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: Kyler Murray, Deshaun Watson
In danger of missing: Andy Dalton (concussion)
In tough matchups: Drew Brees (@Chi, fewest FPG allowed), Matthew Stafford (vs. Ind, 2nd-fewest FPG)
Top options if they’re available…
Carson Wentz (vs. Dal, 70%) — I hope you stuck it out with Wentz because he’s really starting to his stride even with his weapons seemingly changing every week. He posted his best performance of the season against the Giants as he completed 25/43 passes for 359 yards, two TDs, and one INT. He also added his fifth rushing TD in his last six games, which has really lifted his fantasy production in recent weeks. Wentz now has 28+ FP in consecutive games and 22+ FP in four of his last five contests. He could also get Jalen Reagor (thumb) back this week to give him another weapon to attack this vulnerable Cowboys defense that’s allowed 15 TD passes in their last six games.
Joe Burrow (vs. Ten, 64%) — Burrow is coming off his first 400+ yard passing game against the Browns last week, which now gives him 300+ passing yards in five of his first seven games. The Titans defense ranks in the bottom half of the league in both sacks (13) and adjusted sack rate (6.2%), which will give Burrow a chance at success especially with LT Jonah Williams (Neck) and C Trey Hopkins (concussion) potentially missing this week. The Titans have allowed 250+ passing yards and multiple TD passes to opposing QBs in five straight games.
Players to consider streaming this week
Teddy Bridgewater (vs. Atl, 44%) — Bridgewater has excelled in most of his plus-matchups this season outside of his performance in their victory over the Chargers back in Week 3. Teddy gets another plus matchup against the Falcons on Thursday Night Football this week, and he’s thrown for multiple TD passes in three of his last four games. The Falcons are allowing the most FPG to QBs this season (28.4) as they’ve allowed 300+ passing yards in every game and 19 TD passes overall in seven games. Bridgewater is one of those QBs who’s already had success against the Falcons. He completed 27/37 passes for 313 yards and two TDs in Carolina’s 23-16 victory over the Falcons back in Week 5, which helped him to the QB12 finish that week with 20.8 FP.
Derek Carr (@Cle, 29%) — Carr has quietly been a top-12 QB since Week 2 after Josh Jacobs scored three touchdowns against the Panthers in the season opener. Carr has thrown for 260+ yards and multiple TDs in each of his last five games, which has helped him to average 21.4 FP in Weeks 2-7. He’s finally playing with a well-rounded cast of receivers with Nelson Agholor emerging as another weapon next to Darren Waller and Henry Ruggs as they head to Cleveland this week. The Browns have allowed four monster performances of 25+ FP to opposing QBs this season, including last week when Joe Burrow threw for 400+ yards and three TDs against them. This matchup has the potential to be a shootout with one of the week’s highest totals at 54 points so don’t be afraid to trust Carr this week.
Jimmy Garoppolo (@Sea, 30%) — Kyle Shanahan has seemingly been hiding Jimmy G since his Week 5 debacle against the Dolphins as he’s “thrown” a ton of passes behind the line of scrimmage in the last two weeks. The depth of his passes now sits ahead of only Drew Brees at 6.2 yards after his aDOT sat at 4.4 yards against the Rams in Week 6 and at 5.7 yards against the Patriots in Week 7. Shanahan was able to hide Garoppolo in blowout victories the last two weeks, but he’s going to have to open it up a bit more against the Seahawks this week as three-point road underdogs. The good news is that Seattle will lift up his production this week as they’re allowing the second-most FPG to QBs this season (28.1). Jimmy G will likely be without Deebo Samuel (hamstring), but he still has George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk at his disposal to take advantage of this matchup.
Tight End Streamers
Players to consider benching this week
On bye: Darren Fells, Logan Thomas
In danger of missing: Tyler Higbee, Austin Hooper
In tough matchups: None of note.
Top options if they’re available…
JImmy Graham (vs. NO, 65%) — Graham has been solid if unspectacular so far this season, which means he’s a low-end TE1 at a position that’s lacking in many strong options. Graham has now posted 33+ yards and 5+ targets in each of Nick Foles’ five games played this season. The Saints are still giving up the second-most FPG to TEs this season even after facing Ian Thomas and the Panthers last week. New Orleans has allowed six TDs in six games this season, and they’re allowing the fifth-most receiving yards per game to the position (63.0).
Players to consider streaming this week
Harrison Bryant (vs. LV, 1%) — The site has been high on Bryant since the pre-draft process, but he landed in a tough spot to make an immediate impact behind Austin Hooper and David Njoku. Well, Bryant is already the top dog in Cleveland for the time being with Hooper out for at least another week after undergoing an appendectomy. Bryant is already better than Njoku, too, after seeing more snaps (40 to 31) and running more routes (17 to 12) than Njoku in Week 7. The rookie out of Florida Atlantic finished as the TE1 last week by posting 4/56/2 receiving on five targets against the Bengals last week. Bryant’s role should continue to grow the rest of the season even when Hooper does return to the lineup. Cleveland just lost Odell Beckham (ACL) for the season, who leaves behind a 26% target share and a 40% air yards share. The Browns already rank fourth in 12-personnel rate, and they should use even more sets with two or more TEs on the field. Bryant gets an appealing matchup against a Raiders defense that allowed 42 FP to Travis Kelce (8/108/1 receiving) and Rob Gronkowski (5/62/) in their last two games.
Richard Rodgers (vs. Dal, 9%) — The Eagles elevated Rodgers to the starting TE spot in Week 7 with Dallas Goedert (ankle, IR) and Zach Ertz (ankle, IR) both out of the lineup. He came through as the TE6 in Week 7 by posting 6/85 receiving on eight targets to give him (14.5 FP) against the Giants last week. Goedert has a chance to return to the lineup this week, but it’s more likely that the Eagles give him two more weeks to recover from his ankle fracture with Philadelphia heading to their bye in Week 9. The Cowboys just allowed 4/60/1 receiving to Logan Thomas last week and four different TEs have posted 11+ FP against Dallas this season.
Trey Burton (@Det, 21%) — The Colts are coming out of their bye and Burton is a player to add since he could have some value the rest of the way with the Colts getting little production from their WRs. He finished as the TE4 the last time the Colts took the field in Week 6 with Burton posting 4/58/1 receiving on five targets while adding a rushing touchdown as the QB in the Wildcat formation. Burton is averaging 5.3 targets per game in his first three games back, but the Colts will likely get Mo Alie-Cox back this week to muddy the waters a bit for Burton. The Lions are giving up the second-fewest FPG to TEs this season (7.4), but they haven’t been tested much and they just allowed 6/68 receiving to Hayden Hurst. The Colts are also projected to play in a tight game this week as three-point road favorites so Philip Rivers will likely have to throw it a bit more this week.
