RADIO
A lot of NFL teams are turning to their backup quarterbacks, and with poor play and bye weeks many fantasy owners may follow suit heading into Week 8.
Four teams are on bye this week, with Matt Ryan and Philip Rivers the two most notable quarterbacks on bye. Lesser owned options Dak Prescott and Marcus Mariota also has a bye week. Owners of Cam Newton (vs. BAL), Russell Wilson (@ DET), Carson Wentz (@ JAX), and Drew Brees (@ MIN) all may want to think twice before deploying their regular quarterback because of tough matchups.
In standard one-quarterback leagues, the waiver wire is usually pretty rich with talent at the position, unless the league is full of owners that like to hold backup quarterbacks. In two-quarterback leagues, nearly every starter is rostered and the waiver wire tends to be quite barren for quality arms. That’s why a few quarterbacks owned in 15% of leagues or less have been included, so even owners in deep leagues have someone to consider. Ownership is based on Yahoo leagues and is current as of October 21.
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Week 8 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks
Mitch Trubisky CHI vs. New York Jets – 52% Owned
Trubisky’s ownership has been slowly rising after his six touchdown performance back in Week 4. He was about 15% owned at the time of that game, and going into this week he finally broke 50%. Trubisky is averaging more than 30 points per game since his Week 4 performance, so he is backing that career day up nicely. His 33 point performance in Week 7 was aided big time by Trubisky’s legs. He rushed for 81 yards and a touchdown on six carries. While he won’t run that often every week, Trubisky has put up at least 47 yards on the ground over his last three games. He is a legitimate threat on the ground and can add in a few points with his legs in most weeks.
Trubisky also gets a great matchup in Week 8 against the Jets. The Jets pass defense has fallen to pieces over the past few weeks. Over their last four games, the Jets are allowing 315.75 passing yards per game. If available Trubisky should be the number one streaming option on waivers this week. The schedule for Trubisky gets pretty tough after this game. He faces Buffalo, Detroit, Minnesota, and Detroit again in his four games following Week 8. He might just be a one-week option in standard leagues. He has played well enough to gain some trust from fantasy owners, but with good options often available on waivers in standard leagues owners may not need to risk using him against good defenses.
Alex Smith – WAS @ New York Giants – 45% Owned
Smith is coming off another disappointing game this week, putting up just 12.7 points in standard scoring leagues. He threw for just 178 yards and a touchdown against the Cowboys. He isn’t in a great spot in Week 8 either, taking on the New York Giants, who are allowing 236.3 yards passing per game heading into Monday Night Football. Smith’s ownership will probably go down after waivers clear. The reason to add him is in anticipation of Washington’s upcoming schedule after Week 8.
After Week 8 Washington gets back-to-back great matchups against Atlanta and Tampa Bay. With Smith likely excised from the roster of fantasy owners or ignored on waivers he can most likely be added for free after waivers run. Then we can sit on him for a week and wait for those awful, awful NFC South defenses to come up on the schedule. There might be a rush to add him heading into Week 9, but we can easily beat that rush this week by picking up the quarterback that faces possibly the two worst pass defenses in the NFL early.
Case Keenum – DEN @ Kansas City Chiefs – 20% Owned
Keenum didn’t have to do much this week in a blowout win over Arizona, but prior to that game Keenum put up two straight 300-yard performances. He draws the Kansas City Chiefs this week, a team that has allowed the fifth-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks along with 340.3 passing yards per game going into play Sunday. He has been turnover prone, having tossed exactly one interception in his last six games, but Keenum has avoided the blowup game. He will likely be forced to throw a lot in this game as Denver’s offense tries to matchup Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. For a one-week streamer, one could do worse than Keenum.
After this week Keenum gets the Houston Texans, which is his toughest remaining matchup. The second half of Denver’s schedule includes matchups against Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and San Francisco, all bottom-10 defenses against quarterbacks. Keenum won’t get fantasy owners to the promised land by himself, but if used intermittently as a streamer there are some matchups to be exploited. In standard leagues, he can be added and dropped based on the matchup.
Deeper League and Two-QB League Options
Brock Osweiler – MIA @ Houston Texans – 3% Owned
Last week Brock Osweiler got so lucky there is no way he—uh…yeah. Osweiler didn’t light up the Detroit Lions, but he played mistake-free football and put up 17.7 points in standard scoring leagues. He threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns, and Osweiler’s 114.9 passer rating was the second-highest of his career in a start. With the Dolphins traveling to Houston for Thursday Night Football this week, it seems unlikely that Ryan Tannehill will return for that game. Osweiler has also played well enough to generate at least something of a quarterback controversy. Houston isn’t the best matchup, allowing the 17th most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks. However, at this ownership level, the matchup is less important relative to ability because most owners are simply looking for a warm body. Osweiler is no Aaron Rodgers, but he is still a cut above other understudy quarterbacks like Derek Anderson or Cody Kessler.
After this week the matchups get much better for Miami, and if Osweiler remains the starting quarterback he could seriously benefit from these upcoming opponents. The three games following the one against Houston are Jets, Packers, a bye week, and Colts. The Packers have been good against quarterbacks, but both the Jets and Colts are bottom ten in passing yards allowed. We don’t know whether Osweiler will be the starter for any of these games, but he’ll be worth hanging onto until he is officially benched.
Cody Kessler – JAX vs. Philadelphia Eagles – 0% Owned
Speaking of benched, Blake Bortles was pulled from Jacksonville’s 20-7 loss to Houston for Cody Kessler in the third quarter. Prior to being benched Bortles coughed up two fumbles and had just 61 passing yards on 12 attempts. Kessler didn’t exactly come in and revitalize the offense, but he certainly played better than Bortles. Kessler was 21-for-30 passing for 156 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The interception wasn’t Kessler’s fault, as T.J. Yeldon tipped a ball that should have been caught, gifting the ball to Tyrann Mathieu.
As evidenced by Kessler’s meager 5.2 yards per attempt, he wasn’t asked to throw the ball downfield much despite Jacksonville’s 20-point deficit. Kessler is more of a game-manager type, but coach Doug Marrone told reporters “We can't do s--- until we stop turning the ball over.” With how good Jacksonville’s defense is (at least on paper) they just want someone that won’t lose them the game. Kessler wasn’t that bad as a rookie on a terrible Cleveland team either, posting a 92.3 passer rating in eight starts. He’s a two-quarterback league option only.
Kessler takes on the Philadelphia Eagles in London in Week 8, and Philadelphia has struggled against the pass this year. They are allowing 272.4 passing yards per game and just gave up 25.6 points to Cam Newton this past week. For owners in need of a warm body where even the likes of Brock Osweiler are unavailable, then Kessler is a fine fill-in option. Based on Marrone's comments, Jacksonville wants to emphasize low-risk plays on offense, so while Kessler is certainly a low-ceiling play he probably won’t implode like Derek Anderson did last week.
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