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.
Andy Dalton - vs. Arizona
We knew heading into the week that Dalton was risky after his team's weak showing in Pittsburgh in Week 4. For the first half, it appeared that Dalton would get us next to nothing. But a solid second half led to a respectable 21.6 fantasy points, good for the QB12 performance before Monday night.
Jimmy Garoppolo - vs. Cleveland
Garoppolo was good on Monday night, but Cleveland's offense didn't require him to do enough for a QB1 performance. Matt Breida's long touchdown run on the team's first play was a sign of things to come, as San Francisco didn't have to lean on Garoppolo in a 31-1 beatdown. Garoppolo finished the week as the QB16.
Jacoby Brissett - at Kansas City
The case for Brissett was that he'd had a volume-driven floor in the likely event that his team was playing catch-up. But Indianapolis played ball-control offense and surprisingly won the game at Kansas City. Therefore, Brissett disappointed with just 13.45 fantasy points, a low-QB2 performance.
This Week's Candidates
Here are the players available in at least 40% of typical leagues who could provide QB1 production this week.
Kirk Cousins - vs. Philadelphia
Heading into Week 5, Philadelphia was allowing 83.9% of its total yardage via the pass, the second-highest ratio in the NFL. They had allowed 7.4 net yards per pass attempt, sixth-most in the league. A matchup against the injury-riddled Jets in Week 5 improved those numbers but only artificially.
Cousins finally demonstrated that he can lead a legitimate Year 2019 NFL passing offense when he surpassed 300 yards in Week 5. And despite the team's excellent run game, they'll need to pass to beat Philadelphia, who - through four weeks - had allowed only 3.2 yards per rush, third-fewest in the league. Cousins should have success against the pass-funnel Philadelphia defense.
Gardner Minshew - vs. New Orleans
Minshew's consistency this season has been remarkable. From Week 1 through Week 4, Minshew registered between 18.85 and 20.32 fantasy points. Then, in Week 5, we finally saw his ceiling, as he put up 30.85 fantasy points on 373 passing yards and 2 touchdowns.
And he has performed this well without being mentioned as a main play in this article yet, meaning he has out-performed the expectations of his matchup in each week. Even though it has "whack-a-mole" potential (i.e. the week we finally play him is the week he finally fails), we don't play hunches here.
Trust the process, and consider Minshew this week against a New Orleans team that has allowed 19.5 fantasy points or more in four of five weeks.
Kyle Allen - at Tampa Bay
There is some worry when starting young quarterbacks on the road, but Allen has a performance of 28.95 fantasy points at Arizona, and Tampa Bay yielded 39.6 to Daniel Jones in Tampa three weeks ago. Even if you discount Jones' rushing points, he still accumulated 24.8 fantasy points through the air, a total we'd gladly take for Allen this week.
Deep Leagues Only
These selections are best saved for deeper leagues and/or 2QB/Superflex leagues.
- Teddy Bridgewater - at Jacksonville: Bridgewater finally showed in Week 5 that he can make plays down the field, and he torched Tampa Bay for 314 yards and 4 touchdowns. If Jalen Ramsey continues to "nurse his back injury" while pushing for a trade, that makes Bridgewater's prospects even better.
- Josh Rosen - vs. Washington: Ideally, you don't need to do this -- even in a two-quarterback league. But Washington is a great matchup for opposing passers, and this week isn't lush with candidates.
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.
- Josh Allen - vs. Miami: He'll be coming off his bye and essentially taking another as Miami comes to town.
- Jacoby Brissett - vs. Houston: The Texans are a shootout waiting to happen on any given week. Brissett also has a bye in Week 6.
- Gardner Minshew - at Cincinnati: The Bengals have a poor secondary and no pass rush to speak of. Even better, they've yielded rushing production to Josh Allen and Kyler Murray recently.
- Daniel Jones - vs. Arizona: Anyone facing the Cardinals is worth a look. One note here, though, is that Arizona will likely have Patrick Peterson back from suspension in this game.
Questions, comments, suggestions, and other feedback on this piece are always welcome via e-mail hester@footballguys.com