The best fantasy QB options to stream for Week 12

With bye weeks behind us, I cautioned last week that things were about to become a lot more challenging when it comes to finding viable quarterback streaming options. However, I didn’t quite envision the total whiff that was Week 11. In hindsight, Blaine Gabbert’s three-touchdown game was the first of his seven-year career, and Tyrod Taylor had been relegated to clipboard duties following a 56-yard passing effort. If you envisioned a top-six fantasy performance for both of them, please DM me this week’s Powerball numbers.

Moving forward into the season’s backstretch, we’ll continue to “trust the process” that has uncovered multiple QB1s each week among the streaming picks in this space. With that said, the sample size is large enough now that if you’ve got a top-five fantasy QB on your roster – like Kirk Cousins, for example – you’re starting him every week. For everyone else in the hunt for a fantasy title, there’s no such thing as “set it and forget it.”

As always, before we get into this week’s top QB streaming options, let’s look at how things played out for last week’s recommendations.

Notes:  In my defense, this piece gets published on Tuesday of each week, before weather (i.e. Gale Wind Advisories) and inactives (ahem, Sterling Shepard) are settled. I can only hope those planning to stream Alex Smith or Eli Manning caught my tweet Sunday morning about fading both… Jay Cutler suffered a concussion in the first half of Sunday’s game, but he wasn’t exactly lighting it up on the field with three interceptions in 12 attempts… Derek Carr simply came up short against a New England defense that entered Sunday second-worst in both pass-rush grade and fantasy points allowed to QBs… Keenan Allen accounted for 60 percent of Philip Rivers’ completions, 63 percent of his passing yards, and 100 percent of his TDs… Sometimes, Blake Bortles’ worst enemy is Blake Bortles. Others, it’s the Jaguars’ otherworldly defense, as was the case against Cleveland on Sunday.

Below are the most attractive options for QB streaming for Week 12 who are either widely available, on your bench, or priced cheap in daily formats. Each player is listed along with current ownership and start percentages from ESPN leagues as well as FanDuel salary rank.

Week 12

Shallow leagues

Alex Smith (KC vs. BUF) – 95.8% owned/71.2% started/No. 10 QB salary on FanDuel (Sunday slate)

Smith, who was a top-three fantasy QB throughout the first half of the season, has now failed to crack the top-10 in four of his last five outings. But the weather report for Sunday in Kansas City is mostly sunny with minimal winds, and that’s good news for Smith, who still leads the league in deep passing yards (targeted 20-plus yards downfield) by a sizeable margin despite his recent rough stretch. Smith boasts a 127.1 passer rating on 40 downfield throws, with seven touchdowns and only one interception.

Buffalo is solid in coverage, although the Bills are graded fourth-worst in the pass-rush department by our analysts. When given a clean pocket, Smith has the league’s second-best passer rating (115.8) and ranks third in adjusted completion percentage (82.1). The Chiefs opened this week with an implied total of 27 points from Las Vegas oddsmakers.

Ben Roethlisberger (PIT vs. GB) – 86.3%/51.9%/No. 5 salary

Fantasy owners who shrugged off Roethlisberger’s slow start and kept him rostered with the aim of capitalizing on a soft second-half schedule are now reaping the rewards. Roethlisberger has tossed six touchdowns and just one pick over his last two games, trailing only Kirk Cousins and Tom Brady in fantasy scoring in that span. In fact, he was PFF’s top-graded QB in Week 11.

Roethlisberger’s career passer rating is a full 10 points higher at home than on the road, and this week he gets an appealing home matchup against Green Bay. Whereas Green Bay has been tough to run on, the Packers were without two starters in their secondary on Sunday and enter Week 12 with PFF’s fourth-worst pass-coverage grade this season. What’s more, Pittsburgh has an implied total of 28 points in this matchup.

Standard leagues

Marcus Mariota (TEN @ IND) – 74.0%/29.0%/No. 7 salary

The fantasy community was wise to fade Mariota in a tough matchup at Pittsburgh on Thursday night. The third-year pro posted only one multi-interception game this season and had never thrown more than two picks in a game in his career until Thursday, when he was intercepted four times by the Steelers. Still, Mariota trails only Dak Prescott in run grade among QBs this season, and he owns the No. 5 overall grade. This week, the former No. 2 overall pick will look to get back on track against a porous Colts’ secondary.

Whereas Pittsburgh has yielded the third-fewest fantasy points to opposing QBs, the Colts have been among the most generous fantasy defenses and enter Week 12 with PFF’s third-worst pass coverage grade on the season. Indianapolis may be coming off a bye, but Tennessee has had 10 days in between games to regroup.

Andy Dalton (CIN vs. CLE) – 39.8%/13.7%/No. 14 salary

Somewhat quietly, Dalton has tossed five touchdowns with no interceptions over the last two games, both on the road. In fact, he was PFF’s fifth-graded passer in Week 11 against Denver. Now, the Bengals return home for three straight, beginning Sunday against a Cleveland defense that owns our No. 31 pass-rush grade.

That’s an important grade to note because when given a clean pocket against Denver, Dalton was 13-of-19 for 140 yards with all three of his touchdown passes, good for a 129.4 passer rating. Dalton also went 3-of-4 for 76 yards (and two TDs) on throws 20-plus yards downfield and outside the left numbers, an area he had been 0-of-7 when targeting before Week 11. These are subtle, yet key improvements for a player who finished last season as a fringe QB1 and who was third in fantasy points per dropback in 2015.

Two-QB and deep leagues

Jacoby Brissett (IND vs. TEN) – 15.9%/(Bye)/No. 18 salary

The Colts are coming off a bye, and Brissett still must clear the league’s concussion protocol. Assuming he is cleared, this week’s matchup against Tennessee carries some sneaky streaming appeal. The Titans own the No. 26 pass-rush grade, and Brissett ranks second in both passer rating (128.2) and adjusted completion percentage (51.7) on deep throws. In other words, if given time to set up in the pocket and work the ball downfield, an opportunity exists for Brissett to post some juicy numbers this week.

Overall, he’s tossed multiple TDs in three straight, tying for fifth among QBs with 55 points in that span. With the shadow of Andrew Luck and his beard no longer looming, Brissett appears to be playing with more confidence as the team’s unquestioned leader, rather than a mere placeholder under center.

Should Brissett fail to clear the concussion protocol this week, Joe Flacco makes for a decent alternative option against Houston. Flacco’s hardly been on the fantasy radar, but the Texans own PFF’s No. 2-graded run defense while allowing the most fantasy points per game (20.1) to opposing passers (see Gabbert, Blaine).

Brock Osweiler (DEN @ OAK) – 4.0%/1.7%/No. 22 salary

Oakland had a bye to regroup after getting carved up for 311 yards and three TDs (with no interceptions) by Jay Cutler in Week 9. But Tom Brady may as well have been throwing against cones on Sunday when he completed 30-of-37 passes for 339 yards and three scores.

What’s more, the Raiders have notched the second-fewest sacks this season and remain without an interception, as opposing QBs have accumulated a 113.2 passer rating against them. Osweiler has been only so-so in two starts since taking over for Trevor Siemian, though he did complete 64.5 percent of his passes for 211 yards when Cincinnati failed to get pressure on Sunday. Broncos coach Vance Joseph did say on Monday that all three of his quarterbacks are in the running to start Week 12, but it’s all about the matchup here. Yes, with a $6,200 salary on FanDuel, Paxton Lynch would be worth a DFS dart throw.