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Gardner Minshew II Week 1 Outlook - Raiders at Panthers

By Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros), Tue, Sep 8th 2020, 12:49pm EDT

I've said it all offseason... Minshew has been underrated by the fantasy community. He posted top-18 type numbers in 71.4 percent of his games, which ranked 12th among quarterbacks. While that doesn't highlight a ceiling, it does highlight a floor, especially for those who like to stream the position. Keep in mind that floor was intact while he rushed for 344 yards without a single touchdown. With Jay Gruden as his offensive coordinator, you can all but guarantee him a few rushing touchdowns, especially with Leonard Fournette now gone. Kirk Cousins never rushed for more than 179 yards but scored 13 rushing touchdowns from 2015-2017 under Gruden. He's scored just two of them over the last two years since leaving Gruden. The Colts are a defense Minshew crushed last year, pouring on 295 yards and three touchdowns on 39 attempts. Even going back to Nick Foles in Week 11, he was able to throw for 296 yards and two touchdowns against them, so the Colts defense clearly didn't match up well against the Jaguars skill position players. There were nine quarterbacks who threw for at least 295 yards against them last year. The Colts did add DeForest Buckner to their defensive line, but also lost safety Clayton Geathers and cornerback Pierre Desir in the secondary. In a game that's supposed to be one-sided, we should see Minshew rack up some pass attempts/dropbacks, which does offer fantasy viability. I like him as a solid high-end QB2 this week who can be streamed. There were two quarterbacks who tagged the Colts defense for more than 28 fantasy points over the final four weeks of the season, so he has tournament appeal as well.

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