Bargain-Bin Quarterback Options to Win Your Week 1 Fantasy Matchup

It took 18 fantasy points—using ESPN standard scoring—for a quarterback to secure a top-12 finish at the position in an average week last season.

Only a handful of signal-callers regularly meet this weekly threshold for contextual success at the position. Aaron Rodgers led the league last season with 12 outings of at least 18 fantasy points. Andrew Luck tied Rodgers in 18-point efforts last season with a dozen, while Peyton Manning was only the third arm in the league to throw as many as 10 "top-12" games.

Outside of this trio, no other quarterback had more than eight such performances last season. Ben Roethlisberger and Ryan Tannehill, who finished fifth and ninth, respectively, in total fantasy points at the position last season, scored 18 points just five times each. Matt Ryan had six "big" weeks by this measure, the same number of such games as Cam Newton, Jay Cutler and Joe Flacco.

Forty different quarterbacks posted at least one performance with at least 18 fantasy points last season (again using ESPN standard scoring). In 2013, 43 signal-callers met the mark.

If you have an elite fantasy quarterback, by all means start him every week. I suppose the concept of "elite" is a moving target in fantasy football, and in the context of consistently elite fantasy production, only a few quarterbacks qualify each season.

Setting the cutoff at 18 points is admittedly somewhat arbitrary; a helpful fantasy week at quarterback isn't defined solely by qualifying as top 12 in a given week. I find it useful because it helps illuminate how much scoring variance occurs behind center and how some managers might be able to leverage this into their lineups.

I am generally a proponent of streaming relatively cheap yet well-positioned quarterbacks each Sunday. This strategy serves to save valuable draft capital for skill position commodities and also helps to combat the variance of trusting a single commodity at a position that rarely delivers consistently rich results.

Streaming doesn't necessitate you must source signal-callers from the wire or free agency each week. This season I've landed a good deal of veteran platoons, guys such as Philip Rivers and Carson Palmer, and will essentially stream that position based on matchups.

We've seen the same thing done in fantasy baseball—you build a Franken-third baseman by playing to specific batters' splits and streaks. When deploying multiple quarterbacks throughout the season, I plan to use every indicator, from matchup data to Vegas trends, at my disposal in order to maximize this platoon effort.

In one deep industry auction league, I recently drafted the combo of Palmer and Teddy Bridgewater to satisfy the position. I'll do my best internally to maximize this group given the 14-team nature of the waiver wire.

However, there might be weeks I'll need to look outside of that combo in hopes of maximizing the position. In those cases, I will look to identify some of the most intriguing assets available via free agency or reasonable trade costs.

With an eye on widely available assets at the position for Week 1, I identified four arms drafted 15th or later at the position on average this summer who could be of service in deeper leagues or multi-quarterback formats.

Early Investors Will Love Early Returns from Sam Bradford

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Getting a good price on Sam Bradford in fantasy drafts has proved increasingly challenging as we approach the regular season. Combine Chip Kelly's snap-happy mad scientist equation with a brilliant preseason and you'll find an ADP surge.

Even with the helium of the hype machine, Bradford is still going 15th at the position on average, according to Fantasy Pros' aggregated ADP index. I'm finding that he's crept into the top 12 or even top 10 in many late drafts, but we'll discuss Bradford's viability as a platoon or streaming asset given that he was likely acquired on the cheap in leagues that drafted earlier in August.

The Philadelphia Eagles kick off the new campaign in Atlanta on the first installment of a double slate of Monday Night Football. Vegas expects fireworks, as the week's highest point total of 55.5 suggests. This isn't about preseason hype—it's about getting shares of one of the league's top two or three fastest offenses in the league.

Enjoy the low pricing on major daily fantasy sports sites or whatever waiver wires he's still floating for now, as Bradford's big debut will begin to drive a massive spike in demand for his services.

Can a Shootout in Denver Propel Joe Flacco's Fantasy Value in Week 1?

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Remember the first game of the 2013 NFL season? It was a Thursday night in Denver when Peyton Manning threw seven touchdowns.

Lost in the shuffle, understandably, were Joe Flacco's 362 yards and two touchdowns in that game. His performance was, you guessed it, good for 18 fantasy points—the threshold that generally nets a quarterback a top-12 finish at the position in a given week.

Since he's being drafted 17th on average as a complete "meh" pick for most managers, I'd bet you'll find Flacco on the wire in almost all 10-team leagues and a good deal of even deeper formats. That said, he is not without his benefits as a fantasy asset, as he scored 18 fantasy points six times last season, tied for 10th among quarterbacks.

Big games will emerge from his big arm and that Marc Trestman offense—guessing when is clearly the task. Flacco is in Denver once again in a Week 1 matchup. Consider the game's opening point total of 53, which has settled to 49 of late (still one of the week's bigger totals), as an omen for another pass-happy, volume-driven day.

Carson Palmer Could Produce Big Fantasy Football Numbers in Week 1

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Carson Palmer is facing the New Orleans Saints' soft secondary, a pass defense that allowed the fifth-highest QB rating to opposing quarterbacks last season and the eighth-most passing yards. Palmer was ninth in fantasy points per game—albeit in a small, injury-induced sample—last season at the position.

While the Cardinals' running game still appears set to struggle in regard to per-touch efficiency, a passing game flush with capable receivers should sustain a top-15 fantasy campaign for Palmer, so long as he's upright each week.

For this specific week, I'm targeting Palmer as a home favorite in a game with a lofty point total—one I'm sure will entice QB streamers and DFS investors for Week 1.

Colin Kaepernick Could Run into Fantasy Fortune in Week 1

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There have been 18 seasons with at 100 rushes from 10 different quarterbacks since the merger. Last season, Colin Kaepernick rushed for the 13th-most yards from a quarterback since 1970, but he had just one rushing touchdown last season.

Positive correction is on the way for Kaepernick in the rushing touchdown department—of the 18 quarterbacks in the 100-rush club, Kaepernick's lone score is the lowest, with the average 100-plus-carry signal-caller season producing 6.4 rushing touchdowns.

Russell Wilson would have been 14th in fantasy points among quarterbacks if he had zero rushing numbers—or worse with Peyton Manning's minus-24 yards rushing—last season. In reality, Wilson had gobs of rushing production and was third in fantasy points at the position last season, tying for fourth among quarterbacks with Tony Romo, Tom Brady and Philip Rivers with eight games of at least 18 fantasy points.

I'm not nearly suggesting we should value Kaepernick in the same regard as Wilson in a fantasy context, just that there will be some singularly big fantasy performances fueled by Kaepernick's legs (especially when those touchdowns surface) that deep-leaguers, DFS investors and redraft streamers will want to chase with cheap shares.

Note: Average draft position courtesy of Fantasy Pros. Odds courtesy of Odds Shark.