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.
Jacoby Brissett - vs. Carolina
Brissett was a high-floor, low-ceiling play, and that ultimately came to fruition. He was submarined by two punt return touchdowns, which took the ball out of the offense's hands. But Brissett contributed a rushing touchdown and ended the week as the QB18.
Ryan Fitzpatrick - vs. Cincinnati and Andy Dalton - at Miami
We've lumped these two together because a shootout in fantasy championship week between two mediocre teams with bad defenses was a Rent-a-Quarterback dream. The quarterbacks combined for 815 passing yards and 8 touchdowns. Fitzpatrick was the QB2 on the week, and Dalton was the QB3. If your fantasy season is over and you used one of these players, it's very likely that you won the big prize. What a way to end the season!
This Week's Candidates
Disclaimer: playing fantasy football in Week 17 is a difficult task. Hopefully, your league has concluded and any Week 17 contests are DFS or "side action" only. But we'll still do our best to provide sound logic to these selections.
Here are the players available in at least 40% of typical leagues who could provide QB1 production this week.
Jacoby Brissett - at Jacksonville
Once again, Brissett makes the list. This time, he gets a Jacksonville team that has been yielding significant production to all positions over the past few weeks. The risk with Brissett is similar to last week where the run game or defense/special teams could limit his ceiling But he's a solid, high-floor play once again.
Drew Lock - vs. Oakland
Remarkably, Oakland still has a chance to make the playoffs. But they've been a poor defense throughout the season. And Lock has started his young career surprisingly well. Lock doesn't have the high floor that Brissett has, but he's still a solid play.
Andy Dalton - vs. Cleveland
Cincinnati has been playing hard over the past few weeks despite being a position where tanking may have benefited them. Cleveland, on the other hand, appears to have packed things in and are going through the motions. The Bengals have the overall top pick locked up, so any thought of changing course is difficult to forecast. Dalton is a low-floor but high-ceiling play this week.
Deep Leagues Only
These selections are best saved for deeper leagues and/or 2QB/Superflex leagues.
Year in Review
Since there's no more regular-season football to look forward to, let's look back at how we fared this season.
Summary
The results were mixed but positive overall.
- 46 quarterback selections
- 23 QB1s (50% success rate)
- 16 top-six weekly finishes
- Average Positional Finish of QB13
Detailed Results
Below is a chart showing the average positional finish of the two-to-three quarterbacks we selected each week (blue). For example, if our three quarterbacks finished QB5, QB10, and QB15, the average for that week is QB10. The chart also shows the best positional finish each week (red).
The blue labels indicate weeks where the average was below 12 (i.e. a QB1 average). The red labels indicate a week where the best finish was a high-end QB1 (QB6 or higher).
Photos provided by USA TODAY Sports
