The Shot Caller’s Report strives to identify players that are borderline fantasy plays and clarify whether they should be started or benched. Rather than telling you to start Peyton Manning and bench Matt Leinart, the Report looks at those “stuck in the middle” guys and evaluates if they will help your team win.

Week Four is over and all the experts, prognosticators, and analysts have a pretty solid idea of the good teams, the bad players, and the ugly match ups. Or, at least they should. Week One and Two are tough because training camp and preseason really don’t tell us much, even though we nitpick through each pretend game, looking for those insights and nuggets that will help us do our jobs. Weeks Three and Four see everything start falling into place. There will still be surprises and upsets, but they will be far less frequent. No longer is there any excuse for having your bench outscore your starters. You’ve seen everyone play and know who your best players are. Yet some of those lineup decisions are more complicated than they seem…

Quarterbacks

Must Start:

Matt Schaub v. MIA: Many of my “Must Starts” from previous articles have reached the point of being weekly starts. Jon Kitna is a perfect example of a quarterback that many expected to be middling and has turned into an obvious start. Schaub is the exact opposite: a guy I didn’t think could get the job done in Houston. Now I’m telling you to start him while missing his top two receivers. Why? He managed to post decent numbers last week and he will be able to so again against a horrible Miami defense. Remember when the Dolphin defense was feared? Not so much anymore.

Brett Favre v. CHI: Favre is making his way up everyone’s rankings. This weekend he should be in your top three at the quarterback position. The Chicago secondary is having some serious issues as is most of that team. Favre has been breaking records, seemingly on a weekly basis, and has thrown for eight touchdowns over the last three games. Green Bay is 4-0 with no running game. Who would have thunk it? When a team has three viable fantasy receivers, their quarterback has to be in your starting lineup, even if his name wasn’t Favre.

Vince Young v. ATL: He isn’t as good as the hype makes him out to be, at least for fantasy purposes. Four touchdowns over his first three games are pretty average. Playing the Falcons coming out of a bye week will help bolster his numbers. He’s not a top guy yet, but you won’t regret putting him into your lineup. Atlanta just doesn’t have the defensive talent to corral Young’s athleticism.

Jason Campbell v. DET: Marc Bulger has been put out of his misery for at least a couple weeks, leaving owners scrambling for a replacement. If that is you and the quarterbacks available are pretty picked over, Campbell might be able to help. Someone on the team needs to step up if Santana Moss can’t go, but Campbell has looked better than expected. He is due for a good game and, right on cue, Detroit comes to town. No one should bench Tom Brady for Campbell, but he will come through for some QB-depleted team.

Jay Cutler v. SD: It seems like I’ve been bashing Cutler for most of the season and his numbers have been unimpressive so far, but that changes today. I am still not in love with his game and most weeks he is a middling option. However, did you know that San Diego is tied for third worst in passing touchdowns allowed? It is a lot easier to beat the Bolts through the air than on the ground. Even if Javon Walker is unable to suit up, Cutler will have an above average day.

Grab A Clipboard:

Chad Pennington @ NYG: Recommending owners bench a quarterback playing the Giants runs against all my instincts. Anyone who watched Pennington’s game against the hapless Bills last week knows why it must be done. He had his best fantasy performance of the season and still made poor decisions and displayed a complete lack of arm strength. The Giants’ defense isn’t much worse than the Bills’ while the Giants are much more adept at rushing the passer; something Pennington has no hope of eluding.

Joey Harrington @ TEN: He had a solid outing last week, with 223 yards and two touchdowns. Tennessee is a bit tougher to move the ball against, having allowed only a pair of passing touchdowns this season. While Byron Leftwich may not get into the game anytime soon, Harrington shouldn’t be starting for your team either. Keep him warming the bench or, even better, setting up camp on the waiver wire. Are you ever going to trust this guy to lead your team to victory? Remember, this is Joey Harrington we are talking about.

David Garrard @ KC: Garrard is playing well enough to help the Jaguars win, but not fantasy teams. He is playing against the stingy Kansas City defense and, even though the Chiefs’ offense is sputtering, their defense is doing a good job keeping opposing receivers out of the end zone. I still don’t think Garrard is the guy to lead Jacksonville to victory. Don’t be surprised if his lack of passing ability and weak receiver corps start to catch up to him soon.

Derek Anderson @ NE: The Brady Quinn watch has been temporarily called off while Cleveland figures out what it has in Anderson. Excluding the obvious anomaly of the Cincinnati game, Anderson’s best game was last week’s 204 yard, two TD, one interception effort against a fading Baltimore defense. The Patriots will chase, confuse, and destroy Anderson this week without even trying. It has done the same thing to much better quarterbacks.

Damon Huard v. JAX: The emergence of Dwayne Bowe has given hope to those few and pitiful Huard owners. Don’t let Huard’s 190 yards and two scores in the second half last week fool you. Jacksonville has a pretty darn good defense and he won’t be able to do much damage against it. His improvement is helping Larry Johnson a tiny bit as opposing safeties move a little bit off the line of scrimmage. But they haven’t moved all that much yet.

Running Backs