There is almost always a decent crop of quarterbacks available on any given week, whether that be your spare QB on the bench or a host of them on the waiver wire. In today’s NFL, most quarterbacks will probably be at least “fine” from a fantasy perspective, but QBs have massive scoring potential and, as such, they should get as much attention as the rest of your roster.
There are a few QBs that are locked into your lineup basically regardless of matchup. I consider those to be Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Kyler Murray. There are a couple of guys angling to be in that tier, but for purposes of this piece, you won’t see any of the above moving forward. If you have them, play them.
This “elite” list used to include Lamar Jackson, but he has moved down and is now fair game in the main section.
Let’s take a look at a few typically solid options with overall QB1 upside, some mid-range QBs that aren’t automatic starters but may be hanging out on your bench, and a bunch of decent streaming options for Week 12.
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Rostered Options with Massive Upside
Justin Herbert (LAC)
Herbert may find himself up in the elite section next week. You pretty much can’t and wouldn’t bench him at this point, but humor me. He has fewer than 20.5 fantasy points one time this season, and that was still an acceptable 14.7. He’s fifth in the league in fantasy points per game among quarterbacks prior to facing the Bills, who give up the fifth-most points to opposing signal-callers. It may seem too good to be true, but keep firing up Herbert.
Deshaun Watson (HOU)
Watson has had an under-the-radar great season so far, averaging 22.4 points per game with his lowest total at 14.1. Coming off one of his best performances of the season, he’s playing a Lions defense that just made P.J. Walker look like a perennial starter. He’s a locked-and-loaded starter.
Mid-Range QBs Who May be Available
Matt Ryan (ATL)
Ryan had his worst game of the season last week in almost every category, so let’s hope that was an anomaly. The Falcons are playing the Raiders, who have given up 19.8 points to opposing fantasy quarterbacks. The nation saw how bad their clutch defense was last week against the Chiefs. Defense/special teams fantasy scoring fluctuates drastically, but in what I understand to be standard scoring, the Raiders have nine fantasy points this season. They only had two performances above one fantasy point. The Falcons probably won’t run consistently, so Ryan should produce.
Carson Wentz (PHI)
Okay, relax. I know he’s been bad. You know he’s been bad. Wentz, however, is probably fighting for his job and football career at this point. He also plays the Seahawks, who have been dreadful all season aside from keeping an injured Kyler Murray mostly in check last week. Wentz had a bad game last week and still finished with 14.4 fantasy points. You can do better, but he should be fine.
Streamers!
Derek Carr (LV)
Carr has thrown three touchdowns in a game on three occasions this season, twice against the Chiefs and once against the Saints. He plays probably the weakest of the NFC South defenses this week in the Falcons, the worst in the league against opposing QBs with almost 26 (!) fantasy points per game allowed to quarterbacks. I still don’t really buy into the Raiders’ offense, nor do I think they have a real identity, but I can get behind Carr against Atlanta.
Baker Mayfield (CLE)
It wouldn’t be my weekly QB1 piece if we weren’t following the Jaguars. The Browns may just run the ball 90 times a game from here on out, but Mayfield should be good for two touchdowns against a paltry Jaguars secondary.
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Donald Gibson is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Donald, check out his archive and follow him @DonaldGibsonFF
