Gardner Minshew (QB, JAX) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 2QB Leagues

OWNED IN: 15% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: Even though it wasn’t his best game ever, Gardner Minshew was able, once again, to do enough to be considered a good play in 2QB leagues all around the nation. Sure, the 181 yards on 13 completions were not mind-blowing, nor was his 41.9 completion rate as Minshew attempted 31 passes. But at the end of the day, he threw a touchdown, avoided being picked, and finished with 16.7 fantasy points. Not bad for such a “bad” performance.

On the season, and until he was benched for Nick Foles once Jacksonville went on a bye, Minshew was putting up 21 FP per game. He threw 13 touchdowns to just four interceptions in his first nine games as a pro (starting eight of them) and had a couple of performances of 28.8 and 30.9 points in weeks 8 and 5 respectively. After being benched for two games, Minshew came back in Week 13 and although his games weren’t up to the standard he set earlier in the season (12, 15, and 21 FP), he still threw at least a touchdown in every one of them while being picked just once in that span.

While it’s hard to trust Minshew in his current state as a streamer in single-QB leagues, he is a solid play as a second-fiddle in 2QB leagues. Indianapolis has just the 18th-best defense against quarterbacks in fantasy this year, and Minshew is playing for his future as the starter of the Jaguars come 2020. As I said, consider Minshew a good QB2 play in that type of league and a viable streamer in single-QB ones only if you can get yourself someone better. If you think you don’t need many points to win the weekend you can take the risk and streaming him in any case, as he offers a floor close to 15-to-18 points with upside to getting 25 FP if everything works for him and the offense.