A look at quarterbacks on the waiver wire for Week 5 in fantasy football leagues, ranked in our projection of lowest to highest priority.
5. Teddy Bridgewater, Carolina Panthers: A wait-and-see approach is advised with Bridgewater, simply because his career suggests firm limitations that likely won’t change anytime soon. He isn’t a bold risk-taker and takes precious few chances down the field, focusing instead on efficiency and high-percentage passing that meshes well with the personnel the Panthers have. The buy-in for Bridgewater in fantasy suggests touchdown volume could still improve while also investing in a Panthers team that has been a pleasant surprise under first-year coach Matt Rhule. Bridgewater’s numbers aren’t likely to be gaudy from one week to the next, but looming matchups against the Falcons (Weeks 5 and 8) and Chiefs (Week 9) suggest he might be asked to up the aggression level and do more scoring.
4. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers: Herbert has likely shown more than enough for coach Anthony Lynn to move past the idea of reinserting Tyrod Taylor into his starting lineup. The rookie was masterful in a Week 4 loss at Tampa Bay, completing 20-of-25 passes for 290 yards with three touchdowns and one interception while pushing another big-time quarterback, Tom Brady, to his limits in a losing effort. Herbert is now averaging 310 yards in his three starts while completing 72 percent of his passes and flashing a big, explosive arm. Add in his ability to convert on short-yardage rushing chances, and Herbert has legitimate tools to make an impact as either a QB2 or bye-week fill-in. Look for official word from Lynn in the coming days about his Week 5 starter, but Herbert has shown too much to move him to the bench now.
3. Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles: Wentz’s stock will likely never be lower than it is right now as he takes a public beating and continues to try and make do with a suspect crew of receivers. Wentz is deserving of much of his criticism, but appears to be in no imminent danger of losing his job and is the playmaking force that can keep the Eagles offense respectable until Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson, Dallas Goedert and others can get healthy. Wentz can run and improvise, which helps him perform better in fantasy than it looks in reality. A run of three straight games with a rushing touchdown helps, but it’s also indicative of the lengths he must go for the Eagles offense to actually find the end zone.
2. Gardner Minshew, Jacksonville Jaguars: The Minshew Bubble burst in Week 3, just when fantasy owners felt ready to lean on him as a potential QB1. The reality is, perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, that bubble should have never formed in the first place. Minshew is an aggressive risk-taker in an offense that continues to overachieve, but he’s far from immune to occasional bad performances. It’s also true that he might have been a bounce or two away from performing much better in last week’s loss to Miami. Either way, Minshew registered his third multi-touchdown performance in four starts in Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati and reinforced just how much the Jacksonville offense is going to continue to lean on him. That’s mostly a good thing, but Bad Mindshew is still prone to come out without notice. He’s a high-risk, high-reward QB2 who should come in handy with the bye-week season (and COVID risks) on the horizon.
1. Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders: There are sexier options at quarterback, absolutely, but Carr also isn’t quite getting full credit for the year he’s having thus far. The Raiders offense is more vibrant and exciting than initially expected, and Carr has topped 30 pass attempts and 239 yards in all four of his starts. He also has an 8-to-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a chance to be more dynamic as his banged-up crew of pass-catchers starts to get healthy. Carr is a mid-tier QB2 by the numbers alone and figures to keep churning out respectable numbers that will only become more valuable in the weeks ahead. Most of the remaining games on his schedule have shootout potential, including the Chiefs in Weeks 5 and 11, the Bucs (Week 7), Browns (Week 8), Falcons (Week 12) and Jets (Week 13).