Byes: Indianapolis (Andrew Luck), Minnesota (Teddy Bridgewater), New England (Tom Brady), San Diego (Philip Rivers), Washington (Robert Griffin III), and Houston (Ryan Mallett)
In our weekly game to keep track of the different number of starting quarterbacks in the NFL, we left off with 44 after Week 8. Then Brandon Weeden and Michael Vick happened, and that number rose to 46. If the NFL ever wanted to create their own Hollywood Squares game show featuring quarterbacks they’d have no trouble finding enough players. Case Keenum could be the middle square.
With Ryan Mallett named the starting QB in Houston and Mark Sanchez taking over in Philadelphia, it will be interesting to see if that number can reach the 50 mark. Again, as always, the lesson is to be prepared for anything in 2-QB leagues, even if that means starting Mark Sanchez.
Week 10 Fantasy Football Quarterback Rankings for 2-QB Fantasy Football Leagues:
1. Aaron Rodgers vs. CHI
2. Peyton Manning @ OAK
3. Ben Roethlisberger @ NYJ
4. Jay Cutler @ GB
5. Drew Brees vs. SF
6. Carson Palmer vs. STL
7. Russell Wilson vs. NYG
8. Colin Kaepernick @ NO
9. Matt Ryan @ TB
10. Cam Newton @ PHI
11. Mark Sanchez vs. CAR
12. Michael Vick vs. PIT
13. Matthew Stafford vs. MIA
14. Tony Romo @ JAC
15. Derek Carr vs. DEN
16. Eli Manning @ SEA
17. Alex Smith @ BUF
18. Ryan Tannehill @ DET
19. Joe Flacco vs. TEN
20. Kyle Orton vs. KC
21. Austin Davis @ ARI
22. Andy Dalton vs. CLE
23. Blake Bortles vs. JAC
24. Josh McCown vs. ATL
25. Brian Hoyer @ CIN
26. Zach Mettenberger @ BAL
27. Mike Glennon vs. ATL
28. Brandon Weeden @ JAC
29. Johnny Manziel @ CIN
30. Geno Smith vs. PIT
31. Derek Anderson @ PHI
Week 10 Quarterbacks on the Rise:
When you become a starting quarterback in the NFL, it’s almost an automatic initiation into this grouping. While Mark Sanchez may have earned a spot through Nick Foles‘ collarbone injury he’s still a starting quarterback nonetheless.
Nick Foles was in no way going to match his 2013 campaign. It just wasn’t going to happen. And I think too many fantasy owners expected, or hoped he would. The overall numbers don’t look great, as he was only fantasy QB21 on the season. But he did have three Top-12 fantasy QB finishes, threw for 300+ yards four times, and had 2+ passing TDs in five of his eight games.
Will Sanchez reach those heights starting in Philadelphia? Who knows, but when you’re quarterbacking a Chip Kelly offensive system you have to be feel good about his chances.
This spot has become sort of a way to take a step back and look at some of the top performing quarterbacks in recent weeks. This week the nod goes to Big Ben and his outstanding last two weeks:
Week 8: 81.6 completion percentage, 522 passing yards, 6 passing TDs, 44.78 fantasy points (QB1)
Week 9: 67.6 completion percentage, 340 passing yards, 6 passing TDs, 35.70 fantasy points (QB1)
A third straight week of six passing touchdowns might be out of the question, but it so happens that Big Ben and the Steelers play the New York Jets this week, who have given up the most passing touchdowns on the year (24).
If you drafted Big Ben to be your QB2 in a 2-QB league you’re riding pretty high right about now.
Week 10 Quarterbacks on the Slide
On the season, Cam Newton is the fantasy QB17 in standard scoring leagues, and had another mediocre fantasy performance in Week 9.
Things were looking up for Cam in Week 6. He had finally utilized his greatest strength – his rushing ability – to the tune of 17 carries for 107 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Up to that point he had a combined 14 carries for 42 yards and no rushing touchdowns.
The rushing stats have been there for Newton recently, and they’re the only reason why his fantasy points haven’t been absolute garbage.
In his last three games, Newton scored a combined 31.88 fantasy points. Of those 31.88 fantasy points, 16.8 or 52.7% have come from the ground. That would be great news if those rushing fantasy points were enhancing great passing fantasy points numbers, but they haven’t been, as he’s only put up 15.08 fantasy points through the air the last three weeks. Hopefully he can right the ship vs. Philadelphia this week.
This one hurts. I’ve never thought that Mike Glennon was a good quarterback in real life that deserved to be a starter, but I always thought he was a decent fantasy QB2 that you could rely on as a spot starter.
This season he has thrown for two touchdowns in four of his five starts. That type of QB2 production showed he could be a viable fantasy option in 2-QB leagues, but then Lovie Smith decided to yank the starting quarterback job away from Glennon.
Glennon’s value obviously takes a dip as the now backup in Tampa Bay, but I would still hold onto him if you have the room on your 2-QB roster. There’s no guarantee McCown will come in and do anything to prove he should be starting other than his birth certificate indicating he’s older than Glennon.
*Stats used in this article courtesy of FantasyData
