RADIO
Dan Fornek's fantasy football quarterback waiver wire pickups before Week 7 of the 2021 NFL season. His free agent QBs to add, stream and stash off waivers.
The quarterback position struggled to provide much upside during Week 6, which unfortunately coincided with the first round of bye weeks in 2021. On the positive side, Dak Prescott was able to give us a rare 400-yard passing day in his overtime win against the New England Patriots. Patrick Mahomes (397 yards) just missed the mark as well. Unfortunately, just six quarterbacks were able to surpass 300-passing yards in Week 6. Two quarterbacks gave us four passing touchdowns (Matthew Stafford and Kyler Murray), but only four other quarterbacks had three touchdowns through the air.
Even worse, there will be a greater number of byes in Week 6 with a significant impact on the quarterback position. Josh Allen, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, and Ben Roethlisberger will all be out of lineups thanks to their teams having a week off. It is becoming more important than ever to navigate the bye weeks, and hopefully, this article will give you the tools you need to get a head start on the rest of your league mates during a tough week.
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).
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Quarterbacks to Stream and Add for Week 7
Matt Ryan (QB, ATL)
Yahoo: 55% rostered
A Week 6 bye may cause people to forget the strong play of Matt Ryan the last few weeks. From Weeks 3 to 6, Ryan completed 85 of 123 pass attempts (69%) for 868 yards and eight touchdowns with zero interceptions. Ryan even threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns in Week 5 without Calvin Ridley in the lineup. Ryan has attempted at least 35 passes in every game this season and has surpassed 275 passing yards on three different occasions. He also has just one game this season with an interception (although he did throw three in that game).
Ryan has a nice stretch coming out of the bye week against the Dolphins (1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns surrendered to quarterbacks in six games) and Carolina in his next two weeks, so he has multi-week streaming upside.
Trevor Lawrence (QB, JAX)
Yahoo: 50% rostered
Trevor Lawrence will be on bye in Week 7 but he is starting to get hot and worth stashing on your bench, especially if your quarterback hasn’t hit his bye week yet. Lawrence had his third consecutive game (and fourth of the season) with at least 15 fantasy points in Week 6 against the Dolphins. Lawrence completed 25 of 41 passes for 319 yards and a touchdown in that game. Lawrence isn’t throwing a ton of touchdowns, but he has shown a consistent rushing ability that helps offset the lack of touchdown production (at least 20 yards in four of five games and two rushing touchdowns on the season). Lawrence could start to get hot now that he is a third of the way through his rookie season, giving him big upside.
The Jaguars get a great matchup against the Seahawks his first game out of the bye, followed up with a tough game against the Bills. After that, he gets a sneaky good matchup against Indianapolis followed by smash spots against the 49ers and the Falcons’ anemic secondaries.
Carson Wentz (QB, IND)
Yahoo: 35% rostered
Carson Wentz is starting to get comfortable in Indianapolis and is putting up solid fantasy production. In his last three games against the Dolphins, Ravens, and Texans, Wentz has completed 60 of 87 passes for 853 yards and six touchdowns. Wentz isn't putting up flashy numbers (just two games with over 250 passing yards), but he has only thrown one interception on the season, giving him a safe weekly floor. Wentz finally showed a willingness to take deep shots against the Texans, targeting both Parris Campbell and T.Y. Hilton deep several times during the game.
Wentz has a fantastic stretch of defenses before his bye in Week 14. The Colts will see just one good secondary during that time (Buffalo in Week 11) against six exploitable matchups (San Francisco, Tennessee, the New York Jets, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, and Houston again). It may not feel great adding him given how his tenure in Philadelphia ended, but Wentz is in a prime position to help fantasy teams for the first time in a while.
2QB Options and Waiver Wire Stashes
Mac Jones (QB, NE)
Yahoo: 17% rostered
Mac Jones continues to put together a solid rookie season. Jones completed 15 of 21 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns and one interception in an overtime loss to the Cowboys in Week 6. It was the first time this season Jones attempted fewer than 30 passes in a game, but the second multi-touchdown performance in the last three weeks. Jones isn’t the flashiest player and doesn’t offer any rushing upside, but he is entrenched as the starter on an offense that isn’t afraid to let him throw the ball.
Jones doesn’t have his bye week until Week 14 and gets four strong matchups during that stretch (Week 7 against the Jets, Week 9 at Carolina, Week 11 at Atlanta, and Week 12 against Tennessee). Jones has shown the ability to push the ball downfield at numerous points throughout the season, giving him a solid floor if you find yourself in a pinch over the next few weeks.
Tua Tagovailoa (QB, MIA)
Yahoo: 17% rostered
The Dolphins got Tua Tagovailoa back in Week 7 and immediately showed no reservations about putting the ball in his hands during a surprising loss to Jacksonville in London. Tua completed 33 of 47 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in his first start since Week 2. He also added three carries for 22 yards in the game. Tua has completed just two games this season, but he scored at least 16 fantasy points in each of them, giving him interesting upside. It certainly helps that the Dolphins’ defense is massively underperforming, forcing the offense into shootout situations each week. Tua won’t have Will Fuller for a while, but he has an established connection with tight-end Mike Gesicki and rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. DeVante Parker should hopefully be back next week, giving Tua another weapon in the passing attack.
The Dolphins have a fantastic matchup in Week 7 against the Falcons secondary before a treacherous matchup against the Bills in Week 8. Tua will be streamable once again in Week 9 against Houston. Regardless, Tua should have plenty of opportunities to put the ball in the air until the Dolphins can figure out how to stop opposing offenses.
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