The fantasy football season is now entering the stretch run. The bye weeks are over and rosters should be at full strength, or at least close to it (condolences to the Justin Forsett owners).
Fantasy football waiver wire: 5 quarterbacks to target for Week 12
The bye weeks are over and the sprint to the fantasy playoffs begins this week.
The biggest loss at quarterback in Week 12 was Joe Flacco, who tore his ACL during a comeback win over the St. Louis Rams. Despite being a devastating loss to the Baltimore Ravens in real life, Flacco was always a fringe fantasy contributor. And under no circumstances should you pick up Matt Schaub on the waiver wire.
Instead of talking yourself into Schaub, here are five better quarterback options on the wire. All players are owned in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans (44 percent)
Mariota isn’t putting up gaudy numbers recently, but the rookie continues to avoid mistakes and has thrown just one interception since coming back from his knee injury in Week 9. If there’s one thing holding back his fantasy potential, it’s his poor supporting cast at wide receiver. Mariota hasn’t thrown a touchdown in two straight games, but he’s a decent bet to break that streak against the Oakland Raiders’ 30th-ranked pass defense. Mariota will be a high-end QB2 this week.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, New York Jets (24 percent)
Fitzpatrick rushed back from thumb surgery and it showed -- he had one of his worst games of the season while the Jets lost to the Houston Texans and slumped to 5-5. Fitzpatrick has thrown four interceptions in the past two games, but Geno Smith is not an upgrade and the Texans will stick with their veteran starter for now. He has as good a chance as any to bounce back against the Miami Dolphins, who rank 20th in passing yards allowed per game. When these teams met in Week 4, Fitzpatrick threw for 218 yards, a touchdown and one interception. He remains on the QB2 radar, although his streaming appeal is starting to fade.
Brock Osweiler, Denver Broncos (17 percent)
The Broncos turned to Osweiler with Peyton Manning battling a foot injury. Making his first NFL start, Osweiler acquitted himself well, throwing for 250 yards, two touchdowns and no interception on 20-of-27 passing against the Chicago Bears. His performance was good enough that the Broncos are giving him another start while Manning seeks a second opinion on his foot.
Osweiler’s opponent this week? The New England Patriots, which will be a daunting challenge for any young quarterback, let alone one making his second start. Osweiler is still worth owning in 12-team leagues, but don’t force him into your starting lineup if you don’t have to.
Brian Hoyer, Houston Texans (10 percent)
Hoyer sat out Week 11 with a concussion, but he’s since been cleared and will return to the lineup this week. T.J. Yates manned the ship reasonably well and did enough to get a win over the Jets, but Hoyer is the better option for now. Hoyer has been hard to trust most of the year, but the New Orleans Saints are fielding a historically terrible defense that just got Rob Ryan fired. This might be your best chance to get QB1 production out of Hoyer, and he’ll be one of the most popular DFS plays this week. Strike while the iron is hot.
Johnny Manziel, Cleveland Browns (5 percent)
With their season in the toilet, the Browns finally did the sensible thing and named Manziel the starter for the rest of the year. He’s an obvious boom-or-bust option in fantasy, but had by far his biggest “boom” game in Week 10, racking up 372 passing yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Manziel is hard to trust in season-long leagues, but he’s a solid QB2 streamer if the matchup is right. The Ravens -- and their 24th-ranked passing defense -- represent one of those good matchups, so fire away in daily formats.
