Honorable mention Start: Aaron Rodgers (NYJ), Lamar Jackson (BAL), Daniel Jones (NYG)
Honorable mention Sit: Joe Flacco (IND), Matthew Stafford (LAR), Jacoby Brissett (NE)
Start: Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
Fresh off the bye week and right into one of the biggest O/U’s of the week, Brock is set to cook. The Buccaneers defense has been brutal over the last month and was just trounced on Monday night by Mahomes and the Chiefs. McCaffrey may be back for this one, and getting that kind of weapon back is a fantastic thing. Even if McCaffrey isn’t back, however, the pond is still stocked. Jauan Jennings should also be on the field this week, Deebo should be good to go, and George Kittle is set for a huge day. I expect a big number in this one, and I’m betting Purdy is inside the top five at the position for the week.
Start: Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings
After a pedestrian couple of fantasy finishes (QB27, QB13, QB16), Darnold found his way back into the top 10 this past week against the Colts. It wasn’t pretty, mind you, but here we are. This week, Darnold & Co. got the Jaguars, the most generous defense to the position, who have given up 30 points or more in 6/9 games this season and have given up multiple touchdown passes in six of the last seven. Jefferson is obviously a play, but I think Addison and Jones benefit here also. This one is almost too easy.
Sit: Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
Kyler Murray is fresh off a 6.3-point performance against the Bears on Sunday, and if you watched the game, you probably realize that Murray just isn’t a good QB. He’ll have his weeks, but he’s just far too inconsistent to trust. Three top 10 finishes and six outside the top 12 at the position (including QB30 v. the Bears). The Jets defense was gouged pretty good in Weeks 6 through 8 (yielding an average of 25.1 points per game), but came back around this past Sunday at home against the Texans (13.5 points). The Jets have been pretty fantastic against QBs on the season as a whole, surrendering less that 15.0 in every other game not named Week 6 through Week 8. It was a tough matchup and an inconsistent QB. Nope.
Sit: Drake Maye, New England Patriots
The Bears defense is good, y’all. They limit scoring and yardage and create opportunities through takeaways (4th in the NFL). Plus, they dominate opposing QBs for fantasy purposes. For reference, see Kyler Murray above (6.3 points). In fact, they’ve given up more than 20 points to the position just once this season. Drake Maye has been fun to watch and has actually been fantasy-serviceable in his starts (throw out the Jets game due to injury), but if he didn’t have 95 rushing yards against the Titans Sunday, his week would have been complete garbage for us. He hits a brick wall this week at Soldier Field, and honestly, I’m not expecting him to post ten points total.
