Yahoo Ownership: 35%
It's against the rules to say nice things about Blake Bortles, but the dude has been pretty good this season, especially when it comes to fantasy football.
He's currently the QB14 for the year, and he has been on a really good run over the past three weeks, posting a QB1 (top-12) outing in three straight games. That's as many QB1 weeks as Matt Ryan has all season.
| Opponent | Passing Yards | Passing Touchdowns | Rushing Yards | Rushing Touchdowns | Fantasy Points | Weekly Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinals | 160 | 0 | 67 | 2 | 22.60 | QB7 |
| Colts | 309 | 2 | 27 | 0 | 25.06 | QB3 |
| Seahawks | 268 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 18.52 | QB10 |
Against the Cardinals, Bortles saved a poor passing day with a big game on the ground, and that highlights an under-the-radar aspect of Bortles' fantasy value -- he's a decent runner, averaging between 19 and 23 rushing yards per game in each of the past three seasons.
His matchup this week is superb, as the Jaguars host the Texans. Jacksonville is sporting a 25.5-point implied total, the sixth-highest of the week, and the Texans are giving up the fourth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. Houston ranks 21st in pass defense, per our schedule-adjusted metrics, and they just allowed Jimmy Garoppolo to throw for 334 yards and 1 score in his second start with the 49ers.
Our models have Bortles as this week's QB8, projecting him to score 20.08 fantasy points and making him the top streamer for Week 15. As an added bonus, the Jags get the Titans in Week 16, so Bortles is more than a one-week play.