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Prior to Week 3, Andy Dalton ranked as fantasy football's QB9, and while he did give the ball away 4 times against the Carolina Panthers, he continued his solid fantasy season by throwing for 352 yards and 2 scores.
So why are we bullish about a player who threw four interceptions this weekend? It's due to the massive improvement Dalton has showcased over last year's numbers. Among quarterbacks who dropped back to pass 200 or more times last year (35), Dalton was pretty poor, ranking only 24th in Passing NEP per drop back (-0.02). In 2018, Dalton had rocketed his way up to ninth (0.19) prior to Week 3 action.
Even with those interceptions in this week's loss, in peeking at numberFire Live, Dalton posted a mark of 0.12 Passing NEP per drop back on 46 attempts -- far better than those 2017 stats. Tack on a Week 4 matchup with the Falcons, whose defense was a middling 15th in our schedule-adjusted passing metrics through two games and were torched for 396 passing yards and 43 points by Drew Brees this week, and Dalton makes for a quality quarterback option in Week 4.