Every week, we examine players that may be available on your league's waiver wire that could help your team in the short and/or long term.
For a player to be listed, he must be owned in 50 percent (or less) of Yahoo! leagues. The goal is to provide recommendations of players that have a greater chance of being available on your league's waiver wire. Of course, your league's size and settings could significantly impact whether these players (or better options) are available in your particular league(s).
With that said, here are some quarterback waiver-wire options to consider heading into Week 15 (Yahoo! % rostered in parenthesis):
[Note: Players listed below are sorted by our preference to add.]
1. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles (17%)
Making his debut NFL start, Hurts used his dual-threat abilities to churn out a productive fantasy outing in the team's upset win over one of the league's best defenses. While the second-round rookie out of Oklahoma (via Alabama) completed 17-of-30 for only 167 yards and a touchdown, he ran 18 times for 106 yards.
Along with Lamar Jackson (twice) and Kyler Murray, Hurts' performance on Sunday was one of four 100-yard rushing performances by a quarterback this season. Not only was it just one of four 15-carry games by a quarterback this season, but his 18 attempts was the season high for the position.
While he's expected to start for the remainder of the year, it's official that he'll start in Week 15. Hurts will have a better matchup in Week 16 (Dallas Cowboys) than Week 15 (Arizona Cardinals), but the remaining matchups are more favorable than he had in his debut and he finished the week as the QB13 (only 0.04 points away from a top-12 performance). His rushing upside provides a reasonable floor and he has the potential to finish as a top-12 fantasy quarterback in either week.
2. Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns (41%)
Despite the difficult Week 14 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens, the good times continue to roll for Mayfield and the team's passing attack. Throwing for 343 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, Mayfield also rushed for 23 yards and a touchdown to outscore all quarterbacks this week other than Lamar Jackson.
Mayfield had only one top-12 performance through the first 10 games of the season, but he has now finished as the QB12, QB4 and QB2, respectively, over his past three starts. Mayfield has thrown for at least 334 yards in back-to-back games and has accounted for nine touchdowns -- eight passing and one rushing -- over his past three.
Cleveland will face the New York Giants and New York Jets in Weeks 15 and 16, respectively. While the Giants have limited opposing quarterbacks to the fifth-fewest fantasy points this season, the Jets have allowed the second-most for fantasy managers looking ahead to Championship Week.
3. Mitchell Trubisky, Chicago Bears (10%)
Trubisky threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns in Sunday's win over the Houston Texans and scored 24.98 fantasy points (QB7). Since returning as the starter coming out of the team's Week 11 bye, Trubisky has thrown a total of seven touchdowns and only two interceptions and scored at least 20 fantasy points in two of three games.
With upcoming matchups against the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars in Weeks 15 and 16, respectively, Trubisky will be a streaming option over the rest of the fantasy playoffs. While the Vikings pass defense has played better more recently, the Jaguars have allowed the third-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks this season.
4. Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders (47%)
Outside of an absolute dud against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 12, Carr has been lights out in his other three most recent games. In what should have been a difficult matchup against the Indianapolis Colts (and Carr did have his first multiple-interception game of the season), Carr threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another.
Including his dud 1.6-point performance against the Falcons, Carr has thrown eight touchdowns and rushed for two more over his past four games. In addition, he's averaging nearly 300 passing yards per game (296.75) over that stretch. Over the past four weeks, Carr has finished as fantasy's QB8, QB35, QB1 and QB5, respectively.
The Raiders face the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 15 and Carr had a modest outing against the division rivals in Week 9. In that first matchup of the season, he completed 13-of-23 for 165 yards and two scores.
5. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins (20%)
One week after setting career highs in pass attempts (39), completions (26) and yards (296), Tagovailoa broke his own career highs as he completed 28-of-48 for 316 yards, two touchdowns and an interception against the Kansas City Chiefs. In addition, he rushed six times for 24 yards and a score. Only Jackson, Mayfield and Aaron Rodgers scored more fantasy points than Tua this week.
Matchups against Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are never easy for any rookie quarterback (as we saw with Justin Herbert in Week 13) so expectations should be tempered this week. That said, he gets a favorable matchup against the Raiders in Week 16 and he will have more appeal as a streamer that week.
+ More Fantasy Football Waiver-Wire Advice Heading Into Week 15
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