When focusing on the quarterback position of the waiver wire in most 2-QB fantasy football leagues, you’re going to either have to dig deep to unearth new quarterbacks or keep tabs on the same quarterbacks week after week.
You’ll notice the latter to be the case with my waiver wire recommendations for Week 2, as I’ve featured a few of the same 2-QB league waiver wire quarterbacks to target this week, as I did last week.
What you won’t find are the more common names like Terrelle Pryor and EJ Manuel. If they’re on the waiver wire of your 2-QB league, they should be snatched up immediately. The focus each week in this article is to highlight quarterbacks that are more than likely on the bench, that could one day become useful.
If you’re wondering what other positions to make your waiver wire claims on this week, you’re going to want to read waiver wire articles by my fellow XN Sports writers Igor Derysh and Rich Hribar. They have you covered. As for the quarterback position…
Chad Henne
At the top of the list this week is the man many thought should have been the starting quarterback in Jacksonville from the start, over Blaine Gabbert. The Chad Henne supporters, or more accurately, the Gabbert dissidents, were right. At least for one week, and possibly more.
Not only did the Jaguars lose to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1, but they weren’t able to score a single offensive point, and lost Gabbert to a hand injury. Gabbert’s already been ruled out for Week 2, with a lacerated throwing hand injury, and he could possibly be out longer.
Week 1 didn’t have many positives, if any, for Gabbert, and there are many stats that could tell the story, such as Gabbert averaging 3.5 yards/pass, but here’s all you really need to know: Gabbert had only five more pass completions (16) than Bryan Anger had punts (11).
Before the injury knocked Gabbert out, he threw for 121 yards, and two interceptions. In his seven full games a year ago, Henne, Gabbert’s Week 2 replacement, passed for an average of 267 yards, while tacking on ten touchdowns and ten interceptions.
Henne’s not going to be a world beater by any stretch of the imagination, but if you have Gabbert on your team, it’s time to cut him loose for Henne. Going up against the Oakland Raiders this week would be one of the few times you would consider starting Henne, if you have absolutely nobody else to start as your QB2. For now though, he’s nothing more than a QB3/bench stash.
Matt Cassel
Matt Cassel almost made the list last week, but I wanted to see what Christian Ponder had in him in Week 1 versus the Detroit Lions. Turns out that Ponder is pretty much who we thought he was: a quarterback that is unable to make things happen on his own, and the longer defenses continue to stack the box and game plan against the Vikings’ true offensive playmaker, Adrian Peterson, the tougher it’ll be for Ponder to do much of anything.
It’s not like Matt Cassel’s any better, but when you’re preparing for the future, you have to be cognizant of who’s next in line, and in Minnesota, that would be Cassel.
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Ryan Fitzpatrick is on the list for the same reason Cassel is, and that’s because he would be the beneficiary if Jake Locker were to ever get benched in Tennessee. It wasn’t a pretty Week 1 for the Titans and Locker, even though they managed a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A measly 20 pass attempts was all Locker was able to pull off, completing 11 of them for 125 yards. Locker wasn’t a factor on the ground either, adding 3 yards rushing on 5 carries. If you drafted Locker as your QB2 this year, you have to hope that he’ll put up startable fantasy quarterback performances at some point, but Locker finished as QB31 Week 1 in standard scoring leagues.
There wasn’t much burden put on Locker to lead the way Sunday with his arm, as he took on more of a game manager role, so the jury is still out. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if Locker is asked to do more with his arm, but if that arm isn’t able to throw the ball accurately, Fitzpatrick will be ready to step in.
Mike Glennon
It was a week to forget for Josh Freeman and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past Sunday, adding to Freeman’s lackluster preseason. What was being labelled as nothing to worry about in the preseason, could turn into a potential problem if Freeman keeps playing the way he does. Freeman graded out as one of the worst preseason quarterbacks by Pro Football Focus, and he earned the worst quarterback grade in Week 1, out of all 32 starting quarterbacks.
That’s not a good way to start the season, and it doesn’t help that rookie Mike Glennon is waiting in the wings. There’s no reason to add Glennon yet, and Freeman has a decent match-up on paper against the New Orleans Saints this week. We just have to wait and see if it’s the Freeman that torched the Saints for over 400 passing yards and three touchdowns in Week 7 of last year, or the one that threw for under 300 yards, and 4 interceptions?
If it’s the former, Freeman’s job will be safe, but if it’s the latter, Glennon will become a must pick-up for any Freeman owner in 2-QB leagues, and a wait and see QB3 option for anybody else.
Kyle Orton
The only reason Orton is on this list is because Cowboys starting quarterback Tony Romo took a vicious hit to his ribs Sunday night against the Giants. At the time, the hit looked nasty enough for Romo owners in 2-QB leagues to consider picking up Orton right away, just in case.
X-rays later revealed that the injury wasn’t all that serious, as Romo’s ribs were only bruised, and that he’ll be fine to suit up against the Kansas City Chiefs this week. That’s good news for Romo owners, but it doesn’t hurt to remind yourself that Kyle Orton is his back-up. If Romo were to go down, Orton would enter a favorable situation, with three stellar pass catching options in Dez Bryant, Miles Austin and Jason Witten to throw to. That could lead to Orton, at the very least, entering the QB2 streaming discussion.
*Stats used in this article courtesy of ESPN.com, Rotoworld.com, and Pro Football Focus.
