Quarterback Waiver Wire Adds: Should You Add Brock Purdy, Jared Goff, Mac Jones While Dropping Dak Prescott or Geno Smith?

Week 1 of the NFL season is in the books. Some fantasy owners across the country are thrilled, others are disappointed and some are even scrambling to try and figure out the right moves to make in order to put their teams in a better position going forward.

The performance from quarterbacks in week 1 was all over the board. You had Josh Allen and Joe Burrow struggling, Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones with strong showings and the big blow of the week being Aaron Rodgers going down with an injury.

FantasySP’s fantasy assistant tool has predictive adds, drops and trades heading into week 2, which shows owners who have synced a league with FSP the popular moves across the world. Let’s dive further in with the quarterbacks and determine if the moves people are making are the smart ones. Jordan Love, Brock Purdy, Jared Goff, Jones and Tagovailoa are five quarterbacks who are popular adds, while Rodgers, Dak Prescott and Geno Smith are being dropped most often at the position.

Jordan Love Fantasy Outlook

Love began his first season as the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers by leading the team to a 38-20 win over the Chicago Bears in Chicago. Love completed 15 of his 27 attempts for 245 yards and three touchdowns. He didn’t turn the ball over and was sacked just once.

While Love’s performance wasn’t the best of the week, he was one of the few quarterbacks to take care of the ball. With a strong offensive line in front of him and a pretty favorable schedule this season, Love is a hot commodity on the waiver wire before week 2 begins.

Love didn’t even have his full complement of skill players around him in the opening week, missing No. 1 receiver Christian Watson. He’s got enough playmakers to throw the ball to, and with Aaron Jones in the backfield, that should open some opportunities for Love to remain a fantasy asset at the quarterback position.

Brock Purdy Fantasy Outlook

Purdy continues to shine for the San Francisco 49ers. He completed 19 of his 29 attempts for 220 yards and two touchdowns while helping the team to a 30-7 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh. Purdy ran three times for 20 yards, was sacked three times and lost a fumble.

Purdy might never wow with big stat lines, but if he takes care of the ball, he’s destined for more strong showings with so many skill players around him. With so many eyes on Christian McCaffrey in the backfield, there’s more opportunities for Purdy to find the likes of Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle in the passing game. 

He isn’t often asked to attack the defense deep, but instead gets the ball out quick and lets the skill players rack up yardage. With that in mind, Purdy is always a pretty safe start.

Jared Goff Fantasy Outlook

Goff helped the Detroit Lions turn heads in the season’s opening game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Goff completed 22 passes on 35 attempts for 253 yards and a touchdown in a 21-20 win. He was sacked once and did not turn the ball over.

Much like Purdy, Goff isn’t asked to do a whole lot in the passing game, instead getting the ball out quick to guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Josh Reynolds and Sam LaPorta. Detroit also has a good 1-2 punch in the running back room with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, so the balanced offensive attack should make Goff a pretty consistent and safe play most weeks.

Mac Jones Fantasy Outlook

Jones was the only quarterback on the add list that lost in week 1. His New England Patriots battled back from several deficits, but lost 25-20 to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Jones attempted a whopping 54 passes, completing 35 for 316 yards and three touchdowns. He was sacked twice and threw a pick-6.

The pick-6 led to an early deficit and forced the Pats to play catch-up most of the game. With a solid 1-2 punch of running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott, it’s unreasonable to expect Jones to attempt that many passes a game. Most weeks, I think New England would like to stay at or below 30 passing attempts.

Tua Tagovailoa Fantasy Outlook

Tagovailoa was one of the stars of week 1, completing 28-of-45 passes for 455 yards and three touchdowns in helping the Miami Dolphins to a 36-34 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Tagovailoa was picked off once, lost one fumble and was not sacked.

Of the quarterbacks being added the most before week 2, Tagovailoa has the best No. 1 receiving option in Tyreek Hill. He also has Jaylen Waddle, but could use another receiver or tight end to round out the passing game.

Tagovailoa does not have as dynamic a ground game behind him as the other quarterbacks on this list, so he's probably in line to attempt the most passes each week. 

Dak Prescott Fantasy Outlook

Prescott is being dropped despite his Dallas Cowboys winning 40-0 over the New York Giants in week 1. The lopsided score was not because of a monster game from Prescott, as Dallas didn’t throw for a score, instead rushing for three scores and returning a blocked field goal and interception for touchdowns.

Prescott completed 13 of his 24 passes for 143 yards. He didn’t turn the ball over and was not sacked once. 

There’s a solid collection of playmakers on the offensive side of the ball, but Tony Pollard is also a great talent that will be featured a bunch in the running game. It’s hard to judge Prescott’s performance one way or another given how the game played out in less than ideal conditions.

Geno Smith Fantasy Outlook

Smith and the Seattle Seahawks were one of the bigger disappointments in week 1, losing 30-13 to the shorthanded Los Angeles Rams.

Smith threw a touchdown pass to D.K. Metcalf in the second quarter, but was pretty inefficient otherwise. He completed just 16 of his 26 attempts for 112 yards. He took care of the ball and was sacked twice.

After a strong 2022 season, fantasy owners were expecting more of the same from Smith and the Seahawks this season, but week 1 instead left owners concerned. Things don’t get any easier in week 2, going up against the Lions, who held Patrick Mahomes in check in the opening week.

Aaron Rodgers Fantasy Outlook

Rodgers saw his New York Jets career ended after just four snaps. He has a torn Achilles and will miss the entire 2023 season. Given Rodgers is 38 years old, there’s a chance the injury is a career-ending one.

Zach Wilson will be given the first chance to take over for Rodgers. If he disappoints, the Jets might consider trading for a QB on a team headed toward a losing season.

Who Should I Add?

All of the quarterbacks being added by fantasy owners are justified given their week 1 performances. I would prioritize getting Tagovailoa first as he’s in line for the best season in terms of fantasy. His turnovers are a bit troublesome, but his big yardage and touchdown totals should be enough to offset those.

I’d go after Purdy or Goff next. As mentioned before, both quarterbacks are pretty safe options most weeks, and have lots of talent around them to succeed.

Love and Jones are likely going to get picked up this week, but I would put them behind Tagovailoa, Purdy and Goff when it comes to priority. Love has some playmakers around him, but doesn’t have a long enough track record to be super confident in starting him. Jones has been around for awhile and rarely puts up these kinds of games. He can maybe be a strong start here and there, but expecting him to be a top-five QB this year is asking a lot.

Who Should I Drop?

Sadly, Rodgers is safe to drop seeing as he won’t play again in 2023. The only reason to keep him around is if you have unlimited IR spots and are in a keeper or dynasty league on the slim chance he returns to the game next year.

Prescott is a quarterback I wasn’t super high on going into the season, but I think one unusual game is a bit too early to bail on him. If you were expecting him to be your backup, then I’d be more open to dropping him for one of Tagovailoa, Purdy or Goff, but if Prescott was your No. 2 guy, I’d stick with him. His job isn’t in jeopardy and there’s enough talent on that Cowboys’ offense to be a solid starter most weeks.

I am also not a huge fan of dropping Smith either. It’s easy to overreact, especially after week 1, but I’d wait at least another week before considering dropping Smith. He’s got a similar team to 2022, when he was one of the better fantasy quarterbacks in the league. You don’t want to drop him now, only to see him bounce back in a big way in week 2, and then you lose out on him for the rest of the season.