a route on 90.1% of the dropbacks.

While the runout has been light to open this season, I believe you should give him another look here as an upside WR3 with Horn and Jackson sidelined.

Isaac TeSlaa

TeSlaa has 5 catches for 92 yards (9 targets) while running a route on 70.2% of the dropbacks.

He is more of a single-game DFS play but is getting enough snaps to make an impact there with a splash play.

Panthers WRs

If Carolina does miss Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette, then Brycen Tremayne and John Metchie get bumps.

Tremayne ran a route on 93.8% of the dropbacks without Coker on Sunday, catching 4 of 6 targets for 83 yards.

Metchie ran a route 75%, catching 2 of 5 targets for 19 yards and a touchdown.

I wouldn't bet on both of those guys out-targeting Tetairoa McMillan again, but the game environment and matchup are good enough to make them viable single-game DFS plays, while needy gamers can throw a line at Tremayne as a WR5/FLEX.

Lions vs. Panthers Fantasy Tight End Preview

Sam LaPorta

LaPorta grabbed 3 of 4 targets for 44 yards on Sunday.

Over three games, LaPorta has run a route on 86% of dropbacks (TE3) and caught 17.6% of the targets (TE12).

His 1.38 yards per route ranks 13th.

That back-end TE1 range is where he is at.

The Panthers will be getting Devin Lloyd back this week.

Carolina has allowed 5.5 yards per target to tight ends (6th), but also a 13.6% touchdown rate (28th).

Darren Waller (TRUST)

Waller is the most intriguing pass catcher if Carolina is short-handed for Sunday.

With Coker off the field on Sunday, Waller ran a route on 65.6% of those dropbacks, drawing a target on 38.1% of his routes (5 catches for 51 yards on 8 targets).

He just played receiver on those snaps, playing 52% of his snaps in the slot and 24% out wide.

In that event, Waller can be a major target earner in a fantastic matchup.

Detroit has struggled against move tight ends, facing Juwan Johnson (3-54-1), Dalton Kincaid (7-95-1), and Kanyon Sadiq (7-105-1).

They have also allowed touchdowns to Noah Fant, Dawson Knox, and Jeremy Ruckert in those games.

Tight ends have scored 36.3% of the fantasy points Detroit has allowed, the highest rate in the league.

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