Through four weeks, fantasy football's leading scorer for the season is ... Matt Ryan?!
Few saw that coming, as Ryan was the 21st quarterback off the board on average in ESPN preseason drafts, and he was selected in a mere 41.5 percent of ESPN leagues. Meanwhile, DeAndre Hopkins and Rob Gronkowski, the Nos. 7 and 10 players selected overall, scored a combined one fantasy point on Sunday.
As we do each Sunday right here, we recap the week's winners and losers from a fantasy perspective, complete with applicable game and historical data. Check back after the conclusion of the 1 and 4 p.m. ET (and, when applicable, Sunday Night Football) games for our picks of the week's best and worst.
Winners
Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons: He's off to some sort of torrid start to 2016, his 35 fantasy points tops among quarterbacks through Sunday's games, giving him a league-leading 105 through four team games. Since 1960, only eight other players have scored more than that through their first four team games:
Unfortunately, few fantasy owners have capitalized upon Ryan's performance to date, as he was owned in only 76.4 percent and started in only 31.1 percent of ESPN leagues at his game's kickoff. Perhaps it's time to believe, as Ryan had admitted on multiple occasions during the offseason that he had struggled to quickly adapt to offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan's offense in 2015, but that he was feeling more comfortable with it in his second year. Ryan's resurgence will be put to the test these next two weeks, though, as he and his Falcons visit the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.
Julio Jones, WR, Falcons: He was the primary benefactor of Ryan's big game, but for a good chunk of it, it seemed that Jones was going to fill every statistical column except touchdowns. A 75-yard score with less than four minutes remaining, however, brought Jones' numbers to historic levels. He finished with 36 fantasy points, tops among players through Sunday's games, with the NFL's sixth game of at least 300 receiving yards in history. Adding Jones' 12 receptions, he had 48 points using PPR scoring. That's the most fantasy points by a wide receiver using either standard or PPR scoring since Eric Decker had 41 and 49, Josh Gordon 38 and 48 and Alshon Jeffery 36 and 48 in 2013's Week 13.
Incidentally, this is the first time since at least 1950 that teammates managed at least 500 passing yards (Ryan) and 300 receiving yards (Jones) in the same game.
Jordan Reed, TE, Washington Redskins: His fantasy owners, who had been frustrated by his lack of touchdowns through three weeks, are surely smiling now, after Reed topped his position with 19 fantasy points through Sunday's games. He scored both his touchdowns in quick fashion, both of them coming in the first quarter, snapping his touchdown drought that had lasted four regular-season games. Adding Reed's nine catches, he had 28 PPR fantasy points, tied for his third-best single-game performance, trailing only his 33 in 2015 Week 16 and 30 in 2015 Week 7.
DeMarco Murray, RB, Tennessee Titans: So far, so good for Murray's bounce-back campaign. His 23 fantasy points led all running backs through Sunday's games, and gave him four consecutive games of at least 13 points to begin the season, plus 74 for the season through four games, which also leads the position. To put that into perspective, Murray scored 80 fantasy points through four games during his 2014 career year -- he finished with 282 -- and he did it while amassing 99 of the Dallas Cowboys' 119 total carries by running backs. This season, Murray has only 66 of the Titans' 93 total carries; Derrick Henry (27) has 16 more than any other Cowboys player had through four games in 2014.
Will Fuller V, WR, Houston Texans: He's sure looking like something special, his 20 fantasy points placing him among the five best at his position through Sunday's games. Fuller now has 49 fantasy points through his first four career games, tied for 21st best by a wide receiver since 1960.
Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks: Though his 24 fantasy points might not have mounted a serious challenge for the week's top spot, they're impressive if you consider that Wilson played this game with a custom brace on his left knee to protect his sprained MCL. It's the 10th time since the beginning of 2014, a span of 36 games, that Wilson has managed at least 24 fantasy points in a contest.
Isaiah Crowell, RB, Cleveland Browns: It certainly looks like Crowell is the Browns' primary running back, as for the fourth consecutive game, he managed at least 12 carries, this time scoring 19 fantasy points to give him 59 for the season. That's the second most by any Browns running back through four team games since the team re-entered the league in 1999, trailing only Peyton Hillis' 60 in 2010.
Michael Crabtree, WR, Oakland Raiders: His 26 standard fantasy points and 33 PPR fantasy points were both the second-best totals he has had in a game in any of his nine NFL seasons, trailing only his 29 and 37 in 2012 Week 17.
Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys gave every hint that they'd make Elliott a workhorse after drafting him fourth overall in April, and through four games they've done just that. For the fourth consecutive game he managed 20-plus carries, making him only the second player to have at least that many to begin a career (Billy Sims, 1980), and he's now on pace for 376 carries, which would be third-most among rookies (Eric Dickerson, 390 in 1983, and George Rogers, 378 in 1981). From a fantasy perspective, though, Elliott's performance to date falls a bit short of any records through this many games, but he does have 59 fantasy points, which is the most by any running back through four career contests since Alfred Morris had the same amount in 2012. Sims, by the way, holds the all-time record through four games (107).
John Kuhn, RB, New Orleans Saints: Wait, who?! Ok, that might be exaggerating a bit, as Kuhn might be a name you recall from his Green Bay Packers days, including another time he scored three touchdowns in a game in 2010 Week 16 (career-best 20 fantasy points). At that time, however, he was stealing them from Brandon Jackson, who was a substantially less popular fantasy play than Mark Ingram is today. Ingram's score seemed to turn out fine -- he managed 15 fantasy points -- but Kuhn's 18 put him within range of the positional lead for the week. Remarkably, seven running backs scored more than 18 fantasy points in a game with the same or fewer as Kuhn's five total touches, with Latavius Murray the most recent to do it (2014 Week 12, 23 fantasy points on four touches).
Few owners capitalized upon Kuhn's performance, as he was owned in 0.08 percent and started in 0.03 percent of ESPN leagues as of his game's kickoff.
Melvin Gordon, RB, San Diego Chargers: What a difference a year makes. Gordon's 17 fantasy points might've fallen a bit short of the week's leading score among running backs, but it's still a healthy number, and gives him three games with at least that many after he didn't have a single game in double digits as a rookie in 2015. What's more, Gordon now has 64 fantasy points for the season, matching his entire 2015 season total.
Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers: Though he fell one fantasy point shy of the lead at the position, Roethlisberger's 34 fantasy points finished second for the week and were his most since 2014 Week 9 (35). It's the third time he has scored at least 33 fantasy points in his past six prime-time games, with all of those performances occurring within the past two calendar years (35, 2004 Week 9, and 33, 2015 Week 13).
Losers
DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Houston Texans: Few were started in as many leagues as Hopkins on Sunday, in 98.8 percent of ESPN leagues to be specific. While his teammate, Fuller, had a big game, Hopkins wasn't so fortunate, catching only one of his six targets for zero fantasy points. It's the fifth time in his career that he has delivered a doughnut, with the most recent occurring in 2014 Week 17, a game in which he, coincidentally, also had six targets.
Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England Patriots: The 2016 season to date has been especially frustrating to Gronkowski's owners, as he has appeared in only two games and been seemingly a decoy for the majority of both. After being held off the stat sheet for more than half of Sunday's game, Gronkowski managed to catch one of his two targets for one fantasy point. It's the first time in his career that he has been held to one fantasy point or fewer in consecutive games, and these now represent two of the eight (out of 82) career games of his with that poor a score. Unfortunately, Gronkowski was started by his owners in 78.1 percent of ESPN leagues.
Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions: What a disappointing performance, considering Stafford entered with two games of 25-plus fantasy points out of three and was facing a Chicago Bears defense typically regarded one of the better matchups for an opposing quarterback. Stafford mustered only seven fantasy points on Sunday, his worst individual score since 2015 Week 5 (5), letting down the 70.8 percent of ESPN owners who started him.
Dennis Pitta, TE, Baltimore Ravens: He has been a popular pickup in recent weeks, and in fact was started in 50.9 percent of ESPN leagues on Sunday. Pitta delivered those owners only one fantasy point on five targets.
Golden Tate, WR, Detroit Lions: For the fourth consecutive game, Tate was held to four fantasy points or fewer, this time scoring only two on four targets. It's the first time he has had a streak this poor in four consecutive games since 2011 Weeks 8-11 (six fantasy points total).
Brandin Cooks, WR, New Orleans Saints: That's two consecutive quiet games for Cooks, though this one was at least worth three times as much as his Week 3 effort -- well, three (Week 3) times one (Week 4), or three fantasy points. Cooks had 14 targets combined in those games and only five catches and four fantasy points to show for them.
Coby Fleener, TE, Saints: Perhaps even more frustrating than Cooks' quiet game was Fleener's one-point fantasy effort, which came on the heels of his 16-point fantasy outburst in Week 3. Fleener now has three games out of four this season with two fantasy points or fewer, and this one came at a terrible time, considering his ownership percentage in ESPN leagues rose from 51.7 percent in Week 3 to 75.7 percent this week.
Charles Sims, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Started in 55.1 percent of ESPN leagues on Sunday, Sims scored his owners zero fantasy points on 17 total touches. That's an unusually poor score for a player who touched the ball as often as he did, as he's only the ninth player since to score zero or worse in a game with at least 17 touches, with Mike Gillislee (2015 Week 17, 0 points) the most recent to do it.