3 Fantasy Football Quarterback Streaming Options for Week 16

If you're still here, congratulations: You survived Week 15 aka did you have Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews week.

It's time to look at quarterback streaming options for your season-long lineups.

Quarterback streaming isn't for everyone, but if you're in a standard league -- like a 10- or 12-team league that features just one starting signal caller -- grabbing potentially productive quarterbacks in good matchups off the waiver wire is often doable. For some roster constructions, it can even be optimal.

Sure, you won't have the luxury of setting it and forgetting it with Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback, but when the top-end signal-callers draw a tough matchup, their upside can oftentimes be matched by a waiver-wire option in a more favorable situation.

Throughout the season, this column should, will, and must be your go-to resource for identifying quarterbacks to stream in a pinch. I'll recommend quarterbacks rostered in fewer than roughly 50% of Yahoo leagues who are in solid spots this week.

Week 15 Recap and Situations to Monitor

Just in time for the playoffs, Week 15 went well for this column -- relative to the Week 15 hellscape.

Tua Tagovailoa was the overall QB12, Jimmy Garoppolo the QB14, and Justin Fields was the QB9. Nice!

If you read last week's column closely we pegged Tyler Huntley as another great rushing-driven option. He scored five more fantasy points than any other quarterback.

With COVID-19 back in full force and injuries not going away, it's more important than ever to monitor the situations around the league. It's far too early to know if Lamar Jackson will suit up for Week 16, and Huntley provides seamless insurance if he can't go. If Huntley isn't available, Jackson managers simply must have another option at the ready.

Josh Allen seemed no worse for wear playing through his foot sprain, though he did manage just three carries.

Teddy Bridgewater suffered a scary concussion, so as of now, we should expect Drew Lock to get the Week 16 start.

Daniel Jones is officially done for the year.

Jared Goff is on the COVID-19 list. Given the updated NFL COVID rules, he could potentially come back, but if not, Tim Boyle would presumably get the start. Needless to say, we can do better.

Bye weeks are officially in the rearview, so we'll have the full gamut of options to work with for the rest of the season. Let's aim for more streaming goodness in Week 16!

Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers

Roster Percentage: 40%

Jimmy Garoppolo delivered a solid performance as a recommended stream last week, and we're going back to the well.

The biggest weekly fantasy concerns for Garoppolo are his lack of rushing and the team's high rushing rate. Per Underdog's Hayden Winks, the Niners are 8th-lowest in Neutral Pass Rate over the last four weeks.

Because the San Francisco 49ers have dominated lately, we haven't really seen a team push the Niners into a back-and-forth game script. The one time we saw that, Garoppolo put up 20 fantasy points against the Cincinnati Bengals.

It's good news then that this game against the Tennessee Titans comes with a close spread; the Niners are just 3.5-point road favorites. Helpfully, Tennessee has allowed the 6th-most schedule-adjusted fantasy points to quarterbacks this year. Part of that is likely from the Titans average pass rush, which ranks just mid-pack in Hurry Rate and Pressure Rate, per Pro Football Reference.

While it doesn't always show up in the fantasy box score, it's notable that Jimmy G is quietly balling this year. Among all starting quarterbacks, Garoppolo ranks third in Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) per drop back. That's ahead of Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes -- amongst others.

Garoppolo makes sense as a streamer this week given that he's playing well in a good matchup with a tight spread.

Justin Fields, Bears

Roster Percentage: 26%

Last week, Justin Fields was rostered in just 20% of Yahoo! leagues. We recommended him as a streamer, and now that number is 26%. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Either way, it's not high enough. Over his last four completed games, Fields is averaging 20.7 fantasy points per game. That average would rank him as the QB10 for the full season. Put simply, he's performing like a low-end QB1 right now.

It's mostly due to his legs. Over that same span, he's averaging 8.5 carries and 64.3 rushing yards. He's also added a rushing score. His rushing is providing a high weekly floor with upside for more.

In terms of fantasy points allowed, the Seattle Seahawks don't check in as an appealing matchup. But there's more than meets the eye here.

First, Seattle hasn't faced a single quarterback that ranks in the top-11 among quarterback rushing yards, which suggests their low rushing yards per game allowed to the position is mostly schedule-driven.

Second, in terms of numberFire's schedule-adjusted defense rankings, Seattle checks in as a classic pass funnel; they rank 5th-best against the run but just 23rd against the pass.

Fields should also get Allen Robinson back for this game as well. With a strong rushing floor and sneaky matchup, he's as rock-solid as streamers come in Week 16.

Tyler Huntley, Ravens

Roster Percentage: 5%

This one is as straightforward as it gets. Considering he's only rostered in 5% of Yahoo! leagues, Tyler Huntley, Week 15's overall QB1, is a must to pick up for Lamar Jackson managers. He's an equally good pick-up if you simply want to block your opponent from having Jackson's backup, too.

Huntley was a footnote on last week's column, but he deserves his own space here. Matchups don't matter a ton when you have 13 carries for 72 yards and a pair of scores in your range of rushing outcomes. He's an automatic starter if Jackson is ruled out. No reason to spill more digital ink than that.

If Huntley can't go, pickings are pretty slim out there. Cam Newton has an appealing fantasy matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and it's possible that game is closer than we think given Tampa's litany of offensive injuries. But with in-game benchings always a possibility, Newton is more a desperation streamer unless we get the news he has the job to himself.

Last-ditch streamers can look to Matt Ryan, but he's purely a hold your nose and trust the matchup recommendation. Ryan has surpassed 240 passing yards just once over his last six games and hasn't had a multi-touchdown game over that same span. But, the Detroit Lions pass defense ranks 27th according to our schedule-adjusted metrics. Good luck.