Quarterback Waiver Wire Pickups and Streamers - Week 13

December 2, 2020

Quarterback waiver wire pickups and streamers for Week 13 of the fantasy football season. Dan Fornek recommends QB free agents to consider adding off waivers.

Thanks to a rash of COVID positives and close contacts, Week 12 was interesting from a fantasy perspective. There were some fantastic performances this Week. Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady combined for over 800 passing yards and six touchdowns in their offensive showcase. Deshaun Watson threw for 318 yards and four touchdowns back on Thursday. Justin Herbert continued his explosive season, throwing for another 316 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately, there were plenty of bad performances this week as well.

10 starting quarterbacks passed for less than 200 yards this week, including big names like Matt Ryan, Kyler Murray, and Josh Allen. Ryan Tannehill, Derek Carr, and Andy Dalton also struggled throwing the ball and failed to reach 225 passing yards. The worst performance came from a spot start by Kendall Hinton in Denver thanks to a positive test and contact tracing, a 1-for-9 passing performance for 13 yards and two interceptions. Let's look ahead to better days in Week 13 as we prepare for the fantasy playoffs.

In this article, I will be focusing on players who are under 65% rostered in fantasy leagues while adding a couple of deep sleepers for two-quarterback leagues (less than 20% rostered).

Top QB Streamers and Adds

Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders

Yahoo: 58% rostered

Don’t let one bad game against the Falcons scare you off if you need a big week to lock yourself into the fantasy playoffs (assuming they start in Week 14). Carr was brutal against a soft Atlanta secondary, completing 22 of 34 passes for 215 yards and an intercept in what should have been a slam dunk matchup. Carr has been up and down lately from a yardage standpoint, but he was at least getting the ball into the endzone with 8 touchdown passes since Week 6.

Carr has one more game with excellent streaming upside on the horizon against the Jets. The Jets came into Week 12 surrendering 2,950 passing yards and 19 touchdowns while generating just seven interceptions. They proceeded to give up 257 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions against the Ryan Fitzpatrick led Dolphins.

Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings

Yahoo: 40% rostered 

Kirk Cousins is on an absolute tear, throwing for over 300 yards and three touchdowns with zero interceptions in back to back games against Dallas and Carolina. Cousins was forced to air it out without Adam Thielen and Irv Smith Jr. against Carolina thanks to a big deficit most of the game and he delivered. Since Week 8, Cousins has thrown for 11 touchdowns and just one interception. In that time he has over 30 passing attempts in three games.

Cousins has another excellent matchup in Week 13 against the Jaguars young secondary. Jacksonville allowed the run first Browns offense to accumulate 258 yards and two touchdowns in a losing effort. Coming into Week 12, Jacksonville was the third-worst defense in fantasy football, allowing 22.3 points per week to the position. Jacksonville just doesn’t generate turnovers, getting just eight interceptions on the year. Cousins could thrive yet again given his penchant for safe throws and the potential of all his weapons returning in the passing game.

Philip Rivers, Indianapolis Colts

Yahoo: 33% rostered

Philip Rivers has been playing some good football lately for the Colts. River threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns with an interception in a 45-26 loss to the Titans. In his last two games, Rivers has thrown for 583 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions. Yes, the veteran signal-caller has a knack for turning the ball over but with the Colts struggling lately on defense he has been forced to put the ball in the air with solid results. Rivers has thrown the ball at least 33 times in eight of 11 games this season.

Rivers has an excellent schedule unfolding entering and through the first two weeks of the fantasy playoffs. Rivers will lead off with a divisional game against a Texans secondary that has only three interceptions in 11 games this year. In the following weeks, Rivers will have a chance against an exploitable Raiders defense before finishing this light stretch with a rematch against the Texans.

2QB League Options and Stashes

Tua Tagovailoa or Ryan Fitzpatrick, Miami Dolphins

Yahoo: 25% rostered (Tua) 20% rostered (Fitzpatrick)

Assuming Tua is healthy, he is the starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins (if Tua is still injured throughout the week, Ryan Fitzpatrick is only 20% rostered). Tua has had mixed results so far in his role as a starter for Miami. He struggled mightily in his first and fourth start (176 yards and two touchdowns against the Rams and Broncos) with two strong games in the middle (714 yards and four touchdowns against the Cardinals and Chargers). Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick played well against the Jets in Week 12, throwing for 257 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He had an excellent stretch from Weeks 2 through 6 earlier this season, throwing for 1,344 yards and 10 touchdowns with just four interceptions in five games.

Regardless of the starter, the Dolphins’ quarterback will have an excellent chance to thrive in Week 13. Miami will host the Cincinnati Bengals, a defense that allowed Daniel Jones and Colt McCoy to combine to throw for 244 yards passing last week. The Bengals came into Week 12 allowing 19.1 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks thanks to a 22 to nine touchdown to interception ratio.

Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles

Yahoo: 3% rostered

This is purely a speculative add. Reports have come out saying that the Eagles plan on giving Jalen Hurts a chance during the game to run some offensive drives as the quarterback. If Carson Wentz struggles against one of the worst secondaries in football in the Seattle Seahawks, then there remains a chance for Hurts to get more plays down the stretch. Given Wentz’s injury history, you also can’t discount him missing time as the year continues given the makeshift Eagles offensive line and the number of hits he has taken this season.

Hurts was drafted by the Eagles with the 53rd pick last season after a prolific college career. In four seasons between Alabama and Oklahoma, Hurts threw for 9,477 yards (9.1 yards per attempt). Hurts was very accurate in that time, completing 65.1% of his passes over his collegiate career. He threw for 80 passing touchdowns with just 20 interceptions in his 56 career starts. Hurts also has much more rushing upside than incumbent starter Carson Wentz. Hurts ran for 3,274 yards (5.3 per carry) and 43 touchdowns in his career, including 20 his last season as an Oklahoma Sooner.

After the Seahawks, the Eagles are at the Packers, home against the Saints, at the Cardinals, at the Cowboys, before finishing off the season at home against Washington. If you find yourself with a strong QB1 and an empty bench spot, you may want to consider stashing Hurts. He will offer an intriguing dual-threat upside for a team that has weapons to accentuate his strengths.

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