Streaming Quarterbacks: Week 1 Fantasy Football Targets
What do we know about QB streaming? We know it works.
Not because we expect our streaming picks to match the output of elite fantasy football options, but because the gap between higher-priced draft capital QBs and late-round/streaming options is shrinking. It’s shrinking to the point where the difference between the median of QB7-12 and QB13-20 was less than one point per week last year.
Want more proof? Our optimal streaming QB picks last season averaged 21.2 points per game from Week 1 to Week 16, good enough for QB10 overall. That means you could have achieved QB1 results without drafting a quarterback last year. Overall, our streaming QB choices last year averaged 18.1 points through 16 weeks. Niiiiiiccccce.
Our standard for this exercise will be to select only quarterbacks with no more than 40 percent ownership in Yahoo! leagues. We will use that standard as not to be accused of stretching the definition of “streamer” (plus, we like a challenge). It will also allow for similar availability on other sites.
We’ll focus on factors such as QB points per game, the opponent’s schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks (aFPA), and the Vegas implied team totals.
Sam Bradford (MIN) vs. NO
Sammy Sleeves enters Week 1 at home in the dome against the susceptible Saints secondary with an implied team total of 25.75 points, tied for the seventh-highest team total of the week. New Orleans was also the sixth-easiest matchup for quarterbacks in our aFPA last season. The Saints allowed 18 or more fantasy points to QBs in half of their games last season, with six of those eight games coming indoors. Bradford also has a healthy Stefon Diggs to start the season along with plus weapons in tight end Kyle Rudolph and the underrated Adam Thielen. Rookie RB Dalvin Cook has also produced as a pass catcher out of the backfield in the preseason.
Bradford is only 18 percent owned in Yahoo! leagues.
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