Streaming Quarterbacks: Week 2 Targets

Sep 13, 2016

Welcome back to the QB Streaming corner of this great website. Every week, we discuss three options at the quarterback position, limiting ourselves to players available in at least 60% of public leagues. In essence, these are free options to pick up and plug in for one or two weeks, cycling through matchups in order to put together a reliable floor at the position. Our primary goal is to avoid disaster, so we focus on players with a good fantasy floor, knowing we won’t always hit upside with these lower-tier QBs, but we look for upside where we can get it safely.

Last week, our optimal streaming QB of the week looked like a train wreck through three quarters, before turning on the gas to finish the game. Alex Smith finished with 32 fantasy points, good enough for QB5 on the week, and we got that upside we love to see in our streamers. Smith was only owned in 21% of leagues last week, so hopefully many of you were able to take advantage of our recommendation and slot the Chiefs QB into your starting lineup.

Our other QBs, Brock Osweiler and Joe Flacco, finished with 20.6 and 14 fantasy points, putting our season average at 22.2 fantasy points. That’s good enough for QB14; not bad for QBs you could add for free.

Let’s see if we can keep this train rolling in Week 2.

As before, I focus on QB points per game and the Vegas implied team totals to determine good QB streamers, then I add in their matchup for the week before selecting my top three choices. To rate defenses, I utilize Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points allowed (aFPA). Note: 4for4’s 2016 aFPA data will first come out after we get three full weeks in the system. For the first three weeks, we are using last year’s data.

Week 2 QB Streaming Targets

Joe Flacco (BAL) at Cleveland

Flacco is not as clear of a favorite streamer this week as Alex Smith was last week, but my numbers love the fact that he leads the Ravens into Cleveland, where we can expect the opposing defense to give up points early and often. Right now, Vegas has the Ravens at an implied team total of 25, putting them easily inside the top-third for the week. Flacco disappointed with 14 points last week, but the Browns are nowhere near the defense that Buffalo was. Cleveland gave up an astounding 20.1 aFPA to opposing QBs last year, and they just made rookie Carson Wentz look impressive in Week 1. I expect the Marc Trestman-led Ravens to get their passing game on track in Week 2.

Flacco is available in 82% of Yahoo public leagues, and he is my optimal streaming QB of the week.

Continue reading for two more streaming QBs.