Week 11 of the 2013 NFL season just wrapped up, but instead of looking forward to Week 12, I want you to think even further ahead than that.
Your focus, especially if you’re in the playoff hunt in your 2-QB fantasy football league, is to have your eyes set on Week 14, then Week 15 and finally Week 16.
Why? That’s when the fantasy playoffs start and end in most leagues.
It’s never too early to look ahead to the playoffs, and with the trade deadline fast approaching in many leagues, and in some leagues it’s already past, it’s time to solidify your quarterback streaming strategy.
I’ve written about how it was time to trade your QB3 depth to strengthen your team elsewhere, but if you’ve been practicing a ‘Studs and Streaming‘ approach with your 2-QB team this year, you might not have been able to trade away your much needed QB3.
And that’s fine, because there are many ways to manage your 2-QB fantasy football team.
What I want to focus my attention on in this article is creating the ultimate QB2 streaming combo for your 2-QB fantasy football team for the playoffs.
For the purpose of this article, I want to omit the obvious names, and go with true QB2/QB3 types.
That’s why you won’t see the likes of Matt Ryan, Colin Kaepernick, Tom Brady, or Peyton Manning, as they were drafted as QB1s, even if they’re not playing at a current QB1 level.
I’ve also left out names that don’t have guaranteed starting jobs rest of the season like Scott Tolzien.
Quarterbacks with bad fantasy playoff matchups, such as Carson Palmer and Mike Glennon have also been omitted.
The focus is on Weeks 14-16, as most fantasy playoffs begin Week 14, and culminate with fantasy championships in Week 16.
I’ll be using the rest of season quarterback rankings in 2-QB leagues, which feature strength of schedule analysis provided by Pro Football Focus Fantasy’s Patrick Thorman, as the basis of the quarterbacks talked about in this article.
Below are a few quarterback options, broken down by weeks, with at least one fantasy playoff plus match-up, cherry picked from my rest of season quarterback rankings, who, if paired together, can lead your 2-QB team during the fantasy playoffs.
Here is the color coding legend for the chart:
RED=Avoid/Bye Week
ORANGE=Tough match-up/Avoid if possible
YELLOW=Potentially bad match-up
WHITE=Neutral
LIGHT GREEN=Good match-up
DARK GREEN=Must start match-up
Nick Foles and Alex Smith are the key to this streaming strategy, because if you have either one of them on your roster, or both, it will make streaming your way to a 2-QB league championship a lot easier to accomplish.
Now, if you have neither Foles nor Smith on your 2-QB team, hope is not lost.
Picking and choosing a QB2 streaming combo is easy, if you follow the chart.
For instance, a Case Keenum/EJ Manuel/Ryan Fitzpatrick combination would leave you with a quarterback trio facing the Jacksonville Jaguars for the entire fantasy playoff stretch run.
The Jaguars are a team that just let Carson Palmer throw for 419 yards and two touchdowns against them in Week 11. Palmer’s 419 passing yards were a season high, and were almost 100 yards more than his Week 1 season passing yards high of 327.
You want to target quarterbacks with light green or dark green match-ups, as those are plus match-ups. There are a few QB2 streaming possibilities you can create, other than the quarterback trio facing the Jaguars.
Another example, if you’re a Joe Flacco owner, is to start him in Weeks 14 and 15, and acquire one of the quarterbacks listed in the Week 16 streaming category. That would give you a QB2 streaming combo for the playoffs.
Other than Foles, most of the quarterbacks you see on the above chart shouldn’t be all too hard to acquire via trade, and some, such as Matt McGloin (if named ROS starter), EJ Manuel, and Ryan Fitzpatrick, might still be available on your 2-QB league’s waiver wire.
Play around with the quarterbacks and their match-ups, and see if you can find an ideal fantasy playoff QB2 streaming combination to your liking, or one you can create via trade.
Even if you have to cheat, and play a quarterback with a neutral match-up, you should be able to come away with a QB2 streaming option you can utilize during the playoffs.
Stats used in this article from FantasyData.com
