When you first saw him, you couldn’t help but be a little overwhelmed. Those eyes, that smile… so handsome. Jimmy Garoppolo has that it factor that allows you to let your guard down, let him buy you a drink, see where it goes. Also, he’s a good football player, which he made abundantly clear as substituting Jimmy Garoppolo for C.J. Beathard suddenly wallpapered over a ton of issues with the 49ers offense. This weekend, the 49ers travel to Houston to take on the severely depleted Houston Texans defense, but is Jimmy Garoppolo someone you should consider starting this week?
First and foremost, you must be in a unique situation if you need to start, or even entertain the idea of starting Garoppolo this week. It’s week fourteen, which means the playoffs have started (or it’s win-and-in week in ten-teamers), which means you need to have gotten this far without a usable quarterback. If you’re streaming, sweet! Jimmy Garoppolo is a great target for you this weekend. He looked amazing last week, putting the ball exactly where it needed to go nearly every time he wound up. His first pass was a mess, but that’s offset by the interception being not his fault at all. The best way to explain how great he was last weekend was that Marquise Goodwin caught all eight of his targets. While Jimmy G didn’t light up the fantasy football stat sheet (no touchdowns), he showed that he is the 49ers quarterback of the future.
This week, however, Garoppolo gets the exact matchup he needs to have his breakout game. Garoppolo has literally his best possible matchup, given that he plays for the only team in the league that allows more fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. The Texans have earned every bit of that ranking, as only three quarterbacks this season (Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton and Blake Bortles) have fewer than 17.5 fantasy points against them. That’s the kind of consistent floor that plays to Garoppolo’s always cool, never frazzled skillset. They’ve allowed multiple QB touchdowns in four of the last five games and 250+ yards in four of six. The Texans also don’t garner turnovers since their bye, picking off just two QBs in their last six games.
Trying to play Jimmy Garoppolo means you’re in an exceptionally awkward roster position. He had almost no chance of starting until about a month ago and is in his second start on a bad team. However, he’s the real deal and has a high chance of ending up as a top-ten fantasy football QB this weekend. If you are playing to make the fantasy football playoffs this week, or are already in, then you likely have a better quarterback already on your roster. If you’re streaming, however, Jimmy G is your man.
