You’re not playing fantasy football right if you’re not streaming in any of your leagues. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, streaming is the act of rotating starters at a position and playing someone off the waiver wire based on a favorable matchup. There’s a good chance you should be streaming at least one of your positions each week unless you drafted the perfect team this summer — there’s a chance you did since you subscribed to this site!
I’m almost always streaming defenses in all my leagues during the season so I highly encourage you to check out Justin Varnes’ weekly streaming defenses piece. I’m also not afraid to stream at the typical one-starter skill positions like quarterback and tight end. Every week in this space, I’ll take a look at some lesser-owned players you might want to start based on a matchup, increased opportunities, and/or other factors that might boost their value in a given week. I’ll also highlight some typical weekly starters that you might want to shy away from because of a tougher matchup, an injury, and/or playing time issues.
Important note…
These are not strict Start/Sit recommendations. This article is meant to give you players who are widely available and are looking better than usual this week. Conversely, I’ll also give you players who are widely owned and are looking a little worse than usual this week. Also, ownership percentages are from Yahoo leagues.
Quarterback Streamers
Players to consider benching this week
On bye: Russell Wilson, Justin Herbert, Drew Brees, Derek Carr
In danger of missing: Cam Newton (COVID-19 list)
In tough matchups: Joe Burrow (@Ind, 11.2 FPG allowed)
Top options if they’re available…
Matthew Stafford (@Jax, 73%) — Plenty of owners dropped Stafford during his bye week, and he returns in a good spot against a Jaguars defense that just got carved up by Deshaun Watson for 359/3 passing. Stafford has averaged more than 10+ air yards on his attempts in the two games since Kenny Golladay returned to the lineup so expect Stafford to attack this banged up Jaguars secondary with the deep ball.
Gardner Minshew (vs. Det, 51%) — Minshew has scored 20+ FP in every game except for his lone national TV game against the Dolphins in Week 3, which coincided with D.J. Chark being out of the lineup. Chark did pick up an ankle injury last week and I’d pivot away from Minshew this week if he can’t play. The Lions have given up between 240 and 270 yards with multiple TD passes in each of their four games this season.
Players to consider streaming the next couple of weeks
Andy Dalton (vs. Ari, @Was, @Phi — 3%) — It didn’t take long for the Red Rifle to return to the NFL’s starting QB ranks after leading the Bengals for the first nine seasons of his career before signing with the Cowboys this off-season. Dak Prescott’s career is unfortunately on hold after suffering a devastating leg injury in Week 5. Dak was the QB1 through the first four weeks of the season with 32.0 FPG, and Dalton will be working with his best receiving corps since he had A.J. Green, Marvin Jones, Tyler Eifert, and Mohamed Sanu at the same time in the mid-2010s. Dalton averaged 8.2 YPA in limited action against the Giants last week, and he led the Cowboys to the game-winning field goal. He gets three solid spots against the Cardinals, the Football Team, and the Eagles to start his tenure, and he’ll get some relief this week with top pass rusher Chandler Jones (bicep) out for the Cardinals.
Players to consider streaming this week
Ryan Fitzpatrick (vs. NYJ, 21%) — Fitzpatrick is the Rodney Dangerfield of fantasy football. Fitz gets no respect despite scoring 23+ FP in four straight games and 20+ FP in nine of his last 11 games. Fitz just ripped the 49ers for 350/3 passing thanks in large part to his deep passing as he completed 5/6 passes for 199/2 on passes that traveled 20+ air yards. That bodes well against a Jets defense that just allowed a struggling Kyler Murray to complete 4/5 deep passes for 130 yards and a TD last week. Fitz ripped the Jets for 288/3 passing in Miami last season, and New York has been gashed by the two running QBs they’ve faced in Kyler (31/1 rushing) and Josh Allen (57/1). The Jets have also allowed 27+ points in every game this season and the Dolphins made goal-line back Jordan Howard a healthy scratch last week so Fitz is going to get plenty of chances to account for TDs this week.
Kirk Cousins (vs Atl, 32%) — Cousins isn’t a spectacular option in this run-heavy offensive attack, but he’s in a great spot to produce once again this week. He disappointed with 249/2 passing against the Seahawks last week, but he did attempt a season-high 39 passes last week after topping out at 27 attempts. The Vikings will be without RB Dalvin Cook this week because of his groin injury so the Vikings could skew a little more pass-heavy than usual once again. It also doesn’t hurt that their opponent, the Falcons, also skews teams toward the pass. The Vikings have the weapons to abuse this Falcons secondary with Adam Thielen, Justin Jefferson, and a potentially emerging Irv Smith (see the TE streamers below). The big question for this game is will the Falcons stay competitive to keep the Vikings passing after Atlanta cleaned house. If you’re playing Cousins this week, you’ll want to see a healthy Julio Jones (hamstring) in the lineup to get some back-and-forth action between these offenses.
Tight End Streamers
Players to consider benching this week
On bye: Darren Waller, Hunter Henry, Jared Cook, and Greg Olsen
In danger of missing: Noah Fant (ankle)
In tough matchups: Tyler Higbee (@SF, 4.88 FPG allowed)
Top options if they’re available…
Robert Tonyan (@TB, 71%) — Tonyan is still available in some shallow leagues because he was on bye last week. In case you forgot, Tonyan is coming off a three-touchdown performance against the Falcons in Week 4, which gave him five TDs in his last three games. The Buccaneers have allowed touchdowns in consecutive weeks to Jimmy Graham and Donald Parham.
A player to consider streaming the next couple of weeks
Eric Ebron (vs. Cle, @Ten — 53%) — I featured Ebron in this article last week as a player to stream for the next couple weeks, and he didn’t disappoint against the Eagles with 5/43 receiving on six targets. He now has five catches in each of his last two games with a 21% target share in that span. Ebron has been a bit fortunate that Diontae Johnson has been banged up in those games, and the second-year WR could miss this week or he could play at less than 100% through a back injury. Ebron’s aDOT sits at 9.9 yards which puts him behind only Mark Andrews, Mike Gesicki, and Hayden Hurst among TEs who have seen 20+ targets at the position. Ebron gets another great spot this week against a Browns defense that’s giving up 17.6 FPG to TEs (6th-most), which includes three performances of 12+ FP in the first five weeks of the season.
Players to consider streaming this week
Irv Smith (vs. Atl, 6%) — OC Gary Kubiak finally pulled Smith out of his wrapper for the 2020 season against the Seahawks. The second-year TE ran a route on 31-of-42 dropbacks (73.8%) from Kirk Cousins in Week 5 after running routes on only 52.6% of Cousins’ dropbacks through the first four weeks of the season. His spike in usage helped him to a season-best 4/64 receiving on five targets against the Seahawks. Mike Zimmer ideally wants his team to be a low-volume passing attack so I’m a bit skeptical Smith’s role will carry over to the future. However, it could carry over to at least this week because of this beautiful matchup and with their best player, Dalvin Cook, out of the lineup. The Falcons didn’t allow a catch to Ian Thomas and the Panthers TEs last week, and they’re still giving the second-most FPG to TEs (21.5) despite last week’s goose egg.
Trey Burton (vs. Cin, 1%) — The Colts are using a committee at tight end with Burton, Mo Alie-Cox, and Jack Doyle all healthy. Burton has emerged as the top receiving option in the group with 35 routes and 11 targets in the last two weeks compared to 16 routes and three targets for MAC and 29 routes and three targets for Doyle. Burton finished with 5/33 receiving on six targets against the Browns while Doyle and Alie-Cox combined for no catches on three targets. The Bengals have allowed the third-most TE targets this season with 48 (9.6 per game) so Burton has a chance to be active this week with Philip Rivers struggling with his shaky WR corps right now.
