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The Week 6 QB streams gave us two big hits and one miss. The miss was Teddy Bridgewater, as the Vikings did not come out of the bye swinging like I hoped. Blake Bortles was a big hit once again. Even though he had three interceptions, it did not hurt his fantasy performance. Bortles has played so well the past three weeks that he is finally no longer eligible for this column with 51% ownership. Lastly Ryan Fitzpatrick was my pick with under 25% ownership and he proved to be a great play. Fitzpatrick threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.
Week 7 will see Aaron Rodgers and Andy Dalton on their byes so I’m sure there are many out there looking for a one week stream. I have to say the options aren’t super appealing this week. I’ve managed to wade through and pick out the best ones for you.
For this Week 7 waiver wire article, I will look at two QBs owned in 50 percent or less of Fleaflicker leagues, and another QB owned in 25 percent or less to account for the QB scarcity in 2QB leagues.
Standard League QB Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 7
Derek Carr (OAK) @ Chargers
OWNED IN: 43% of Fleaflicker leagues
Carr is probably only eligible to be written about in this column for one week. He was above 50% before being understandably dropped from many teams during his bye. Carr has played well this season. He had three straight games with at least two touchdown passes before he ran into the wall that is the Denver defense. Overall he has eight touchdowns to just three interceptions.
Carr faces the Chargers in Week 7. The Chargers defense has been up and down on the season. They totally shut down Teddy Bridgewater, but they also gave up 350 yards to Josh McCown. In Week 6 they did a respectable job against Aaron Rodgers, but his receivers were also very banged up. Carr and his formidable WR duo of Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree should be fully healthy coming off the bye and I expect a very solid day from them, approaching top 10 numbers.
Deeper League QB Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 7
Ryan Fitzpatrick (NYJ) @ Patriots
OWNED IN: 22% of Fleaflicker Leagues
Fitzmagic had a rushing touchdown in Week 6, but he still would have been considered a success without it. The Jets have two great receivers to throw to and that has allowed Fitzpatrick to avoid a bad fantasy day all season. Fitz does admittedly make some awful throws at times but more often than not he hits Brandon Marshall or Eric Decker.
In Week 7 he will face the Patriots and they have allowed plenty of fantasy points to opposing QBs this season. The only game they managed to limit a QB is when they faced Brandon Weeden. The Jets will likely be throwing a lot here and that means more opportunities for Marshall and Decker to score. Fitz should have at least 15 points.
Brian Hoyer (HOU) @ Dolphins
OWNED IN: 13% of Fleaflicker Leagues
The Texans like to keep it simple for Hoyer. Specifically their pass attack is this: “Is DeAndre Hopkins open? If yes, throw to Hopkins. If maybe, throw to Hopkins. If no, throw to Hopkins. If NO NO NO, throw to Cecil Shorts or Nate Washington. I guess we can occasionally get a screen to Foster in as well.” I think you get the point. Lucky for us, Hopkins is really good and has now had 148 yards or more in three straight games. This past week Hopkins accounted for over 50% of Hoyer’s passing yards and it was a great day for both. In fact, Hoyer has now had three straight above average fantasy days.
The Dolphins played much better on defense coming off the bye with a new head coach. They had six sacks and four turnovers. I’m definitely a little concerned that may carry into Week 7 but looking at some of the other options this week (Alex Smith, Bridgewater, Nick Foles) I really do believe Hoyer offers more upside than those guys. Throw it to Hopkins, screen it to Foster, get points.
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