Fantasy football managers who rely on QB streamers are walking a fine line, and with six teams on a bye next week, there will be more competition on the waiver wire than normal. Who are the top names you should be considering?
Top QB Streamers for Week 14
Joshua Dobbs, Minnesota Vikings (at Raiders)
The fairy tale of Dobbs hit a road bump in Week 12 against the Bears. And by “speed bump,” I mean “crashed at a level where he was leading talk shows for the wrong reasons.”
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One bad week. So what? In four starts with the Vikings, Dobbs’ average positional finish is QB13. In a situation like this, I shuffle up the recent performances and see if the discussion would be different if the outcomes came in a different order.
In this case, it would be. If the Week 12 stinker came in Dobbs’ debut with the team, and then he rattled off three straight strong games with Justin Jefferson poised to return, wouldn’t we be talking about Dobbs as a threat to crack the top 12 at the position?
Is that fair? In that situation, Dobbs is no better or worse of a player than he currently is; he is just on the right side of recent discussions. Evaluating the past month as a whole, I’ve been very impressed with Dobbs, and now he gets his WR1 back in a plus-matchup. Wheels up!
He may seem low in my opening Week 14 QB rankings (below) but take note of where each tier starts/ends. There isn’t much separating QB9 and QB14, making Dobbs a threat to enter the top 12 for me as this week goes and more news becomes available.
Jameis Winston, New Orleans Saints (vs. Panthers)
Derek Carr suffered what could be his second concussion in under a month, and that would put his status in question not only for Week 14 but for the remainder of the season.
If that’s the case, we are looking at a YOLO quarterback in a matchup against a bottom-five defense in terms of pressure rate. Sign me up!
If you’re streaming the highest-scoring position in fantasy, you’re desperate; if you’re desperate, you’re willing to ignore the risk in Winston’s profile. This is an offense geared to his aggression with Chris Olave starring at receiver, and if Rashid Shaheed can work his way back from a thigh injury, we could be looking at a QB with top-10 potential.
There are a lot of moving pieces in this scenario, but there is no denying that Winston’s potential, if given the opportunity, trumps that of any other signal-caller on your wire.
Gardner Minshew, Indianapolis Colts (at Bengals)
Streaming the position this week isn’t easy with just two teams on a bye, so you’re going to have to take some chances if you’re pressed into using the waiver wire.
I’m not too worried about the matchup with a Bengals defense on short rest that is challenged as often as any unit in the league deep down the field. Minshew isn’t a perfect quarterback, but with a stable run game, he often finds himself in advantageous spots.
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When defenses allocate resources to slow the ground game, Michael Pittman finds himself in single coverage situations, and Minshew is not the least bit shy about weighing down his WR1 with as many targets as he can handle (target shares over his past five games):
- Week 8 vs. NO: 34.2% target share
- Week 9 at CAR: 33.3%
- Week 10 vs. NE: 46.2%
- Week 12 vs. TB: 32.5%
- Week 13 at TEN: 39.0%
If you’re streaming the position this week, a quarterback in a decent spot who is happy to get his most talented teammate involved at this rate is worthy of your consideration.
Week 14 QB Rankings
Come back for our full Week 14 QB rankings as we sort through updated data and health news throughout the week!
- Patrick Mahomes | KC (vs. BUF) – TIER 1
- Jalen Hurts | PHI (at DAL)
- Josh Allen | BUF (at KC)
- Tua Tagovailoa | MIA (vs. TEN)
- Dak Prescott | DAL (vs. PHI)
- Lamar Jackson | BAL (vs. LAR) – TIER 2
- Justin Fields | CHI (vs. DET)
- Brock Purdy | SF (vs. SEA)
- Justin Herbert | LAC (vs. DEN) – TIER 3
- C.J. Stroud | HOU (at NYJ)
- Trevor Lawrence | JAX (at CLE)
- Russell Wilson | DEN (at LAC)
- Jared Goff | DET (at CHI)
- Joshua Dobbs | MIN (at LV)
- Jordan Love | GB (at NYG) – TIER 4
Looking to make a trade in your fantasy league? Having trouble deciding who to start and who to sit? Setting DFS lineups? Check out PFN’s Free Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer, Start/Sit Optimizer, and DFS Lineup Optimizer to help you make the right decision!