XFL Week 4 Fantasy Studs, Duds, and Thuds

Every week in fantasy football there are those players who come through for your team. There are also those who fall short of their expected contributions. Finally, there are those who absolutely fail to show up. In this column, we’ll highlight those who helped you win your matchup or tournament, those that did not help you at all, and lastly, the ones who possibly cost you a win.

Studs

Tre McBride, WR, LA

For the second straight week, McBride has been the focal point of the Wildcat’s offense. The sure handed wideout followed up his dominant performance against the Defenders with 127 yards on 8 catches and a touchdown in a losing effort to the Guardians on Saturday. It is clear that Josh Johnson trusts McBride to make the tough catches and sees his #1 receiver as the go-to target in comeback mode. McBride was far and away the leading target monster for LA, as he was looked to 12 times by his quarterback.

If you rostered him in your season long matchup, you probably came away happy with his second effort of over 25 points in as many weeks. If you had him in your DFS lineups, you were more than happy to see the green his day produced for you. He outperformed every other receiver in week 4 and is rightfully a fantasy stud.

Nick Holley, WR, HOU

As the feel good story of the league, Holley has made fans of even the hardcore XFL naysayers. Up to this point, his Herculean effort to play the game he loves has yielded not much more than the warm and fuzzies. But, in the first ever Texas Throwdown, Holley loaded up his six shooter and came to play. The converted running back turned 10 targets into 8 catches for 97 yards and a touchdown and led all Roughneck receivers in receptions and yardage.

Holley’s best game of the season helped his team hang on for the win. It also gave Houston quarterback P.J. Walker some much needed help in an outing where his star pass catchers were not quite up to the task. Holley was as much of a stud on the field Sunday as he has turned out to be in real life.

Duds

Christine Michael, RB, STL

Coming off his best performance of the young season, Michael entered the game locked in the running back slot of many people’s fantasy rosters. Given how effective the Battlehawks running game has been so far, it was a calculated risk. This week, that risk did not pay off as it was Jordan Ta’amu who ended up leading the rushing stats at the end of the game. His three actual running backs all finished with under 30 yards, including Michael, with 27 of them. Keith Ford managed to find the endzone to salvage his day, but the same could not be said for the former Seahawk.

Michael is begging to fade away in fantasy relevance. His 2.3 yards per carry leaves him all but unstartable and a touchdown dependent flex play at best. This disappointing performance is yet another where he has failed to reach 50 yards rushing even with double digit touches in all of them.

Cardale Jones, QB, DC

It was a rough day at the office for the former college standout. Jones turned in a performance he is sure to put in his rearview mirror against the winless Tampa Bay Vipers. In the contest, he completed only 9 of his 22 attempts for a season low 72 yards and no touchdowns. Jerry Glanville’s defense had Jones off balance and visibly out of sorts all day to the point where he and his receivers could not get on the same page. This was made evident by his airing of grievances on the sidelines after almost every offensive possession.

The Defenders were shut out for the first time this season and are on the wrong end of a two game losing streak. Jones did not help his team in this game and left many fantasy owners with one eye on the waiver wire. If you had him in DFS, you were probably left outside of the money line.

Thuds

Matt Jones, RB, STL

Jones is the second Battlehawks running back to make this column, and for good reason. Coming into this week, Jones was begging to look like the run away lead back for St. Louis. His appearance on the injury report had most owners nervous, but one he was cleared to play, he was returned to his starting position in lineups and heavily owned in DFS. Unfortunately, that optimism ended up being misplaced. It may have been the knee, or it may have been St. Louis’ complete ineffectiveness in the ground game, but Jones had a day that we’d all like to forget.

Jones led the Battlehawks in rushing attempts with 15, but could only manage 20 yards with them. He was only targeted once by Ta’amu and did not come down with it. St. Louis hung on to win what turned out to be a close game against the Dragons, but it was clear that Jones could not get it going enough to help in that cause.

Cam Phillips, WR, HOU

You probably wouldn’t have believed me if I were to tell you that the Roughnecks were going to score 27 points against the Renegades, but Cam Phillips would not account for any of those points. Well, it happened. The hottest receiver in the league and the set it and forget it wide out on everyone’s roster came back down to Earth in a big way on Sunday. After catching three touchdowns in back to back games, he was targeted only three times by P.J. Walker. He caught just one for nine yards. In watching the game, there was no sign that Dallas was doing anything different against him than any team had done so far. It just appeared to be the day that the heroic Phillips had to prove that he too, is human.

This will likely be the only time we will see him name in the thuds section of this column as better days are ahead for this talented athlete who has set the league on fire so far this season. We all have our bad days, this one was his.