Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: QB Options Heading into Week 2

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 rostered 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 2 (Yahoo! % rostered in parenthesis):

[Note: Players listed below are sorted by our preference to add.]

1. Jameis Winston, New Orleans Saints (44%)

Two years removed from his 2019 YOLO campaign of 5,109 yards and 30 interceptions, both of which led the NFL, Winston has begun his tenure as the Saints starting quarterback with elite efficiency. Despite what should have been a difficult matchup against the Green Bay Packers, Winston and the Saints made it look easy as he threw five (yes, five!) touchdowns on only 20 pass attempts. Obviously, his 25.0 TD% will regress. While he only threw for 148 yards, Winston also added six carries for 37 yards.

The overall talent level of the pass catchers is a concern, especially while Michael Thomas is on the PUP list. But all of their games won't be 35-point victories either, so this week could mark his season low for pass attempts in a game. Winston is in the top-15 mix the rest of the way.

2. Trey Lance, San Francisco 49ers (44%)

The same applies to Justin Fields, rostered in 51% of Yahoo! leagues and therefore ineligible for this post, but Lance's value increases weekly as we continue to move closer to a likely transition to the rookie as the starter. Lance took a few snaps and threw a touchdown on his only pass attempt in Week 1. Even though he gained only two yards on three carries, Lance has elite dual-threat upside that will allow him to become a weekly top-10 option once he replaces Jimmy Garoppolo as the starter.

The 49ers have a Week 6 bye, the earliest possible bye. Perhaps that makes for the most logical transition point. The only concern is the 49ers continue to employ a rotation where they use Lance on occasion, as the 49ers have one of the league's best rosters and Kyle Shanahan may prefer to keep the steady hand of a veteran quarterback until next season.

3. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers (39%)

Roethlisberger had a quiet Week 1 performance -- 18-of-32 for 188 yards and a score in an upset win over the Buffalo Bills. The Steelers may not lead the NFL in pass attempts again this season, but Big Ben has one of the most talented WR trios (Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and JuJu Smith-Schuster) at his disposal and he will get softer matchups coming up. The Steelers will face the Raiders, Bengals and Packers in their next three games.

4. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions (7%)

While there may be no such thing as a moral victory, it surely was an impressive near comeback for the Lions on Sunday. Down big, Goff needed to sling it 57 times; only Dak Prescott (58) threw it more this week. The former No. 1 overall pick finished with week with nearly 30 fantasy points as he threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns against the 49ers. The Lions are going to be big underdogs most weeks (double-digit underdogs vs. GB in Week 2), which could lead to many more high-volume outings for Goff.

Fantasy Football Waiver-Wire Advice Heading Into Week 2

Check out more of our content:

Keep track of our site's updates: Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook and/or Subscribe to our newsletter.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,