The quarterback injury plague claimed another victim in Week 3. Ben Roethlisberger went down with a knee injury that looked like a season-ender at first glance. Thankfully for his fantasy owners, Big Ben suffered “only” a sprained MCL, with no ACL damage. He’s expected to be out 4-6 weeks.
Fantasy football waiver wire: 4 quarterbacks to target for Week 4
Another star quarterback went down on Sunday and the bye weeks are now underway. The waiver wire is about to get a lot more important.
Roethlisberger’s injury is a big blow to the fantasy community, and it also raises concern about the fantasy values of Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. With so many injured quarterbacks and the bye weeks starting (Tom Brady and Marcus Mariota won’t be available this week), the waiver wire is starting to get more important.
Let’s take a look at potential options owned in 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues.
Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo Bills (38 percent)
Don’t look now, but Tyrod Time might be for real. The Bills went to South Florida and steamrolled the Miami Dolphins, with Taylor throwing for 277 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. What makes Taylor’s success encouraging is that he’s not just playing as a game manager while checking down -- his 9.2 yards per attempt rank third in the league, behind only Roethlisberger and Andy Dalton.
Taylor could yet crash down to earth, but we see no reason to believe it will happen soon. He gets a juicy matchup with the New York Giants’ bottom-five defense this week.
Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders (24 percent)
That’s now two weeks in a row of quality NFL play from Carr, who tossed for 314 yards, two touchdowns and no picks against the Cleveland Browns. With Amari Cooper looking like the real deal and an improved running game, Carr has quickly put himself on the QB2 map. He gets the woeful Chicago Bears this week, making him a great value play in DFS leagues.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, New York Jets (12 percent)
Okay, so Fitzpatrick didn’t have a great game Sunday, throwing three picks to the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite throwing the ball 58 times, he got just 283 yards for a paltry 4.9 YPA. It was a bad game all around for FitzMagic.
However, better days could be ahead when the Jets face a reeling Dolphins team in Week 4, making him worth a dart throw in DFS leagues. He’ll get a big boost if Eric Decker is able to return this week, along with Chris Ivory, who didn’t play on Sunday despite being active. You’ll likely only be starting Fitzpatrick if you’re in a two-quarterback league.
Michael Vick, Pittsburgh Steelers (three percent)
With Roethlisberger out, Pittsburgh is handing the keys to Vick. He last saw game action in 2014 and his performance was hardly inspiring, completing just 53 percent of his passes for 604 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in 10 games.
Vick doesn’t have much athleticism left these days, and the Steelers will likely do everything they can to hide him, which means doubling down on Bell. That said, he does have a decent matchup with a Baltimore Ravens defense that is badly missing Terrell Suggs. On a short week, Vick is just a desperation play in two-quarterback leagues. He could have a higher ceiling in Week 5 when the Steelers visit San Diego.
