Fantasy football waiver wire: Best quarterbacks available in Week 7

With the fantasy football season approaching the halfway mark, the major injuries just keep piling up, which makes the waiver wire an important factor in the middle of the bye weeks.

Perhaps the biggest injury yet happened in Week 6, when Aaron Rodgers went down with a broken collarbone that could cost him the rest of the season. This will have a ripple effect on multiple levels, shaking up both the NFC playoff race and the fantasy football community.

For Rodgers owners, it robs them of a set-and-forget QB1 and forces them to explore other options at the position. For owners of Jordy Nelson, Davante Adams, and Randall Cobb, it lowers the fantasy ceiling of all involved. And for football fans, it’s just going to suck not watching one of the best in the game for the rest of 2017.

Rodgers is the biggest injury news of the week, but he’s not the only one. Jameis Winston left early with a shoulder injury, though he was throwing the ball on the sidelines and might play this week. In addition, there are two more bye teams this week — Detroit Lions and Houston Texans — making Matthew Stafford and Deshaun Watson unavailable.

With yet more turnover at the position, let’s look at the best waiver wire quarterbacks owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! leagues.

After a miserable start to the season, Dalton has settled back in as a high-end QB2, which by default makes him a top waiver option during the bye weeks. He got some bad news during the Bengals’ bye when Tyler Eifert went on injured reserve, but it’s not like Eifert has been playing much anyway. With A.J. Green fully healthy, Dalton will have his usual boring-but-safe fantasy value. He does have a tough matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road, however.

The Bills offense is hardly electric, with Taylor throwing for just six touchdowns through his first five games. He also has yet to reach 230 yards in a game, with 224 in Week 1 being his season high. There simply hasn’t been much upside for Taylor in fantasy this year, but he’ll have one of his best matchups yet against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ depleted secondary.

Is McCown Town back or is the New England Patriots defense just that bad? It’s a little of both, honestly. McCown was legitimately dealing in Week 6, racking up 354 yards and helping the Jets nearly pull off the upset. McCown slowed down as the Patriots came back to win, but for the first time all season, it feels like this Jets offense is worth looking at in fantasy. We’ll see if McCown keeps it up when he plays the Miami Dolphins next.

Keenum hasn’t exactly been lighting up the scoreboard, but he’s performed about as well as can be expected with Sam Bradford on the shelf. Believe it or not, Keenum didn’t commit a turnover all season until Week 6, when he tossed an interception but finished with 239 yards and a touchdown. We know who Keenum is at this point, but with the wire particularly thin this week, he’s on the streaming radar against the Baltimore Ravens.