Week 7 Byes: New Orleans Saints (Drew Brees), Oakland Raiders (Terrelle Pryor)
Week 6 was an interesting week in the NFL, as it usually is, and it had its normal trickle down effect on the world of fantasy football. If we take a look at the top scoring fantasy quarterbacks from Week 6, you’ll see the usual names in the top part of the rankings.
Nick Foles, Thaddeus Lewis, Mike Glennon, and Brandon Weeden were all fantasy QB1s in standard scoring leagues. Just like we all predicted.
It’s getting harder and harder to predict the unpredictable nature of fantasy quarterbacks this year, but we still try.
Sometimes, no matter how good a match-up looks on paper, like Tony Romo versus the Redskins, or how bad we deem a matchup to potentially be, such as Thaddeus Lewis versus the Bengals, we can do nothing but sit back and watch the action unfold, rendering some of our rankings and predictions meaningless.
Below you’ll see my quarterback rankings for 2-QB leagues in Week 7, and they’ll be followed by my weekly 2-QB Stock Watch report.
Week 7 Fantasy Quarterback Rankings for 2-QB Leagues:
1. Tony Romo @ Philadelphia
2. Jay Cutler @ Washington
3. Peyton Manning @ Indianapolis
4. Philip Rivers @ Jacksonville
5. Nick Foles VS. Dallas
6. Aaron Rodgers VS. Cleveland
7. Cam Newton VS. St. Louis
8. Eli Manning VS. Minnesota
9. Andrew Luck VS. Denver
10. Matt Ryan VS. Tampa Bay
11. Robert Griffin III VS. Chicago
12. Russell Wilson @ Arizona
13. Brandon Weeden @ Green Bay
14. Tom Brady @ New York Jets
15. Mike Glennon @ Atlanta
16. Matthew Stafford VS. Cincinnati
17. Ben Roethlisberger VS. Baltimore
18. Ryan Tannehill VS. Buffalo
19. Chad Henne VS. San Diego
20. Colin Kaepernick @ Tennessee
21. Thaddeus Lewis @ Miami
22. Alex Smith VS. Houston
23. Josh Freeman @ New York Giants
24. Andy Dalton @ Cleveland
25. Joe Flacco @ Pittsburgh
26. Geno Smith VS. New England
27. Sam Bradford @ Carolina
28. Case Keenum @ Kansas City
29. Ryan Fitzpatrick VS. San Francisco
30. Carson Palmer VS. Arizona
Week 7 Quarterbacks on the Rise in 2-QB Leagues:
Thaddeus Lewis
During my weekly fantasy preparation I didn’t come across much positive praise or projections regarding the debut of Thaddeus Lewis for the Buffalo Bills versus the Cincinnati Bengals last week. The Bengals were a defense allowing 14.84 standard fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks heading into Week 6, and came off holding Tom Brady to under 200 yards, and zero touchdowns, while intercepting him once in Week 5.
The only analysis I read that gave Lewis any hope came from Rotoworld’s Evan Silva, in his weekly matchups bible, where he said he didn’t think Lewis would be a “major downgrade” from EJ Manuel. That’s not much to go on, but Lewis far exceeded anybody’s expectations of him, finishing the week as the fifth highest scoring quarterback, with 22.34 fantasy points.
There was a minor foot injury scare with Lewis after the game, but MRI results were negative, and Lewis is on track to play in Week 7 versus a Dolphins defense that has given up the 12th most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. Lewis might wind up being more than just a one week flash in the fantasy pan, and based on match-ups, could produce a splattering of fantasy worthy starts the rest of the season.
It doesn’t hurt to pick up Lewis and stash him on your bench if you’re in need of quarterback help, as we won’t be seeing EJ Manuel return anytime soon.
Nick Foles
Not only was Nick Foles the second highest scoring quarterback in standard fantasy football leagues in Week 6 behind Cam Newton, but he was also the second highest scoring fantasy player overall.
Overall.
Let that sink in for a moment.
What makes Foles’ performance even more impressive is that it came against a very good Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense. After it was all said and done, Foles thew for 296 passing yards, second most given up by the Buccaneers this year, and he also threw three touchdowns, which was the most the Buccaneers allowed all season. Oh yeah, Foles also added a rushing touchdown.
It’s another salivating match-up for Foles this week versus the Dallas Cowboys, who are giving up the most points to opposing quarterbacks in fantasy football this year. Neither the Cowboys nor the Eagles have very good defenses, which could lead to a potential shoot out. If Foles is on your 2-QB team, it’s going to be very hard to bench him this week, and if he continues to perform at a high level he might not make a return to the sidelines.
Mike Glennon
It might have been against the Philadelphia Eagles, but Mike Glennon was a fantasy QB1 Week 6, scoring 18.92 fantasy points, which was the eighth most by a quarterback. While Glennon won’t be facing off against the Eagles every week, knowing he’s capable of putting up a good performance will give Glennon owners confidence to start him in plus match-ups going forward, and he might have torpedoed himself into QB2 streaming territory.
It doesn’t hurt to have Glennon on the bench of your 2-QB team, where you don’t have to rely on starting him every week.
Week 7 Quarterbacks on the Slide in 2-QB Leagues:
Matt Schaub
It happened. Matt Schaub got benched. But not due to ineffective play, as he was actually playing pretty good football on Sunday. What did Schaub in was an injury, as he suffered some sort of a foot/ankle injury during Sunday’s game versus the Rams, and that injury is enough to keep him out of this week’s game versus the Chiefs. Starting in his place is the undrafted Case Keenum.
While we don’t know whether or not Schaub will be the Texans’ starter when healthy, we can only go off what we know now, which is that Schaub is no longer a starting NFL quarterback. Keenum has a chance to show the Texans what he can do, and maybe it’s enough for him to earn the starting quarterback job going forward.
You can’t outright drop Schaub for Keenum in 2-QB leagues yet, and might have to hold onto Schaub until after the team’s Week 8 bye to determine what his future is. For now you have to hold onto him.
Ryan Fitzpatrick
There was only one quarterback that scored less standard fantasy points than Ryan Fitzpatrick last week, and that was Geno Smith. The Titans’ game versus the San Francisco 49ers might be Fitzpatrick’s last as a starter, with Jake Locker cleared for contact, and eyeing a Week 9 return. The Ryan Fitzpatrick 2-QB streaming days are over, and he should be safe to drop after this week.
Geno Smith
It was Geno Smith, not Ryan Fitzpatrick who was Week 6’s lowest scoring fantasy quarterback, mustering up a measly 4.84 standard fantasy points versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 6.
Geno’s fantasy points output has been a tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where he alternates good weeks with bad weeks. Here are his fantasy points totals from the first six weeks: 14.94, 4.26, 24.64, 8.26, 22.06, and 4.84.
If that pattern were to continue then this week would be a good week to start Geno as your QB2, but going up against the New England Patriots, a team he scored only 4.26 fantasy points against in Week 2 has me weary. Even though that game was a sloppily played Thursday Night affair, I would still be hesitant to start Geno this week.
His future still looks bright though, and if the Patriots are without their top corner, Aqib Talib, that would give the Jets passing game a boost. Monitor Talib’s status before determining whether or not to bench/start Geno this week, but for now, he’s better off not being a starting option.
Stats used in this article from FantasyData.com and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. If you’re interested in a different set of 2-QB rankings perspective, my friends at TwoQBs.com have you covered.
