Week 3 in the NFL featured six backup quarterbacks stepping up as starters. It began on Thursday Night Football with the Mustachioed Phenom, Gardner Minshew, in a home start for the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Tennessee Titans.
Minshew has been a serviceable signal-caller for the Jaguars from a real-football standpoint with a 5/1 TD to INT ratio and a completion percentage of 74%. He got the win this week as a small underdog, unfortunately, he has yet to score 20 fantasy points showing a low fantasy ceiling.
On the bright side, WR D.J. Chark, who looked great in his short time with Nick Foles at the helm, has continued to be the team's surprise WR1 with Minshew starting. Chark has gone from an average of three fantasy points per game (FPPG) in 2018 to 21.2 FPPG this season. (RotoViz NFL Stat Explorer)
All things considered, it went well for the young guns, aside from Luke Falk in a predictably tough spot: on the road against the Patriots and their top overall defense with only three offensive points allowed through three games. Falk was expected to fail and he did. The Jets are rife with injuries and there is very little to take away from this game. Le’Veon Bell should continue to be started in fantasy, but I will be using him very rarely in DFS.
For Pittsburgh, Mason Rudolph came in for an injured Ben Rothlisberger last week and showed promising on-field chemistry with TE Vance McDonald, losing 28-26 against Seattle. This week with time to prepare, he had a road start against a strong 49ers defense. Through two weeks, San Francisco was ranked seventh in points allowed (34), sixth in yards per play allowed (4.7), and tied for second in turnovers (5).
In spite of his defense racking up five turnovers, Rudolph could only muster just over 12 fantasy points with 174 yards passing, 12 rushing, two TDs, and a single INT. For now, I have to downgrade the entire Steelers offense. Though he will have TD dependant upside, McDonald only snagged one catch for 10 yards. Juju Smith-Schuster picked up 3/81/1, but nearly all of the production came on 76-yard TD where he took a short pass to the house. He is still viable in fantasy due to his talent and upside, but no fantasy asset on this team has a floor that I can trust.
After an uninspiring first two weeks, the Giants decided to bench Eli Manning in favor of their controversial first-round pick, Daniel Jones. The rookie had an incredible preseason, completing 29 of 34 pass attempts for 416 yards and two TDs, earning him the nickname “Danny Dimes” in DFS circles.
How did his first start go? For comparison, the top QB is Patrick Mahomes on the season. Mahomes put up 374/3 with no interceptions and nine yards rushing, good for almost 28 fantasy points on NFL.com and third place on the week. Danny Dimes left that in the dust going for 336/2 and a two-point conversion, adding 28 yards and two TDs on the ground. He did not throw an interception but lost two fumbles.
In fantasy, there is nothing more valuable at the QB position than points from rushing, where yards are worth 4x and TDs 1.5x that of passing. Stud RB Saquon Barkley left the game with a leg injury, and Jones still had no problems moving the ball. While a rushing QB can take points away from his supporting cast, that wasn’t an issue in this case, as WR Sterling Shepard and TE Evan Engram both finished in the top-five of their positions for the week. Jones provides a much-needed boost to the Giants offense and should be added in all leagues. He looks to be a great start for next week, but a larger sample size is needed for anything further.
Cam Newton was once considered the top overall QB for fantasy, but has not been right since week 14 of last season. He finished outside the top 24 in two of four starts, and could not reach top 12 in any. (RotoViz NFL Stat Explorer)
His replacement, Kyle Allen, had one previous start in Week 17 last year where he impressed with over 25 fantasy points, with two TDs through the air and one on the ground. This week he had a fantasy-friendly matchup against the Arizona Cardinals who play at the second-fastest pace in the league. Allen’s Panthers were the only team faster, entering the week. A fast pace means more snaps and more opportunities for fantasy points.
He made good on his opportunities in this road start, throwing for 264 yards and four TDs with zero interceptions. He didn’t show the rushing upside we saw last season, but it is good to know it is a possibility. The top two WRs on the team, DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel, had a TD and finished with over 13 points. However, they only caught six passes and 105 yards between them, so without those TDs their scores would both be disappointing. Moore only had a single catch, so this will be a situation to monitor.
As we saw with Mason Rudolph, young QBs often heavily target their TE. Allen did so with 13-year veteran Greg Olsen, who went 6/75/2 on seven targets, finishing second at the position this week. He also received 9 targets in each of the first two games and may maintain a large role Carolina’s offense going forward.
Teddy Bridgewater has been in the league since 2014 and a backup since 2016. He is nothing more than a game-manager, and brings down the entire Saints offense, having thrown under 200 yards in all three starts. However, the New Orleans offense runs through Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara, who combined for 46% of the market share of targets in 2018 and 52% so far this year. Though their outlook is diminished, they are still must-starts in fantasy with every week consideration in DFS. Drew Brees is expected to return in approximately five weeks.
