RADIO
Dan Fornek's fantasy football quarterback waiver wire pickups before Week 10 of the 2021 NFL season. His free agent QBs to add, stream and stash off waivers.
One word sums up the NFL games that took place in Week 9: ugly. 17 teams failed to surpass 30 points scored on offense, including 10 teams that failed to reach 20 points. Numerous offenses struggled this week and unfortunately, a good number of them are teams we rely on for fantasy scoring. Cincinnati, Dallas, Buffalo, Green Bay, and Kansas City all failed to score three touchdowns on offense and had lackluster days through the air. Add that to Aaron Rodgers missing Week 9 thanks to a positive COVID test and Kyler Murray’s late scratch and it was a rough day for quarterback value. Thankfully, there were some positive performances as well.
Four quarterbacks (Justin Herbert, Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Josh Johnson) were able to surpass 300 passing yards. Additionally, there were five other quarterbacks (Derek Carr, Joe Burrow, Carson Wentz, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen) that were able to throw for more than 250 passing yards. Only three quarterbacks (Josh Johnson, Wentz, and Lamar Jackson) had three passing touchdowns. Only 10 offenses had two or more passing touchdowns on the week. It’ll be nice to move on from an abysmal week of fantasy scoring and look towards Week 10. Four teams will be one bye again this week: the Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants, and the Houston Texans.
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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Top QB Streamers and Adds
Carson Wentz (QB, IND)
Yahoo: 60% rostered
I’ve highlighted Carson Wentz in this space numerous times this season, yet he remains on 40% of waiver wires in fantasy leagues. The Colts’ quarterback has looked like a completely different player in Indianapolis than he did during his last season in Philadelphia, completing 63% of his passes for 2,198 yards and 17 touchdowns with three interceptions in nine games this season. Wentz has six straight games with at least two touchdowns and 17 fantasy points scored. He’s thrown an interception in only two games this season (although he does have four games with a fumble and three games with a fumble lost). Wentz is a high-end QB2 in fantasy this season with QB1 upside thanks to passing volume.
Wentz gets to face a questionable Jaguars secondary coming off a massive win against the Buffalo Bills. He follows that up with a terrible matchup in Week 11 against the stingy Buffalo secondary before having strong matchups against the Buccaneers and Texans heading into his bye week. Wentz should be rostered in all formats and is a worthy streamer in three of the next four games.
Matt Ryan (QB, ATL)
Yahoo: 55% rostered
After a down week against the Panthers in Week 8 (146 passing yards with one touchdown and two interceptions), Matt Ryan got the passing attack back on track against the New Orleans Saints. Ryan threw for 343 yards and two touchdowns and zero interceptions despite being without Calvin Ridley in the passing attack. Ridley won't’ be back for the foreseeable future, but it was encouraging to see Ryan get the offense moving once again without his top receiving threat coming into the year. Ryan now has four games with more than 300-passing yards and six games with multiple touchdowns.
Ryan has a solid four-game stretch coming up, making him a great bench stash with streaming upside heading into the fantasy playoffs. The Falcons get a matchup against a Dallas secondary that just gave up 249 yards and a touchdown to Teddy Bridgewater. The Falcons then get a tough matchup against New England before two games against bad secondaries (Jacksonville and Tampa Bay). Stash Ryan now knowing that he’s an excellent bye-week filler and potential streamer.
Trevor Lawrence (QB, JAX)
Yahoo: 38% rostered
Trevor Lawrence struggled against Buffalo on Sunday, completing just 15 of 26 passes for 118 yards. The lack of production didn’t seem to matter with the Jaguars pulling off a massive upset thanks to a defensive showcase against one of the best offenses in the league. Lawrence hasn’t played great in his last two games since the bye week (356 yards with one touchdown and one interception), but he’s typically got enough passing volume to make him a fantasy viable quarterback most weeks. Week 9 was just the second time this season that Lawrence attempted fewer than 33 passes.
Lawrence will have a fantastic opportunity to air the ball out in Week 10 against the Colts' brutal secondary. Indianapolis is fresh off a game where they allowed a backup and a third-string quarterback to combine for 412 passing yards, 7.9 yards per attempt, and four touchdowns with just one interception. The Colts' offense has been solid this year, which could lead to a shootout scenario for the Jaguars’ offense. Indianapolis is missing both of their starting safeties and have struggled with injuries (and production) on the perimeter all season. Beyond that, Lawrence has solid matchups against the 49ers in Week 11 and Atlanta in Week 12 to give him a multi-week appeal.
2QB Options and Stashes
Trey Lance (QB, SF)
Yahoo: 18% rostered
Jimmy Garoppolo hasn’t been awful from a fantasy perspective the last two weeks, scoring at least 19 points against Chicago and Arizona’s defenses. In his last two games, the 49ers’ quarterback has 648 passing yards and two passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, and one interception. However, the 49ers are currently sitting at 11th place in the NFC playoff standings thanks to not holding a tie break with the Vikings or Seahawks. At some point, the 49ers could decide to get an extended look at the rookie quarterback that they drafted third overall after giving up a haul of draft capital. Lance has struggled as a passer during the preseason and his one start this season, but he has ridiculous rushing upside and would be a fantasy viable starter every week he’s under center.
Taylor Heinicke (QB, WFT)
Yahoo: 9% rostered
By all accounts, Ryan Fitzpatrick isn’t ready to return from his hip injury, which means the Washington quarterback job still belongs to Taylor Heinicke. The fourth-year quarterback has had an up and down season as a fantasy performer, completing 64% of his passes for 1,928 yards and 11 touchdowns with nine interceptions. He’s also added 36 carries for 232 yards and a touchdown. On the season, Heinicke has four games with more than 20 fantasy points and four games with fewer than 12 fantasy points. Thankfully for fantasy managers, Washington’s defense has been terrible, forcing the WFT offense to throw the ball at least 37 times in five of their last seven games.
Coming out of the bye, Heinicke will have a great matchup against a struggling Buccaneers’ secondary. Assuming Fitzpatrick remains out, the WFT passing attack also has favorable matchups against Carolina, Seattle, Las Vegas, Dallas, and Philadelphia on the horizon. Heinicke’s passing volume and rushing ability make him an interesting QB2 in fantasy for as long as he keeps the starting job.
Trevor Siemian (QB, NO)
Yahoo: 5% rostered
Now that Trevor Siemian is the Saints’ starting quarterback, he should be rostered in 2QB leagues. The Saints were forced to throw the ball with Siemian in their last-second loss to the Falcons in Week 9, and he responded by completing 25 of 41 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns. The Saints will have some tough matchups in the coming weeks (Tennessee, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Dallas), meaning plenty of opportunities for Siemian to be forced to put the ball in the air.
Siemian will likely need to lean on Alvin Kamara in the passing game for the remainder of the season, but that should result in high-percentage passes with explosive upside. Siemian is a QB3 with FLEX upside going forward unless he can show some consistency as a passer.
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