Carson Palmer
After wading through the storm of a tough schedule, Carson Palmer came away unscathed, and he was even able to make a return appearance to the QB1 tier, with back-to-back Top-6 fantasy quarterback finishes the last two weeks.
However, there is only one plus match-up left on the schedule for Palmer, and that’s this week versus the Philadelphia Eagles.
If you have Palmer on your 2-QB roster, don’t be afraid to start him this week, and don’t be surprised if you see his stock drop after playing the Rams, Titans, Seahawks, and Niners to close out the season.
Week 13 Quarterbacks on the Slide in 2-QB Leagues:
Geno Smith
I almost feel like Geno Smith is going to make an appearance in this section of the Stock Watch report every week until he gets benched permanently, ala Josh Freeman in Tampa Bay earlier this year.
The only problem with that is the Jets have no viable alternative quarterback option to Smith, that would make the Jets want to bench him.
Matt Simms is the official back-up on the quarterback depth chart in New York, but there’s no indications he’d be an upgrade over Smith.
That’s saying something because Smith’s on the field production is a hideous-to-the-eyes downward spiral.
In his last three games, Smith has a combined 25 completions, and an average completion percentage of 39.3. Smith also hasn’t thrown a passing touchdown since Week 7, and has a combined 22 turnovers on the season (18 interceptions/4 fumbles lost).
Smith’s last good fantasy game was in Week 7, where he scored 20.52 standard fantasy points, but in the following four games he’s only managed to scored a combined 14.66 fantasy points.
Other than a Week 14 match-up versus the Oakland Raiders, Smith’s schedule is difficult rest of the season, and it’ll be hard to trust starting Smith in your 2-QB leagues going forward.
Scott Tolzien
You lose your starting quarterback job, even if it was temporary to begin with, and your fantasy stock is going to take a hit.
That’s what happened to Scott Tolzien this past week, as he was eventually benched in favor of Matt Flynn during the Packers’ contest versus the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Tolzien just wasn’t able to produce much offense through the air, connecting on only seven of his 17 pass attempts. He was able to score a rushing touchdown on a nifty spin-move though, salvaging his fantasy day.
However, Flynn has already been named the starter this week, and Tolzien goes back to clipboard holding duties, and will eventually fall down to number three on the quarterback dept chart in Green Bay when Aaron Rodgers returns.
Matt Ryan
The last time Matt Ryan finished the week as a fantasy QB1 was in Week 7.
Out of Ryan’s 11 games played this year, he has only finished in the QB1 tier a total of four times.
For a quarterback that was drafted in the QB1 tier of fantasy quarterbacks in 2-QB leagues this off-season, those are disappointing numbers.
On the bright side, Ryan currently finds himself at QB13 overall in standard scoring fantasy leagues, trailing Andy Dalton by less than one point.
However, when drafting a fantasy quarterback as a QB1, you want them to perform like a QB1 every week, and Ryan has done that only on the four aforementioned occasions this year.
Quarterbacking a team without any playoff hopes is difficult, as the Falcons have already been eliminated from this year’s playoff picture, and it could lead way to more young players getting a chance to impress the Atlanta coaching staff.
One such name is back-up quarterback Dominique Davis, and if the team decided at one point they want to see what the youngster can do in a meaningful game, Ryan might have to step aside. Even if it is just for one game.
We’re a far ways away form the days of the Falcons being mentioned as Super Bowl contenders, and Ryan’s fantasy stock could take a hit because of it.
*Stats used in this article from FantasyData.com, and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports. Check out TwoQBs.com for additional rankings.
