The 2017 NFL season has hit the halfway point and things are just starting to heat up in the fantasy football world. Unfortunately, the injuries are also piling up once again.
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The quarterback position took another major hit in Week 7 when Carson Palmer went down with a broken arm, putting him out for at least eight weeks and possibly the rest of the season. It’s a bitter pill for the Cardinals, whose offense was really starting to take off with Palmer and Adrian Peterson together. Now they’re stuck with Drew Stanton, and everybody on the offense (Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, etc.) takes a huge drop in their fantasy ceilings.
In addition to Palmer, Jay Cutler suffered cracked ribs that will keep him out for one game, and possibly longer. Jameis Winston played through his shoulder injury and should be fine the rest of the way.
In addition to the injuries, we’ve got a whopping six teams on bye this week — the Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, and Tennessee Titans. That’s a lot of players fantasy owners will have to account for not having in their lineups.
Between the injuries and bye weeks, it’s an incredibly thin waiver wire pool in Week 8. Let’s go over the best (or at least most palatable) quarterback options available in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! leagues.
Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals (55 percent)
Dalton wasn’t great against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but this week’s quarterback pool is thin enough that he should be considered if he’s still available in your league. Dalton threw picks and recorded just 140 passing yards, but he did have two touchdowns to slightly salvage his day. In Week 8, he’ll get a much friendlier matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, who just got lit up by Blake Bortles.
Josh McCown, New York Jets (12 percent)
For the second straight week, McCown got the Jets out to a fast start, only to just kinda peter out as the other team came back and won. He finished with three touchdown passes, but also had a back-breaking interception that decided the game, so we got the full McCown experience here. He’ll once again be a boom-or-bust QB2 against the Atlanta Falcons this week.
C.J. Beathard, San Francisco 49ers (6 percent)
We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel this week. Beathard predictably got crushed in his first NFL start, taking five sacks as the Dallas Cowboys blew the 49ers off the field. However, he did show flashes of competence and put up some decent garbage time production.
It was certainly a more encouraging performance than the likes of Brett Hundley (looked completely lost despite years of practice in the Green Bay Packers’ system), Mitchell Trubisky (might be good if the Chicago Bears ever let him throw the ball), or Drew Stanton (no). When you’re digging this deep in the waiver wire pile, you can probably talk yourself into Beathard. He gets the Philadelphia Eagles next.
Matt Moore, Miami Dolphins (1 percent)
The Dolphins offense came to life when Moore entered the game, which might not be a coincidence as he led the team down from a 14-point deficit to beat the New York Jets. With Cutler set to miss at least one game, Moore instantly goes on the QB2 map. He’s not great, but moves the ball reasonably well and probably should’ve been the starter all along. The big problem is that the Dolphins are playing the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, so this is a brutal matchup no matter who’s under center for Miami.
