RADIO
Week 1 was not a stellar week for quarterbacks. Just six quarterbacks finished Week 1 with 20 or more fantasy points. Only one quarterback (Tua Tagovailoa) had over 300 passing yards. Two quarterbacks (Baker Mayfield and Derek Carr) surpassed two passing touchdowns.
The good news is it can only improve from here -- unless you roster Jordan Love, who will miss time after injuring his MCL against the Eagles. It is still early in the season, which means it's not too late to start streaming quarterbacks to make up for a bad day from your signal-caller in Week 1.
In this article, I will focus on players under 65% rostered in fantasy leagues while adding a couple of deep sleepers for two-quarterback leagues (less than 25% rostered). Let’s look at who you should consider picking up for Week 2 below. All rostership percentages will be from Yahoo fantasy leagues.
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Single-QB Waiver Wire Pickups And Stashes
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 34% rostered
Baker Mayfield picked up where he left off in 2023, completing 24-of-30 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns in a big win against the Washington Commanders. The veteran moved well in the pocket and spread the ball around to Chris Godwin (8/83/1), Rachaad White (6/75/0), and Mike Evans (5/61/2).
.@bakermayfield's was cookin' in Week 1:
🔥 24/30
🔥 289 yards
🔥 4 TDs@Buccaneers | @FedEx pic.twitter.com/7CaMLQyBhX— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2024
Mayfield produced the second-most points out of the quarterback position (29.6), trailing only Josh Allen. It isn’t reasonable for us to expect that kind of production throughout the entire season, but Mayfield has become a steady producer since joining the Buccaneers before 2023.
He’s poised to continue his hot streak for the next couple of weeks with matchups against Detroit and Denver on the horizon. The schedule will get more difficult, but Mayfield will continue to be a QB2 with upside as long as the Buccaneers offense is clicking on all cylinders.
Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings - 10% rostered
Sam Darnold had an efficient showing in his first start with the Vikings. He started the game by completing his first 12 passes and ultimately finished the game 19-of-24 for 208 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. The Giants didn’t pose much of a threat on the scoreboard, leading Minnesota to lean on its rushing attack.
Moneyball.
Sam Darnold x @JJettas2
📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/gNnifylb6X
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 8, 2024
Ultimately, Darnold showed for at least a week that he could provide fantasy value in the Kevin O’Connell offense working with Justin Jefferson. The next four games aren’t great for the Vikings offense (San Francisco, Houston, Green Bay, and the Jets), but Darnold also doesn’t have anybody who will usurp his job with J.J. McCarthy on IR.
Darnold proved he’s a worthy bench stash for fantasy football in his first game. He may not crack your lineup the next five weeks -- Minnesota has a bye in Week 6 -- but will be fantasy-relevant in this offense.
Two-QB Waiver Wire Pickups And Stashes
Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers - 7% rostered
The Steelers had Russell Wilson on the sideline in their Week 1 win over the Falcons due to a calf injury. Wilson seldom practiced over the summer but was still tabbed as the Week 1 starter. However, the recurrence of his calf injury allowed Fields to get the first start of the year.
Thankfully for Wilson, Fields didn’t do much to wrestle the starting position away from Wilson despite winning the game.
Fields finished the game completing 17-of-23 passes for 156 yards while adding 14 carries for 57 yards. It was an underwhelming fantasy performance (11.94 fantasy points) against a strong Falcons secondary.
We know that Justin Fields can break fantasy football with his rushing ability, but all signs point to the fact that a healthy Russell Wilson will be the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Wilson will likely go under-added in free agency since he didn’t play but has a fair deal of upside with soft matchups against Denver, the Chargers, and Indianapolis on the horizon.
Daniel Jones, New York Giants - 7% rostered
Daniel Jones didn’t do much to dispel the notion that he’s terrible against the Vikings defense. He completed just 22-of-42 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions. He also had six carries for 15 yards. The bar was pretty low for Jones coming off his ACL injury, yet he failed to clear even that with 4.9 fantasy points.
this angle of the latest Daniel Jones INT pic.twitter.com/YNqNKOsKwY
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 8, 2024
To be fair to Jones, we probably shouldn’t have expected much with his first start of the season coming against a Brian Flores defense. Thankfully for Jones (and his fantasy managers), he will be in a much different position in Week 2.
New York will play against the Commanders in Week 2, which is still a terrible defensive unit after being extremely exploitable in fantasy in 2023. Washington got picked part by Baker Mayfield in Week 1 and generated just one sack.
The schedule gets much worse for Jones after Week 2 with matchups against Cleveland, Dallas, and Seattle on the horizon, but he has some appeal for at least one week. He’s a strong streaming option for fantasy managers trying to figure out the quarterback position without Jordan Love in the coming weeks.
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More Waiver Wire Pickups and Advice
