Late-round quarterback drafter? Had an injury to your starter? In need of a bye-week replacement? In this article, you'll find a couple of quarterback options likely available in most leagues (we'll use players rostered in fewer than 60% of Yahoo leagues) who could provide some punch at the quarterback position.
Unless most teams in your league carry a backup quarterback, there should be plenty of starting quarterbacks on your waiver wire each week. Instead of starting a low-end QB1 facing an elite secondary, look to the waiver wire and play the matchups. Ideally, a player who appears in this space gets hot and becomes an every-week starter. If not, throw him back to the wire and come back here next week. Quarterback is one of the most predictable positions in fantasy football. Simply by using matchups, fantasy GMs can start a mid-to-high QB1 every week by using the waiver wire.
Disclaimer: This column will typically be written on Monday evenings. Should any relevant events occur on Monday Night Football that do not make it into the article, it will be edited after publishing. Any post-publication edits will be noted.
Last Week's Results
Week 1 was a disaster, especially if we don't get to take credit for having Matthew Stafford as a deeper play. Hopefully, you couldn't stomach the players recommended and went with Stafford instead. While last week was terrible, there are a couple of important factors to consider about early season Rent-a-Quarterback:
- It's typically not necessary since most people draft a quarterback (or two) with either high upside or an easy early-season schedule. Lamar Jackson and Dak Prescott fit the bill for both of those categories, which is why they were discussed frequently in the preseason, notably here.
- Teams often draft two or more quarterbacks and then settle on one during the year as bye weeks and injuries increase the need at other positions on the roster. This makes the pool shallower for early-season "renting."
- Without multiple weeks of data, we're flying somewhat blind in terms of which matchups are the juiciest.
These may seem like excuses, but they're realities. The final point above was proven last season when the average positional finish of the quarterbacks in this column broke down as follows:
- Weeks 1-5: QB16.4 (only one week better than a QB15 average)
- Weeks 6-16: QB 12.5 (only two weeks worse than a QB13 average)
Jacoby Brissett - at L.A. Chargers
Brissett only threw for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he was the bright spot of the week.
Jimmy Garoppolo - at Tampa Bay
This was a bet on Kyle Shanahan, and Garoppolo made it a terrible decision. A lack of offensive continuity attributable to two different running backs leaving the game can be partially blamed, but we've done enough excuse-making here.
This Week's Candidates
Here are the players available in at least 40% of typical leagues who could provide QB1 production this week.
Josh Allen - at N.Y. Giants
The concern here is that the Giants are so bad that Buffalo can control the clock and not let Allen do his "frantic-scramble-followed-by-chucking-it-downfield" thing. But the same could be said of last week's on-paper snoozer at the Jets, and Allen still finished Sunday's games as the QB11. Once again, his legs are adding value. Allen's 9.8 rushing fantasy points were most among pre-Monday quarterbacks in Week 1.
Derek Carr - vs. Kansas City
Carr is the reason for the "subject to change" label for Darnold above. He hasn't played a game as of this writing, and you may have heard that his receiving corps has dramatically changed in recent days. 9/10/19 edit: Carr didn't end up a top fantasy option but performed admirably Monday night, going 22-26 for 259 yards. He's been moved up above Darnold because the matchup against Kansas City should be voluminous. And Kansas City just allowed a sixth-round rookie who entered mid-game to complete 88% of his passes against them at an 11 yards per attempt clip (22-25 for 247 yards and 2 touchdowns).
9/10/19 Edit: We're adding a third player here because not including him anywhere in the first run was purely an oversight. Luckily, we're still well ahead of waivers in most leagues.
Andy Dalton - vs. San Francisco
Dalton set a career high in passing yards despite being without A.J. Green and multiple offensive linemen. Coaching matters, folks, and Cincinnati has an offensive-minded head coach in Zac Taylor. Cincinnati also gets a road-weary San Francisco team who is staying the week in Ohio after a Week 1 victory in Tampa.
Deep Leagues Only
These selections are best saved for deeper leagues and/or 2QB/Superflex leagues.
- Matthew Stafford - vs. L.A. Chargers: Stafford being here instead of above may bite us again. But this week, the opposing defense is better, and the play volume should be lower.
- Sam Darnold - vs. Cleveland: 9/10/19 edit: with Carr's Monday night performance, he's ahead of Darnold, who's a deep league play now.
- Case Keenum - vs. Dallas: He's the ultimate Rent-a-Quarterback whack-a-mole. But if Dallas' offense continues to play wide open, its defense may continue allowing 300 or more yards to average-at-best passers.
Looking Ahead
9/10/19 edit: this section has changed from this morning's original publication because we analyzed and listed Week 4 opponents instead of Week 3. Still knocking off the early-season rust!
If others in your league are also playing the "Rent-a-Quarterback" game, it might be wise to get a jump on next week's potential choices.
- Matthew Stafford - at Philadelphia: Perhaps we should have just drafted him. He gets a home game vs. Kansas City in Week 4 as well.
- Josh Allen - vs. Cincinnati: This is even more reason he should be right up there with Stafford as Priority No. 1 at quarterback this week.
- Mitchell Trubisky - at Washington: As of Tuesday morning, he's 64% rostered. But if he's out there, he's worth a look as improvement should be coming.
Questions, comments, suggestions, and other feedback on this piece are always welcome via e-mail hester@footballguys.com
