Jay Cutler has a favorable matchup for streaming purposes Week 16
With more and more fantasy owners opting to wait on the quarterback and tight end positions in drafts, streaming each position has become a viable option. This is made easier by the fact that there are usually solid options on the waiver wire. Each week this column will scour the waiver wire and look for quarterbacks and tight ends who are owned in fewer than 50% of leagues and could be worth starting for your fantasy team.
All ownership percentages come from Yahoo fantasy leagues and all references to fantasy points allowed per game come from our fantasy points allowed (PA) reports. All references to DVOA (Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average) come from rankings on www.footballoutsiders.com. A detailed explanation of DVOA can be found here.
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Quarterback
Jay Cutler – Chicago Bears (41% owned)
@ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Cutler has a plus matchup this weekend against a struggling Tampa Bay pass defense. The Buccaneers have been stout against the run this season, but Football Outsiders has them ranked just 23rd against the pass in DVOA through Week 14. The game script sets up favorably for the offense to call a high volume of pass attempts as the Bears will likely struggle to move the ball on the ground. Cutler, albeit with a limited ceiling, has been steady this season passing for multiple touchdowns in six of 13 games played.
Alex Smith – Kansas City Chiefs (37% owned)
vs. Cleveland Browns
Smith will take on a poor Cleveland defense that has not been able to stop opposing offenses all season, ranking 26th in pass defense DVOA and 29th in run defense DVOA. The potential for Smith to have a big game exists, but there’s also a strong possibility that the run-first Chiefs jump out to a big lead and sit on the ball the rest of the game. Game script aside, Smith is one of this week’s top quarterback streaming options who is less than 50% owned at this point of the year. Smith, always a threat to tack on some rushing yards, should be able to turn in a productive outing before the game gets out of hand.
Tight End
Zach Miller – Chicago Bears (34% owned)
@ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Miller is an excellent streaming option if you are in need of a tight end for Week 16. His season-long stats don’t look too impressive because he was playing behind Martellus Bennett, but he’s been really good in the three games that Bennett has missed. In those three games, Miller has caught 13-of-19 targets for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Bennett is out for the year, so all the work at tight end should be going to Miller for the rest of the season.
Eric Ebron – Detroit Lions (31% owned)
vs. San Francisco 49ers
Ebron has the tight end spot all to himself now that Brandon Pettigrew is out for the season. Ebron was productive against the Saints in Week 15, turning five targets into four catches for 79 yards. He was really close to scoring a touchdown in that game as he was tackled inches from the goal line. San Francisco is allowing just 7.2 fantasy points per game to tight ends, but their pass defense is ranked just 23rd in DVOA against the position. It appears that Calvin Johnson is playing at less than 100% as he’s made just two catches over the past two weeks. Johnson’s ineffectiveness could lead to some extra looks for Golden Tate and Ebron going forward.
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Matthew Terelle is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Matthew, check out his archive and follow him @supermt.
