3 Fantasy Football Quarterback Streaming Options for Week 5
Quarterback streaming isn't for everyone, but if you're in a standard league -- like a 10- or 12-team league that features just one starting signal caller -- grabbing productive quarterbacks who have good matchups off the waiver wire is often doable.
Sure, you won't have the luxury of setting it and forgetting it with Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback, but when the top-end signal callers draw a tough matchup, their upside can oftentimes be matched by a waiver-wire option in a more favorable situation.
In Week 4, we had our first non-QB1 (top-12) performance of the year as Daniel Jones scored just 12.3 fantasy points on his way to a QB19 finish for the week. That gives us 79.34 points for the year, good for 19.83 points per week, which ranks as the QB10.
If you're looking for some quarterback options from the waiver wire -- regardless of league size -- we have you covered. Here are three quarterbacks owned in fewer than roughly 30% of Yahoo! leagues who are in good spots this week.
Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals
Yahoo Ownership: 35%
Did you watch the Monday night game? Hopefully not. If you did, it'll make putting Andy Dalton in your lineup a lot harder to stomach.
Despite his dud in Week 4, Dalton is this week's top streamer thanks to his home matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. The Cards' defense has been awful this year (eighth-worst by our numbers), and they're allowing the third-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks.
Prior to his 3.6-point horror show in Week 4, Dalton had been having a decent fantasy campaign, putting up outputs of 16.10, 18.64 and 20.72 points. The Cincinnati Bengals are 3.5-point home favorites with a solid 25.50-point implied total. We have Dalton as our QB11 this week, projecting him for 17.56 fantasy points.
Jacoby Brissett, Indianapolis Colts
Yahoo Ownership: 36%
Jacoby Brissett makes this piece once again as he's on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs. KC is an 11.0-point favorite with a week-best 34.00-point implied total, so the Indianapolis Colts should be forced to air it out. That's how it usually goes for the Chiefs' opposition, and it's a big reason why Kansas City is giving up the ninth-most fantasy points to signal callers.
Brissett has been a really solid fantasy performer this year, with his game-by-game totals reading: 16.50, 16.34, 20.80 and 22.50 fantasy points. His two games with 20-plus points were his two games with the most pass attempts, including in Week 4, when the Colts fell in a big hole and Brissett ended up throwing the ball 46 times en route to his best fantasy week of the year.
We could see that exact same scenario play out at Arrowhead this week. While Brissett's outlook would certainly improve with a healthy T.Y. Hilton, we project the Colts' quarterback for 17.26 points this week, making him our QB13.
Teddy Bridgewater, New Orleans Saints
Yahoo Ownership: 7%
Outside of Dalton and Brissett, the quarterback streaming options are a little iffy in Week 5. That leads us to Teddy Bridgewater, who is at home versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tampa's has the ninth-ranked overall defense, per our schedule-adjusted metrics, so this isn't a cakewalk. But it's at home for Bridgewater, and the New Orleans Saints carry a 25.25-point implied total as 3.0-point favorites.
Bridgewater has been very conservative this season as he's yet to average more than 6.56 yards per attempt in any of his three games (only two starts). So while he's more of a two-quarterback bye-week replacement, our models rank him as the QB18 and project him for 16.08 points.
