Should I Start Tua Tagovailoa in Fantasy Week 4?

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missed 7% of his team's offensive snaps in Week 3 after a funky injury that left him wobbling off the field. In what originally looked like a concussion, the Dolphins maintained this was simply a back issue.

Tua managed a pair of limited practices ahead of Thursday Night Football's clash against the Cincinnati Bengals and enters the week as officially "questionable" on the injury report.

Either way, fantasy managers are curious if Tua should be slotted into starting lineups for Week 4.

Tua Tagovailoa Injury Update

The news on Thursday morning was positive. NFL insider Tom Pelissero reported Tua is expected to play tonight against the Bengals, "barring a setback."

Tua Tagovailoa Fantasy Outlook

The major issue clouding over Tua's Week 4 fantasy outlook is this injury, much more than the opponent he's facing. It's hard to ignore the images of the young quarterback wobbling off the field just five days ago. While Tua may start, how many QB hits until he's back in a similar situation and forced to sit?

That's a gamble fantasy managers will have to take.

The Bengals are a tough read, defensively. They've allowed the third-fewest fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks and the ninth-fewest opponent points. But we have to consider the opponents. This included backup Cooper Rush and the Cowboys, a struggling Mitch Trubisky, and Joe Flacco and the New York Jets.

Cincinnati's DVOA metric is a much better indicator. The Bengals rank 8th in Football Outsiders' pass-defense DVOA metric and seventh overall.

Simply based on the opponents faced, it's best to operate like the Bengals' defense rates somewhere in the middle of these two figures.

Should I Start Tua Tagovailoa in Fantasy Week 4?

Fantasy managers cannot afford to sit Tua in Week 4. There's an inherent risk involved because of the nature of his injury, but Tua enters the week as QB10 in The Duel's Week 4 PPR rankings and QB9 in our Rest of Season ranks.

Miami's offense has been a machine, ranking 8th in total points, 13th in yards, 4th in passing yards and 3rd in passing TDs. It's a small gamble with the injury, but start Tua with confidence in Week 4 because of the massive upside.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.