Week 5 offers multiple quarterbacks to change the landscape for their offenses. Which are you buying or fading for DFS stacking or shifting the outlook for their team's weapons positively or negatively?
Phil Alexander
- Chase Daniel - The London game between Oakland and Chicago is implied for a measly 41.5 points. Chicago's defense (in the Khalil Mack revenge spot) is the only high exposure play. But don't let Daniel put you off Allen Robinson, who remains affordably priced in a great matchup. Robinson has accounted for 25% of the Bears' targets and 36% of their air yards this season -- true alpha-receiver usage through four games.
- Dwayne Haskins - Haskins didn't look ready against one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL last week. There are zero reasons to look his way in a matchup against New England. Remove all Redskins from your player pool, with the possible exception of Chris Thompson.
- Matt Barkley - Barkley has occasionally been productive in spot start duty throughout his career. There isn't much to love about the Bills going on the road to Tennesee but some deep connections to John Brown can't be dismissed out of hand. Out of these three options, he's the only one worth considering in large-field tournaments.
Justin Bonnema
I won’t be chasing Chase Daniel’s affordable salary but I’m not afraid to stick with Robinson here. I also like David Montgomery quite a lot in this matchup. We saw last week that if the Bears can build a lead, they’ll ride him. He handled 11 carries in the fourth quarter against the Vikings and could end up with 20+ touches against the Raiders as the Bears lean on defense while hiding their quarterback.
BJ VanderWoude
My first fantasy-related thought when Mitch Trubisky was knocked out of the game on Sunday was” Well, the Bears wide receivers just got their ceiling back.” I don’t think Chase Daniel has top-five upside among quarterbacks, but anything after that is certainly within his range of outcomes. All he did was come in and complete 72% of his passes for 195 yards and a touchdown while leading the Bears to a win over Minnesota. He and Allen Robinson (7/77 on seven targets) had obvious chemistry from the jump and both could have had much bigger games had the Bears not slowed the pace of their offense and sat on the ball in the second half. Daniels is a seasoned veteran with great accuracy and understands how to read defenses. This week he gets a Raiders defense ranked 22nd against opposing quarterbacks, and are giving up 287 passing yards and 2.25 passing touchdowns per game. The Raiders have been a tough matchup for opposing running backs, so a 275+/2 type game is well within reason for Daniel. With his price being so affordable across the industry, Daniel has a great chance of producing at a level that makes him both a viable cash game and GPP option. I am definitely buying Daniel/Robinson stacks for Sunday's game.
In terms of long term projections, Matt Barkley has the potential to settle into a Chase Daniel-light type career. That is to say, he looks much better as your backup quarterback with a clipboard in hand then he does with a helmet on and the playbook on his wrist. The difference between the two is that Daniel has mastered the art of being an efficient quarterback who won’t lose you the game, but you can’t really count on him going out and winning the game for you either. Barkley has game-manager written all over him, which can work over short periods of time if your team has skill position players who can create yards after the catch and make plays in the open field. That is something the Bills don’t have, so while their defense is capable of keeping games close and allowing their offense to do just enough to win them games, Barkley is not a guy I have any confidence in for fantasy purposes. I am selling.
James Brimacombe
I really want no part of Chase Daniel, Dwayne Haskins, or Matt Barkley this week but if I was forced to choose one I would probably go with Daniel. The main reason I like Daniel would be to pair him with Allen Robinson in a GPP and hope the duo account for all the scoring on offense. Haskins against the Patriots makes me want to pay up for the Patriots defense just hoping for sacks and turnovers galore. Barkley against the Titans might make some sense but it feels like it could be a low scoring defensive battle but a Barkley to John Brown stack might be worth a shot in a tournament.
Jason Wood
It's hard to feel good about any of these plays, particularly this week. In my initial builds, I'm favoring paying up for quarterback this week for several reasons. One, last week was an uncharacteristically bad week for passers and recency bias will tamp down some ownerships.
If I had to pick from this list, I echo my colleagues' sentiment that Chase Daniel is the play. The Raiders defense is suspect, and Daniel has a lot of years in Nagy/Reid's system.
Dan Hindery
I will agree with what seems to be the majority and say that I’m not particularly interested in any Bills or Redskins in tough matchups.
As for the Bears, I don’t think Chase Daniel is going to have much of an impact positive or negative on the other Bears skill position players. He should be able to play at a level similar to that of Mitch Trubisky. In a decent matchup, the Bears skill position players are in play as cap-saving options. Javon Wims is especially intriguing at just $3,500 if Taylor Gabriel misses another game. He played 94% of the snaps last week and caught 4-of-5 targets. Wims has consistently flashed in preseason whenever given the opportunity. David Montgomery also carries an attractive price tag. Mike Davis has been completely phased out over the past two weeks, which has left Montgomery to play almost 70% of the snaps. Against a tough Minnesota defense, Montgomery carried 21 times and was targeted 5 times. With that type of workload, he can do damage against the Raiders.
Justin Howe
Jason has it right: this is a pay-up week at quarterback. Even if I set 100+ lineups, I don’t think I’d have more than 5% exposure to anyone cheaper than, say, Andy Dalton. I guess Dwayne Haskins has some mild appeal if you’re putting together a wide portfolio. The matchup is daunting, but his pace and volume should be high. He could throw 45 passes - not necessarily quality ones, but that’s volume you’d like to have some shares of. Any time you can get attempts at only $100 apiece, you consider it. And if that does happen, there’s a good chance it will be concentrated down to only a couple of guys. We know Bill Belichick won’t let them have their only dynamic receiver, Terry McLaurin, if he even suits up. Chris Thompson is attractive here as the Redskins almost certainly spend the day chasing.