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Week 17 of the NFL season is going to be an interesting one in daily leagues, as we try to figure out which teams are motivated to play, and which teams are looking forward to the playoffs/off-season.
We already have some news regarding players and teams looking to rest players, such as the Kansas City Chiefs. With uncertainty revolving around the Chiefs and playing time for their starters, you might want to avoid the likes of Jamaal Charles and Alex Smith in daily sites this week.
As I always do with this StarStreet series, I like to to build my 2-QB daily roster starting at the quarterback position, and then build around it. This week provides a number of possible quarterback pairings to choose from, whether you want to spend big, or you want to spend little.
This week on StarStreet is going to be one of there are weeks where I roll with a Mega Powers line-up, and am looking to go with a Nick Foles/Aaron Rodgers quarterback combination.
The combination of Foles/Rodgers priced together comes in at $27,100, or 27.1 percent of your StarStreet spending budget.
Spending over 25 percent of your budget on 22 percent of your line-up can cause difficulties filling out the rest of your roster card, but with Week 17 out of whack, I want to attach myself to teams with motivation, and are projected to be in high scoring games.
The Packers and Eagles both need wins this week to clinch playoff spots, so you can’t really find any more motivation than that. Packers @ Bears, and Eagles @ Cowboys have two of the highest projected over/unders for the week.
The bonus of going with Foles and Rodgers is that you can stack them with the likes of DeSean Jackson and Jordy Nelson, which would make for an especially enticing tournament line-up on StarStreet this week.
On top of motivation, and over/under projections, Foles and Rodgers also find themselves in plus match-ups.
Foles goes up against a Cowboys defense barely able to stop anybody, as they’ve allowed 15 passing touchdowns in their past six games, including three four-passing touchdown days.
Foles did have his worst outing of the year versus the Cowboys earlier this year, and that might make some DFS players wary of starting him. However, a hot Foles, and a cold Cowboys defense is a combination I don’t want to pass on this week.
Rodgers might provide more risk, because he hasn’t taken a snap of meaningful football since Week 9, but if he had been playing healthy all year long, he might be priced right up there with Peyton Manning this week, taking into consideration his opponent this week is the Chicago Bears.
We already know the Bears aren’t able to stop opposing running backs, which sometimes takes away production from opposing quarterbacks, but Nick Foles and Tony Romo were able to have productive days recently, despite running all over the Bears.
The Packers are also dealing with an injury to Eddie Lacy, and with Rodgers returning, looking to fire on all cylinders, as his team fights for a playoff spot, we could see a lot of Rodgers passing this game.
Cam Newton, at $13,800, would be my other high priced quarterback I’m targeting this week, because the Panthers are still in the running to clinch a NFC South division title, and the Panthers are going up against an Atlanta Falcons team playing for nothing but pride.
The Falcons are allowing the fourth most points per game this year, and have given up 20+ standard fantasy points in their last two games to Kirk Cousins and Colin Kaepernick. Newton already put up over 20 fantasy points earlier in the year versus the Falcons.
Those are my three ‘Mega Powers’ options for the week, but when it comes to lower priced quarterbacks, three names caught my eye:
- Ben Roethlisberger – $11,600
- Terrelle Pryor – $10,200
- Chase Daniel – $8,000
I included Chase Daniel, because I don’t see Alex Smith getting much playing time this week, which would basically make Daniel the de-facto starter.
At $8,000, the flexibility you would get going with Daniel means being able to threw an extra few thousands dollars towards a Josh Gordon, Jimmy Graham, or LeSean McCoy, to name a few.
One drawback with starting Daniel is he faces a San Diego Chargers team still fighting for a playoff spot, and he plays for a team who could be taking the afternoon off.
Dwayne Bowe has already been ruled out for the game, and Jamaal Charles might not see much playing time either. However, back-up quarterbacks don’t get much playing time, so Daniel could look to use this opportunity to his advantage. It’s a risk going with Daniel, but the risk might be minimal due to his low cost.
The price of Roethlisberger is right, as he’s right in the middle of the pack of StarStreet quarterbacks this week.
A lot of virtual ink has been spilled on Roethlisberger’s second half resurgence, but here are some key stats:
-8:7 passing touchdown to interception ratio from Week 1 to Week 8.
-19:5 passing touchdown to interception ratio from Week 9 to Week 16.
Also, Roethlisberger plays a Browns team out of the playoff race, while Pittsburgh still has an outside chance at making the playoffs.
Not to mention the Browns allowed three combined touchdowns to Geno Smith last week, and have given up multiple passing touchdowns in ten straight games, allowing 25 touchdowns during that span, while only creating eight interceptions.
Terrelle Pryor gets himself a late season opportunity to show the Raiders what he can do, and if he’s fully healthy, and puts up a good performance, it might give the Raiders some pause from drafting a quarterback early in next year’s draft.
The appeal with Pryor comes from his rushing skills, and on StarStreet, where passing touchdowns aren’t as valuable as rushing touchdowns, Pryor can give you a bit of an advantage because of his legs.
By this point, we know Pryor wasn’t fully healthy in his last start versus the Giants Week 10, and it showed in his slowed down mobility. Pryor ran for his lowest output that game, and when discounting it, he was rushing for an average of 69.3 yards per game in his first seven games.
When your quarterback can add almost seven fantasy points from rushing yards alone, it can soften the cushion if his passing day doesn’t provide much of the way in the box score.
If you mix and match the six quarterbacks I mentioned, you’re looking at spending as much as $27,900 (Foles/Newton), or as little as $18,200 (Pryor/Daniel).
Other StarStreet quarterbacks not discussed, but worth looking into include:
- Drew Brees $14,300
- Jay Cutler $11,900
- Philip Rivers $11,700
- Ryan Fitzpatrick $10,900
- Kirk Cousins $10,200
- Kyle Orton $10,000
- Jason Campbell $9,500
Good luck this week on StarStreet, and hopefully you can beef up your bankroll.
