In the Week 1 installment of quarterback streaming options for fantasy football, two of my three featured QBs provided a nice return on investment, while the third, well, didn’t.
Week 1 | Fantasy Points | Rank | PFF Grade |
Matthew Stafford | 26 | QB5 | 82.9 (8th) |
Derek Carr | 18 | QB14 | 86.8 (3rd) |
Tyrod Taylor | 4 | QB31 | 57.8 (25th) |
Notes: Started in only 25.1 percent of ESPN leagues, Matthew Stafford lit up the Colts’ secondary on the road to the tune of 340 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Although his average depth of target was just 5.2 yards, Stafford completed 31-of-37 aimed throws (83.8 percent) and ranked fifth in fantasy points per dropback (0.63)… Derek Carr was in 39.2 percent of starting lineups in Week 1 and produced our third-best QB grade… Tom Brady owners who planned to stream Tyrod Taylor for the first few weeks of the season are now scrambling for a Plan B. Taylor’s 22 pass attempts were the fewest in the league, and he had only one completion longer than 20 yards, an area he excelled at last season. News that Sammy Watkins could be playing through a painful foot injury all season, or possibly shut down altogether at some point, doesn’t help.
Now, we’ll look ahead to Week 2, with some low-owned quarterback options who could offer decent performance for this week. Along with each guy is his ownership and start percentages from ESPN leagues, and his Week 2 FanDuel salary.
Week 2
Carson Wentz (PHI @ CHI) — 11.0 percent owned/2.9 percent started/$6,900
Week 1’s surprise performance came from Eagles’ rookie Wentz, who was our No. 4-graded quarterback (86.2) in Philadelphia’s 29-10 win over Cleveland. The concern surrounding Wentz was that he had a relatively small sample size of college game tape at the FCS level, and then sat out most of the preseason with broken ribs.
His completion percentage was only 59.5 percent on the box score. But when you factor in drops (four) and aimed throws, his 81.3 adjusted completion percentage was fourth-best. Of course, the receivers struggled with drops all last year, too. Still, Wentz took the offense right down the field on the opening drive, which he capped with a perfectly placed 19-yard corner fade to Jordan Matthews. His 35-yard scoring strike to Nelson Agholor was also a thing of beauty.