Week 9 Fantasy Football Quarterback Streaming: Carson Palmer Leads the Way

If you've been streaming quarterbacks all season, or if you're in need of an injury or bye week fill-in for Week 9 of the fantasy season, you're in luck. This week's slate features some great streaming options, including plenty of players who are owned in 20% or less of ESPN fantasy leagues.

That means that even in deeper leagues, you should have a few options on the free agent list to plug and play at quarterback this week, starting with a fantastic option who is drastically under-owned.

Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals

Carson Palmer is owned in around 13% of ESPN fantasy leagues at the moment, yet he ranks in the top-15 of our Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) metric despite missing multiple games. His per-drop back efficiency is the same as Drew Brees so far this season.

This weekend, Palmer and the Cardinals take on the Cowboys, who are showing that the magic may be wearing off of a defense that doesn't have the talent to sustain their decent early performances. Dallas ranks 15th in our pass defense rankings, and they have allowed strong performances back-to-back to Eli Manning and Colt McCoy.

Palmer is likely going to be on this list every week for the rest of the season, especially if he's not scooped up in nearly every league this weekend. If you're streaming quarterbacks and Palmer is available, you may be able to stop streaming and just roll with Carson for the rest of the season.

Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals take on the Jaguars this weekend, which makes Andy Dalton a safe but limited pick. The Jacksonville offense has been handing points to opponents on a regular basis this season, which limits the upside for the opposing offense. Dalton may not have to throw much at all to help Cincinnati coast to an easy win.

But Jacksonville is our 19th-ranked pass defense, and Dalton did just rack up 20 fantasy points against a top-10 pass D from Baltimore, so this is a safe streaming option if you can't land Palmer.

Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins

The New York Jets are the only team to not have a quarterback go over 18 fantasy points against the San Diego Chargers, our 27th-ranked pass defense. This week, Ryan Tannehill will take on the Chargers in what should be another safe matchup for streaming.

Tannehill hasn't been great this season according to our metrics, but his production has been fairly consistent despite a lack of efficiency. This week's easy win against Jacksonville was his first game under 18 points since Week 3.

Teddy Bridgewater, Minnesota Vikings

Teddy Bridgewater did stumble a bit against the Buccaneers (our 32nd-ranked pass defense by a wide margin), but this week he and the Vikings head home for a game against Washington. That makes for an appealing matchup for the rookie.

Washington allowed 13 points to Charlie Whitehurst before allowing 6 fantasy points to Brandon Weeden on only six pass attempts this week. They currently rank 22nd in our pass defense rankings, and are starting young, inexperienced players at multiple key positions on defense.

Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders face the Seattle Seahawks this weekend, which may seem like a stupid team to stream against in fantasy football. After all, Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers both failed to reach 14 points against this team's defense.

Yet Austin Davis and Kirk Cousins did top 14 points against Seattle, and Derek Carr has accomplished that milestone four times this season. The Seahawks actually rank 24th in our pass defense rankings, and Carr will almost certainly be throwing to keep up with Seattle. If you're in a deep league and need a fill-in at quarterback, Carr might be the best ultra-low ownership option this week.

Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens

The Steelers allowed 18 points to Ryan Fitzpatrick a week before giving up 26 to Andrew Luck, and have been scoring tons of points of their own lately. That's a good recipe for a rivalry game against the Ravens and Joe Flacco, who is another great streaming option this week.

The Steelers rank 25th in our pass defense rankings, and Flacco sits in the top 10 in our Passing NEP metric. That's a solid combination for a player likely sitting on your waiver wire in a shallower league. This game could be fairly high scoring, and you can get a piece of the scoring by picking up Flacco this week.