teams. Of course, the implicit part of that agreement is that we would help you FIND said quarterbacks, kickers, tight ends and defenses. Last week started off okay quarterback (Brisset, Allen, and Stafford all over 15 fantasy points), mediocre at kicker (Bailey/Seibert bad, Badgley did not play) and amazing at defense (New York Jets over 20 points in most systems).
This week, we will be bringing tight ends back into the conversation as we have some more actionable information and the first set of waiver runs should have changed the landscape of what is out there.
The RotoExperts rankings and projections will guide you in making streaming and start/sit decisions, and the RX staff will be in the Daily Roto slack to answer questions for RotoExperts subscribers as well.
Streaming Notes: All players in this weekly column will be under 50% owned in Yahoo! Fantasy Football. A given player might be owned in your league but is not owned in all leagues. FAAB bids will be listed during the regular season but you know your league better than I do. FAAB dollars are also worth more the earlier they are spent in the calendara, so keep that in mind while streaming QB/K/DST.
Week Two Fantasy Football Streamers
Quarterback Fantasy Football Streamers
Josh Allen – As long as Allen remains under 50% in fantasy leagues, he is very likely to be on this list of QB streamers. It feels almost like cheating for those of us who produce “QB streaming content” that a quarterback that averages over 54 rushing yards per start over the course of his short career remains on the wire. Allen trailed last week and threw 37 passes (a positive indicator from the Bills coaching staff) and ran 10 times. If he simply repeats those volume numbers against the Giants (while calling his own number at the goal line), you’re going to feel good about starting him.
Derek Carr – No team allowed more pass attempts against last season than the Kansas City Chiefs, who faced 632 passes. That amounts to 39.5 passes allowed per game while allowing the second-most passing yards in the league and the ninth-most touchdowns. Derek Carr finished as QB2 and QB4 in his last two starts against the Chiefs. You do not have to work yourself up in knots about streaming a quarterback. Sometimes it is just as easy as taking the quarterback in a high total game (52) who projects to throw a lot of passes against a soft defense.
Andy Dalton – The Bengals were one of the most pass-heavy teams last week, throwing over 80% of the time when the game was within eight points. Dalton had the first 400-yard game of his career and the overall scheme seemed rejuvenated under Zac Taylor. John Ross, Tyler Boyd, and Tyler Eifert are all decent enough pass catchers that I think this level of volume (maybe not total output) is actually sustainable for Dalton. I prefer Carr and Allen but don’t think you’re dead if you have to start Dalton.
Kicker Fantasy Football Streamers
Matt Bryant – Bryant is not heavily owned in most fantasy leagues because 1) a very tough matchup last week against the Vikings with a low total and 2) there was some thought he might not win the kicking job. The aged-Bryant gets a better matchup this week back at home against Philadelphia and has a chance to be a multi-week starter for you given the strength of the offense he plays in.
Austin Seibert – All of what I thought about Seibert last week remains true this week. He is a talented kicker on an offense that we expect to be good throughout the course of the season. The matchup against the Jets is again, not as ideal, but the Browns still have a healthy team total and Seibert is someone that I would consider a season-long starter if the Browns start to match their Vegas win expectation and offensive talent.
Joey Slye – A staple of season-long fantasy football is taking kickers from high total games on Thursday night. The Panthers have a top-five team total this week at home to the Panthers and Slye, filling in for Graham Cano, attempted three field goals and three extra points last week which was good for nine fantasy points. He is owned in the single-digits
Tight End Fantasy Football Streamers
Jason Witten/Blake Jarwin – If you are stuck at tight end for whatever reason (maybe you have Hunter Henry or Jack Doyle is already owned in your league), you can do worse than grabbing up a tight end on a team that is projected to score a lot of points. Jason Witten was on the field for 66% of Dallas’ snaps and Jarwin played on 44% of the snaps while securing all three of his targets and scoring a touchdown. Jarwin is a much lower priority add as he only ran a route on 25% of the Cowboys’ drop backs.
Tyler Eifert – We never doubted that Eifert could be effective in fantasy football if he was healthy. He played on only 49% of the teams snaps against the Seahawks but they were all the important and high leverage snaps as he came away with five receptions. Andy Dalton threw the ball 51 times and while we would project far lower than that this week at home, I think it pointed the arrow upwards for the Bengals offense as a whole that the coaching staff is comfortable throwing that often. Given Eifert’s history as a red-zone weapon and the way in which they scored their passing touchdowns in Seattle, I am buying Eifert moving forward.
Tyler Higbee – There were maybe some hits that this would come after Higbee signed a rather large contract extension but he has appeared to leapfrog Gerald Everett in the tight end pecking order. Higbee saw five targets last week and now plays in one of the highest total games of the week at home to New Orleans. I likely would not be adding Higbee in anything but the deepest of formats but it is worth noting he was targeted much more often than his counterpart Everett.
Defense/Special Teams Fantasy Football Streamers
Structural DST Streaming Philosophy: The core tenants of finding a good streaming defense are finding a home defense that is going to face a lot of passing attempts. While your league settings might differ, in general, what we are chasing is sacks, turnovers and the main goal is finding DST touchdowns. DST touchdowns happen most often on passing plays as opposed to rushing plays.
Carolina Panthers – Jameis Winston loves to throw interceptions, this much we know to be true. He had two utterly horrible pick-sixes against San Francisco last week and this week will be traveling to Carolina. Winston has a career 3.1% INT rate and we know that taking home defenses against pass-happy offenses is basically the entire recipe for fantasy football DST success because it gives us the most chances at scoring points.
New York Jets – The Jets had only one sack last week but recorded 12 QB hits and a net adjusted yards per attempt allowed of 4.5 yards. They will welcome a better team to play against them this week in the Cleveland Browns but that sort of pass rush against Baker Mayfield (who may or may not be injured) should give us another opportunity to find a defense that can generate turnovers and sacks.
Kansas City Chiefs – The Chiefs were by many metrics last season the worst passing defense, yet they finished as the seventh-highest scoring DST in standard league scoring. This week, they will be playing against Derek Carr who will not be able to play conservatively as he is likely going to be down by double-digit points almost from the get-go. We saw Gardner Minshew throw an easy pick to the Chiefs defense last week and it is not hard to imagine several scenarios like that happening this week.
