Colin Kaepernick highlighted our quarterback streaming options for a second straight week in Week 12, and once again he delivered. Sam Bradford, uh, did not.
We’re down to our final byes in Week 13, with Cleveland and Tennessee both idle.
| Week 12 | Fantasy Points | Fantasy Rank | PFF Passing Grade |
| Colin Kaepernick | 33 | 2nd | 18th |
| Carson Wentz | 17 | 21st | 29th |
| Sam Bradford | 7 | 32nd | 27th |
Notes: That’s now four straight QB1 performances from the still criminally underowned Colin Kaepernick… Sam Bradford displayed his trademark accuracy by completed 31-of-37 passes, but he operated almost entirely in the short to intermediate areas and failed to help the 3.2 percent of fantasy players who started him in ESPN leagues… Carson Wentz ran for a touchdown, but once again was left in the lurch by his supporting cast… In the honorable mention section I mentioned a few players who were benched in too many leagues, and highlighting that list was Kirk Cousins, who delivered a 30-point day on Thanksgiving.
Of Week 12’s top-11 fantasy quarterbacks through Sunday, six were left on the bench in more than half of ESPN lineups. And then there was Marcus Mariota, started in only 56 percent of lineups. Streaming in today’s NFL encompasses more than just those players available on your waiver wire. With 20 quarterbacks rostered in more than half of ESPN leagues, no longer can we simply target a top-five QB on draft day and then “set it and forget it” throughout the fantasy season. Not when there are so many capable QBs on fantasy rosters and mounds of data here at PFF to exploit weekly matchups and arrive at the optimal starting choice.
Of course, with fantasy playoffs getting underway for many leagues this week, “start your studs” still applies in most cases. Still, it’s not a one-size-fits-all premise. Perhaps you drafted Ben Roethlisberger and then got in on the ground floor with Mariota. Or maybe you began the season starting Russell Wilson and later made the switch to someone like Dak Prescott or Kirk Cousins.
The streaming candidates we’ll tackle this week are all owned in less than 25 percent of ESPN leagues and are recommended more for daily formats. So keep that in mind and be sure to check out our weekly rankings before hitching your wagon to one of these guys in a season-long elimination game.
Week 13
Colin Kaepernick (SF @ CHI) – 22.7% owned/9.3% started/10th in FanDuel salary ($7,800)
The 49ers may be on the verge of a franchise-record 11th straight loss, but Kaepernick ranks sixth in fantasy points per game (22.5) since taking over the starting job back in Week 6 – that’s a better average than the likes of Tom Brady, Andrew Luck, Matt Ryan, Derek Carr and Cam Newton. In a Week 12 loss at Miami, Kaepernick threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns to go with another 113 yards and a score on the ground (he also was stopped just short of the goal line as time expired). You may recall I forecasted an uptick in completion percentage in this space last week, and he came through with a season-best 63 percent (74.4 adjusted completion percentage).
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