If we are being completely honest, I didn’t think that we would make it to this point… and we almost didn’t. COVID-19 ravaged the league last week, with dozens of players hitting COVID-IR including an entire QB room. It was the Broncos’ QB room, though. So, we lost nothing of value. It’s time for us to gear up for the final week of the fantasy football regular season with some quarterback sleeper picks. To qualify as a quarterback sleeper, a player must be unrostered in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues. For deep league folks, I include one quarterback sleeper available in at least 90% of Yahoo! leagues.
Quarterback Sleeper Option #1:
Baker Mayfield at Tennessee (36% rostered)
Folks gave up on Baker Mayfield after his three disastrous games (and a bye week) without Odell Beckham, Jr. Keen meteorologists, like me, recognized that Baker played in a bunch of monsoons (or one, long, non-stop monsoon) and his numbers suffered for it. Prior to the monsoon games, Baker played on a 34-touchdown pace. He had no TDs for three-straight (while topping 135 passing yards just once) in the rainy conditions. Last week, he bounced back with 258 yards, 2 touchdowns and zero picks.
This week Baker gets a Titans squad that allows the fifth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks… And to be honest with you, I tried to find a good dividing line to say “since x weeks ago they’ve given up blah blah blah” but there isn’t a good dividing line. On the season, only Drew Lock and Big Ben have fewer than 18 fantasy points against them. I’m lumping Jacoby Brissett sneaks in with Philip Rivers to do this, but I don’t care, sneak the ball, Phil! They’re a great matchup and I expect Baker to take full advantage of it after getting waterlogged for a full month after throwing 5 touchdowns in a game without Odell Beckham.
Quarterback Sleeper Option #2:
Ryan Fitzpatrick versus Cincinnati (20% rostered)
If Tua Tagovailoa miraculously gets the start, then Philip Rivers (35% rostered) is your pivot here. But, I don’t expect to pivot. Fitzmagic is back, baby! To be completely fair to Fitzmagic, he never left, the Dolphins did. Fitzpatrick averaged 292 total yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0.8 interceptions per game in the five games before Miami opted for Tua. Last week he triumphantly returned to the lineup and notched 19.3 fantasy points against the Jets, the first of two REVENGE GAMES for Fitzpatrick. Though, to be fair, every game has a 50-50 shot of being a revenge game.
On paper, the Bengals are middling opponents for quarterbacks. More accurately: they’re just sort of speedbumps. Daniel Jones and Alex Smith combined for just about 20 fantasy points, but six of the prior seven QBs against the Bengals topped 18 fantasy points.
Deep League Quarterback Sleeper Option:
Mitchell Trubisky at Detroit (7% rostered)
Troobs. IS. BACK! Mitchell Trubisky “won” the quarterback competition in Chicago and he’s here to kick ass and chew bu—okay I can’t do it. I just can’t. Trubisky isn’t good, but he’s (1) good enough and (2) taking on the Lions. Trubisky put up three touchdowns (in garbage time) against a pretty-good Packers defense last week, his first action since the Bears tried to Taysom Hill him and he injured his shoulder in week eight. This week he gets a Lions squad that lets pretty much everyone but P.J. Walker put up good fantasy games against them. Alex Smith had 390 passing yards against them. Alex Smith! They allow the seventh-most fantasy points to QBs on the year. Trubisky isn’t good, but his matchup is, and if you’re looking down here, isn’t that sort of the same thing?
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