Jimmy Garoppolo Injury: Fantasy Quarterbacks To Target With 49ers Star Out
There’s no two ways to slice it: Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury is brutal on all levels.
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback suffered a torn ACL in Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs and is out for the season. The news is a heartbreaker for the Niners and Garoppolo fantasy owners and denies NFL fans the chance to watch one of the league’s most talented young quarterbacks until 2019.
We can’t magically bring Garoppolo back, but we can help on the fantasy football front. Here are five quarterbacks owned in 33 percent or fewer of Yahoo! fantasy leagues who are worth adding on the waiver wire if you need a signal-caller to replace Jimmy G.
Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals (33 percent owned in Yahoo! leagues)
The bad news: Dalton threw four interceptions Sunday and still is a mediocre real-life quarterback. But his consistently high volume — 40-plus pass attempts in two consecutive weeks — makes him a legitimate high-floor streaming option in fantasy. If running back Joe Mixon misses any more time, Dalton should continue to air it out. Even with Mixon in the lineup, the Red Rifle deserves to be on your roster if you need a Garoppolo replacement.
Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens (14 percent owned)
Speaking of high volume: Flacco leads the AFC in passing attempts (129) through three games, as new Ravens wideouts Michael Crabtree and John Brown have helped open up the air attack. We don’t see any signs of that changing, and Flacco should have plenty more chances to sling it in Week 4 against the Pittsburgh Steelers’ leaky secondary.
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins (8 percent owned)
In case you forgot, Tannehill tossed 11 touchdown passes in the final five games of the 2016 season under new head coach Adam Gase, who was brought in to revamp Miami’s offense. The Dolphins QB appears to be picking up where he left off this season, completing 73 percent of his passes with seven TDs in his first three games. The New England Patriots can be exploited in the passing game, so the often-overlooked Tannehill actually is a legit streaming play this week.
Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns (12 percent owned)
Why not replace one phenom with another?! It may take a while for Mayfield to be a become a true fantasy QB1, but he flashed enough potential last Thursday — 17 completions on 23 attempts for 201 yards — to earn the Browns’ starting job. Cleveland faces a beatable Oakland Raiders secondary in Week 4, so he’s probably worthy of a start in two-quarterback leagues. In one-QB leagues, he’s a low-risk, high-reward option at worst.
Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills (3 percent owned)
Want to get even more nuts? Take a chance on the Bills’ top pick, who burst onto the fantasy scene with three total touchdowns in Buffalo’s shocking upset of the Minnesota Vikings. Was that performance an aberration? Probably. But if LeSean McCoy misses any more time, Allen will be asked to do a lot, so he’s worth at least taking a flyer on, especially in two-QB leagues.
