We’ve finally reached the climax of the fantasy football season. The playoffs started last week for many leagues, and continue into Week 15 with the semifinals (or early rounds, in case you’re one of those cretins who plays into Week 17). Every top-end starter should be locked into lineups this week, but the waiver wire is still important.
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The biggest story coming out of Week 14 is, of course, the fallout of the Carson Wentz injury. Wentz tore his ACL, ending a brilliant second season that put him in the MVP discussion. It’s a devastating loss for the Philadelphia Eagles, who clinched the NFC East and are still fighting for home-field advantage. It’s also a major hit to fantasy owners, who won’t have a top-five quarterback for the playoffs. This is the worst time of the year to be hunting for a new quarterback, but we’ll try to help you out.
In other injury news, Josh McCown broke his hand and is probably done, taking away a solid streaming option. Tyrod Taylor couldn’t get his knee right in time to suit up, but might be back this week. And Aaron Rodgers is set to make his return, but check up on injury reports in case he has a setback.
With all that out of the way, here are the week’s top waiver quarterbacks, owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! standard leagues.
Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars (34 percent)
If you want a good example of how strange this season has been, check out Bortles carving up the Seattle Seahawks defense like it was nothing. With good protection and a strong running game, Bortles was calm and collected while having one of the most efficient games of his season. He finished with 268 yards, two touchdowns, and no turnovers on 18-of-27 passing. Cutting down on the mistakes (only one interception in the past four games) has really boosted his fantasy value. Bortles is a borderline QB1 for the playoffs.
Eli Manning, New York Giants (34 percent)
The Giants fired everybody and have officially packed it in for the year, but they also went back to Manning as the starter. Predictably, Manning was rough against the Dallas Cowboys, completing 31 of 46 passes for just 228 yards and two interceptions. With nothing to play for and no weapons to throw to, Manning is just a desperate dart throw when the Giants face the Arizona Cardinals.
Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers (20 percent)
The 49ers are 2-0 ever since naming Garoppolo. Funny what happens when you have an actual quarterback. Garoppolo continues to play good football, looking more than comfortable in Kyle Shanahan’s notoriously complex system. He racked up 334 yards and a touchdown (plus one interception) against the Houston Texans, and for the first time all season the 49ers are playing like a real team. Garoppolo and the 49ers will look to play spoiler when they face the Tennessee Titans this week. It’s a good matchup for him against a less-than-impressive Titans defense.
Nick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles (2 percent)
So here we are, it’s up to Foles to save the Eagles’ dream season. He’s most notable for that one season with Chip Kelly, where he had 27 touchdowns to two interceptions. Of course, that was four years ago and he’s been in career backup mode ever since a disastrous season in St. Louis. Foles was an obvious downgrade from Wentz when he entered on Sunday, particularly struggling with the run-pass option concepts that Wentz mastered. He’ll probably be asked to just keep the offense schedule as the Eagles rely on their backfield rotation to move the ball. The good news is that he has a strong matchup with the Giants this week, so if fantasy owners must stream him, now’s the time.
