Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 5: Is Tarvaris Jackson Worth Picking Up?

To this point in his career, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Tarvaris Jackson has never been a big-time fantasy producer. That's just not his style.

That's what made Jackson's performance on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons so weird. He passed for a career-high 319 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Take a look at the top fantasy quarterbacks in Week 4, and Jackson's name is not that far off from Michael Vick's.

Like I said, weird. Nevertheless, the question fantasy owners have to ask themselves is a simple one:

Is there more where this came from?

I have to admit, the idea is pretty intriguing. If you can pick up a guy like Jackson and trust him to produce, you would be able to trade your current starting quarterback for a productive wide receiver or running back.

Yes sir, "intriguing" is a good word to describe the idea. But I think a better word to describe it would be "absurd."

Listen, as good as Jackson was against Atlanta, there are a couple of reasons to believe it was a big fluke.

For starters, I think you have to be wary of the fact that Jackson set a career high for passing yards. I don't know about you, but I have my doubts about Jackson's ability to set a new career high, especially when you consider that his career high for a single game before Sunday was 249 passing yards. He smashed that, and I just don't think he'll smash 319.

Especially when you consider how he got to that mark. As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer tells the story, the bulk of Jackson's yards came in the second half after the Seahawks switched to a no-huddle offense. They clearly caught the Falcons off guard.

Jackson says the Seahawks "definitely could" run the no-huddle all the time, and maybe they should, given how well it worked.

But if he thinks the Seahawks are going to catch anybody else off guard by reusing the no-huddle, he can think again. The secret is out now, and Seattle's opponents will be ready for it. It would be one thing if Jackson was Peyton Manning, but he's not.

So if you don't need a quarterback, I'd leave Jackson alone.

If you do need a quarterback, however, then sure. Jackson is not going to hurt your team if you pick him up and stash him off your bench.

Just think real hard before putting him in your starting lineup.