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, the article will be edited. Any post-publication edits will be noted.
Last Week's Results
Let's take a look at how last week's recommendations fared.
Matthew Stafford - vs. N.Y. Giants
Stafford is having a renaissance season, as evidenced by the fact that his 342 yards and 3 touchdowns last week were his third-best fantasy output of the year. Even though it wasn't his biggest game of the year, the QB6 performance (pending Monday night) is exactly what we were looking for.
Teddy Bridgewater - vs. Arizona
Bridgewater didn't play with the weekend news that Drew Brees would return to the starting lineup. But if you had to scramble to the "Deep Leagues Only" section of last week's column, you fared well. Derek Carr, Ryan Tannehill, and Daniel Jones averaged 267 passing yards, 3.3 touchdowns, and 27 fantasy points among them, which was good enough for finishes of QB9, QB12, and QB1 respectively.
Mason Rudolph - vs. Tennessee
Rudolph and his teammates started dreadfully against Miami, but they righted the ship (and benefited from an injury to Xavien Howard) to the tune of 255 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rudolph finished as the QB16 on the week.
This Week's Candidates
Here are the players available in at least 40% of typical leagues who could provide QB1 production this week.
Derek Carr - vs. Detroit (Team Total: 24.5)
Detroit has allowed at least 21 fantasy points in six of seven games this season. In the last two weeks, they have allowed 332 yards and 4 touchdowns to Kirk Cousins and 337 yards and 4 touchdowns to Daniel Jones. And Carr has been playing better lately as well, averaging 289 passing yards and 2.5 touchdowns over his past two games.
Gardner Minshew - vs. Houston (Team Total: 22.5)
Divisional matchups can be tricky, but Houston is a team we shouldn't be afraid to target. They have allowed at least three passing touchdowns in four straight games. The Week 5 and Week 6 results aren't surprising since they came at the hands of Matt Ryan and Patrick Mahomes II, respectively. But Houston showed that they can be beaten by elite and pedestrian quarterbacks alike when they yielded seven combined touchdowns to Jacoby Brissett and Derek Carr in their last two contests.
October 30 Update: We're moving Garoppolo down due to the lack of upside in this matchup. San Francisco should control this game, leaving Garoppolo without a ceiling in a run-heavy game.
Jimmy Garoppolo - at Arizona (Team Total: 26.5)
Garoppolo barely qualifies for the article as he's rostered in 57% of leagues. But if he's available, he's the preferred an option this week for two reasons:
- He gets a matchup against a reeling (and bad) Arizona team allowing 28.5 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks most in the NFL.
- This week is a graveyard for Rent-a-Quarterback options.
Deep Leagues Only
These selections are best saved for deeper leagues and/or 2QB/Superflex leagues.
- Sam Darnold - at Miami (Team Total: 23.25): The Jets offense has been brutal, but Miami's defense has been worse.
- Mitchell Trubisky - at Philadelphia (Team Total: 19.25): Trubisky has been pretty bad himself, but Philadelphia's pass funnel defense and Trubisky's rushing ability should provide a decent floor.
Looking Ahead
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.
- Mitchell Trubisky - vs. Detroit
- Daniel Jones - at N.Y. Jets
- Ryan Tannehill - vs. Kansas City
Questions, comments, suggestions, and other feedback on this piece are always welcome via e-mail hester@footballguys.com
