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The story of Week 8 in the NFL will be the brutal weather situations that stifled many offenses across the league. Patrick Mahomes (416 yards and five touchdowns) and Russell Wilson (261 yards and four touchdowns) did what they do best, but statistics were down across the league. Only three quarterbacks threw for over 300 yards and only seven passers had more than two passing touchdowns. Ten quarterbacks failed to throw for over 200 yards passing.
Looking ahead to Week 9, there are still plenty of viable fantasy quarterbacks populating the waiver wire that can be added to your roster for except a bench spot. Once again, there will be four teams on bye (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles Rams) with three of the teams featuring quarterbacks who are mostly rostered in fantasy leagues. Finding the right streaming replacement is crucial to keeping momentum in fantasy and working toward the playoffs in your league.
In this article, I will be focusing on players who are under 65% rostered in fantasy leagues while adding a couple of deep sleepers for two-quarterback leagues (less than 20% rostered).
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Top QB Streamers and Adds
Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders
Yahoo: 43% rostered ESPN: 47.6% rostered
The weather in Cleveland played a major role in the Raiders’ passing game during Week 8. Carr threw for only 112 yards and a touchdown against Cleveland in a 16-6 win. His 12.58 fantasy points represented his lowest total of the season and it was the first time in five weeks Carr failed to throw for multiple scores through the air. The low fantasy output is probably good for your fantasy team though, as it will likely allow Carr to be under the radar heading into Week 8.
The Raiders' Week 8 opponent, the Chargers, has been exploited heavily against quarterbacks. The Chargers were allowing 23 fantasy points per week before watching Drew Lock have his most productive game of the season against their secondary. Carr performed well against the Chargers last season, throwing for 1,679 yards and seven touchdowns (with four interceptions) in their two games last season and has added an explosive complement of perimeter weapons that should help his production even more.
Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings
Yahoo: 28% rostered ESPN: 14.8% rostered
Kirk Cousins didn’t offer much in the Vikings’ weather influenced tilt against the Packers. Cousins completed 11 of 14 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown in a cold, windy upset victory. Cousins didn’t have to do much heavy lifting as Dalvin Cook erupted for a four-touchdown day and looked unstoppable after missing a week with a groin injury. Aside from Week 8, Cousins was on a nice little tear heading into the Vikings bye week. He had four straight games with 249 or more passing yards and three of four contests with multiple touchdown passes.
Cousins has a very fantasy-friendly schedule coming up over the next five weeks. He faces the Lions, the Bears (you’ll want to bench him here), the Cowboys, Panthers, and Jaguars with four games at home in the dome. Cousins may just be the quarterback you want on your bench if your team is looking to make a playoff push. Grab him while you can.
Teddy Bridgewater, Carolina Panthers
Yahoo: 57% rostered ESPN: 39.9% rostered
A second-half torrential downpour seriously limited Teddy Bridgewater and the Panthers’ second-half passing effort as they tried to come back against the Falcons on Thursday night. Bridgewater finished the night completing 15 of 23 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown with an interception. It was the first game this season Bridgewater failed to throw for over 200 yards, which was disappointing for fantasy players who expected big things against a terrible secondary.
The Chiefs aren’t the best matchup for quarterbacks in fantasy this season as they have only allowed nine touchdowns and nine interceptions on the season. However, with four teams on bye once again in Week 9 he represents the lesser of multiple evils. The Panthers have explosive players on the perimeter in Robby Anderson, D.J. Moore, and Curtis Samuel and should return a somewhat well-known weapon named Christian McCaffrey in the backfield this week. Bridgewater won’t make many mistakes, which makes him a solid streaming option this week.
2QB League Options and Stashes
Kyle Allen, Washington Football Team
Yahoo: 4% rostered ESPN: 2.4% rostered
The bye week and abysmal record likely caused everybody to forget that Kyle Allen has been a solid, streamable quarterback since taking over for Dwayne Haskins. Allen went into the bye week throwing for 474 yards and four touchdowns with one interception against the Giants and Cowboys. Allen had consecutive weeks scoring over 16 fantasy points and has a phenomenal slate of games coming out of the Washington Football Team’s bye.
Allen will get a chance to face the Giants, Lions, Bengals, and Cowboys before matchups against the Steelers and 49ers likely force him back to your waiver wire. On the surface, the Giants have been solid against opposing quarterbacks this season, allowing just 17.6 points per game to the position. However, that total doesn’t account for Monday night’s tilt against the Buccaneers. Also, most teams are good enough to just run the clock out once they get up big against the Giants. The Washington Footballers probably don’t have the talent to pull ahead, making it likely that Allen airs it out.
In his first game against New York this season, Allen completed 31 of 42 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns.
Jake Luton / Mike Glennon, Jacksonville Jaguars
Yahoo: ~1% rostered ESPN: ~1% rostered
This last addition will require some monitoring as the Week goes on for Jacksonville. During the bye week, news came out that Garnder Minshew had been playing with multiple fractures and a torn ligament in his thumb. As the week continued, news leaked that the Jaguars would likely keep Minshew inactive during the week, opening up a quarterback competition between Mike Glennon (dry heaving) or Jake Luton (???).
We already know what Mike Glennon is (bad), so let’s take this space to focus on Jake Luton. Luton was the Jaguars sixth-round draft pick out of Oregon State and had gotten some positive reviews during training camp. In his last season in Corvallis, Luton completed 62% of his passes for 2,714 yards and 28 touchdowns with three interceptions. Luton is more of a pocket passer than a scrambler (5.07 40 yard dash), so the rushing upside of Minshew won’t be realized with him. However, he will have James Robinson, Laviska Shenault, and D.J. Chark (hopefully healthy after the bye week) to do the running for him.
For my money, I would guess the Jaguars start Luton against the Texans in Week 8. We already know what Mike Glennon is (again, bad) so you might as well see what the rookie can do. I mean, it worked well for them last year. He gets a prime matchup against the Texans in Week 8. Heading into their bye, Houston was allowing 21.1 points per week to quarterbacks and have given up 17 touchdowns to just one interception on the season. If Bradley Roby is still limited after his injury against the Packers, then the matchup is even better.
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