For Week 7, I recommended Jimmy Garoppolo against the Chiefs, Marcus Mariota at the Bengals, and Taylor Heinicke against the Packers. Garoppolo had a useable QB9 fantasy finish on the week despite having gotten blown out at home by Kansas City. And while Mariota didn’t run much, which limited his production and resulted in a disappointing QB19 finish, Heinicke had a serviceable QB13 fantasy finish on the week against a reeling Green Bay team.
Overall, Week 7 offered decent performances for fantasy GMs who eschewed drafting a quarterback early and have been streaming the position. If you drafted Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson early or managed to snag Tua Tagovailoa or Geno Smith later on in your drafts, this article probably isn’t for you. But if you’ve been streaming quarterbacks this season or have Patrick Mahomes or Justin Herbert on bye, here are some viable Week 8 quarterback streamers with good matchups to target.
Week 8 Quarterback Streamers
Check out our Week 8 Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | PPR |
Note: The below quarterback streamers are the “best of the rest”, meaning that they’re generally rostered in less than about 50-60 percent of major fantasy football platforms at the time of this writing even after waivers have run on Wednesday.
Jared Goff (52% ESPN, 43% Yahoo)
Yes, Jared Goff has been awful in his last two games at New England and against Dallas and didn’t pass for a single touchdown in those losses. However, he was playing without Amon-Ra St. Brown and D’Andre Swift for the majority of those two contests, who are by far Detroit’s most explosive play-makers on offense. St. Brown has already been cleared from concussion protocol, and Swift seems to be on track to return as well, having already practiced on Wednesday. Assuming that both players are back this week, Goff’s prospects should look markedly different this coming Sunday.
In addition, Goff has a favorable matchup at home against Miami. The Dolphins rank 25th against the pass in DVOA, and they’ve allowed the ninth-most passing yards per game to opposing quarterbacks as well as the 10th-most points per game to opponents. And with Detroit’s defense also struggling, this projects to be yet another shootout game script with Vegas projecting an over/under of 51.5 total points for this game, the most of any game this week. Goff is in a prime spot to bounce back in a big way and is one of the top quarterback streamers this week.
Daniel Jones (63% ESPN, 56% Yahoo)
Through seven weeks, Daniel Jones is quietly the QB9 in fantasy points per game. Much of this has been due to his rushing production, as Jones currently ranks second among quarterbacks in rushing touchdowns, third in rushing yards, and fourth in rushing attempts. Jones also ranks second among quarterbacks in rushing yards per attempt behind only Lamar Jackson. As with other mobile quarterbacks, Jones’s ability to create points with his legs gives him a high weekly floor and ceiling, placing him among the top quarterback streamers yet again for Week 8.
On top of his rushing production, Jones also has a good matchup this week against a Seattle defense that has allowed the fifth-most points per game to opponents and the 10th most passing yards per game to opposing quarterbacks through seven weeks. Jones has also been safe with the football, as he’s thrown just two interceptions thus far on the season, with none over his last four games. And while the Giants are on the road at Seattle, Jones & Co. have been even better on the road than at home, having won all three of their road games so far this year.
Andy Dalton (4% ESPN, 2% Yahoo)
Do you feel lucky, punk? Andy Dalton is very much a risk/reward option among this week’s quarterback streamers. We saw his ceiling potential in the Saints’ loss to the Cardinals last Thursday night, and we saw his floor outcome two weeks ago in their loss to the Bengals. Even Dalton’s strong fantasy finish as the overall no. 2 fantasy quarterback in Week 7 was due to volume and not efficiency, as the veteran quarterback threw three interceptions along with his four touchdowns.
Still, Dalton’s ceiling potential keeps him as a viable option for Week 8 against a Raiders defense that ranks 30th against the pass. In fact, this game projects for 49.5 total points scored, the second-most among the entire Week 8 slate of games. In what projects to be a shootout, Dalton has a lot of upside against a Las Vegas defense that has allowed the sixth-most passing yards per game to opposing quarterbacks and the seventh-most points per game to opponents through seven weeks.
Honorable Mentions
In deeper leagues, if none of the above-recommended quarterback streamers are available, who would’ve thought that trading away Christian McCaffrey would actually help Carolina’s offense? P.J. Walker played an efficient game against the Buccaneers’ injury-riddled defense last week, and he offers some upside again this week against an Atlanta secondary that ranks dead last against the pass. And if you’re desperate, Sam Ehlinger is hard to trust in his first career start, but the rookie has a good matchup against a Washington defense that ranks 29th against the pass, and he offers some rushing upside as well, having run in 33 touchdowns during his college career at Texas.
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