Kyle Allen (QB, CAR) - Week 8 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 2-QB Leagues

OWNED IN: 8% of leagues

ANALYSIS: I have to confess that I love bye weeks. Actually, what I like the most is not the fact of teams not playing for a weekend, but rather the moment when they are ready to come back. A lot of players are dropped during their byes and most of the time people don’t remember about them before they come back and get ready for their next game. Enter Kyle Allen, one of the poster boys of this glitched behavior from fantasy owners entering Week 8.

Before you get too high on Allen, let me tell you two things: first, that Allen’s days as a starter are (or at least should be) counted with Cam Newton closer and closer to getting back to the no. 1 role, and second that Allen faces a stout 49ers Defense this weekend. None of that should keep you from picking him from waivers if you happen to play in a deep or 2QB league, though. No one expected Allen to keep up with the level he showed in his 2019 debut (29.0 fantasy points in Week 3), but he’s turned out to be a moderately rosterable and playable quarterback so far. He didn’t do much for fantasy GMs in Weeks 4 and 5 (11.6 and 13.5 points respectively), but he was still able to pass for 232 and 181 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.

In his last game in Week 7 against Tampa Bay in London, Allen went back to higher heights, passing for 227 yards on 20-of-32 completions for two touchdowns. He also threw the ball further (7.1 yards per attempt) than since Week 3 and had four passes of 20-plus yards downfield (season-highest for him). Yes, San Francisco his on a three-game run of limiting quarterbacks to five fantasy points at most, but in Week 3 they allowed rookie Mason Rudolph to hang 23.7 points on them to the tune of 311 yards and two touchdowns.

I acknowledge you have to believe in Allen and trust him for this weekend’s game. The Niners are no joke, that’s the reality right now, but here aren’t many better players available for free in more than nine out of ten leagues out there. Christian McCaffrey will probably rebound from a bad last game and that will keep San Francisco’s defense honest against both the pass and the run, potentially benefiting Allen’s upside. Don’t count on 30 points from the sophomore this weekend, that’d be hard, but consider him a better option to put on your second QB-slot than most others out there.