Week 7 Quarterback Starts & Sits: Catch The (Bailey) Zappe Fever!
Welcome to Week 7. Between bye weeks and injuries, we’ve got our work cut out for us at quarterback this week.
And as a quick, reminder, we’re here to examine the start/sit decisions that are keeping you up at night. Do you bench the quarterback you drafted in the middle rounds who has been struggling (hello, Matthew Stafford)? Do you take a chance on the unknown waiver-wire guy (looking at you, Taylor Heinicke)? Do you avoid an injury risk with a high ceiling in favor of a player with a higher floor? We won’t know the “correct” answers until Week 6 is over, but we’re going to try our best to figure it out.
Let’s dive into the Week 7 Start/Sit decisions at quarterback that are keeping me up at night.
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Start ‘Em
START OF THE WEEK: Bailey Zappe, New England Patriots
Everyone in New England has Zappe Fever (Google it. It’s a real thing people in Boston are saying. A lot). And while there’s always a chance Mac Jones could get himself healthy enough to play on Monday Night Football, I’ve got Zappe Fever too. Sure, he’s been playing bad defenses, but the rookie has been getting progressively better in each of his last three games and threw for over 300 yards against the Browns last week. While New England will likely keep him in game-manager mode, there’s still plenty of room for fantasy upside here as Zappe has shown more than capable of leading the offenses while limiting his mistakes. Catch the fever!
Daniel Jones, New York Giants
I still don’t totally trust Jones, but he’s yet to put up less than 12 fantasy points in a game this season so he’s been a relatively safe play. While he hasn’t thrown for more than 217 yards in a game all season, Jones is averaging almost eight rushes for almost 40 yards per game on the year. That’s a nice high floor to start from! He’s also limited his mistakes thus far as he’s thrown for seven touchdowns and has only thrown two balls to the wrong team all season. With the Giants rolling at 5-1, I feel good about Jones against the Jaguars this week.
Marcus Mariota, Atlanta Falcons
With back-to-back top-10 quarterback performances, Mariota earns his way onto the list this week. He hasn’t topped 150 yards in any of his last three games, but he’s put up over 50 rushing yards in each of his past two and has a 4:0 touchdown:interception ratio during that time span. While the Bengals on the road are a tough matchup, the injuries and byes around the league make Mariota a borderline QB1 this week.
Sit ‘Em
SIT OF THE WEEK: Justin Fields, Chicago Bears
Fields has looked awful this season (which isn’t totally his fault), but he’s been serviceable by fantasy football standards. That said, he’s running into a tough New England Patriots defense, and a head coach that has built his career on shutting down middling quarterbacks. Fields’ rushing ability provides a high enough floor, but the Patriots have an extra day to prepare and should have a solid gameplan set to limit Fields on Monday Night Football this weekend. I’m staying away from Fields on the road this week.
Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
Tua was playing so well before his injury. And he has a great matchup (on paper) this week. But I just can’t stomach the injury risk here. I hope the man is ok, but concussions are never easy to predict and he’s sadly one hit away from being out again. There’s also the complicating factor that the Steelers shut down Tom Brady and the Buccaneers last week. Could Tua go off? Absolutely. Will I be waiting a week to make sure Tua is actually healthy before I play him? Also absolutely.
Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos
I’m not telling you that you have to sit Wilson. He’s still been putting up halfway decent fantasy numbers. But top-5 quarterback Russell Wilson isn’t walking through that door either. Russ hasn’t rushed for more than 29 yards in a game all season, and his 6:4 touchdown:interception ratio isn’t exactly great either. He’ll face a tough Jets defense this week (albeit at home) and doesn’t have much of a rushing attack to keep the Jets honest either. Like I said, you don’t have to bench Wilson. But you don’t have to start him either.
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