Week 2 QB Rankings: Palmer, Foles, Kaepernick, and more

After an exciting Week 1, we move into Week 2, which looks to be a lot more predictable at first look. There are a few burning questions relating to quarterbacks, most notably how successful Andrew Luck can be while TY Hilton is out and if this is just a slump for Peyton Manning. Plus, how much of the values of Tony Romo and Eli Manning depend on the health of their star receivers, and what should we expect going forward from Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota?

Let’s check out how the five streaming recommendations panned out last week.

Last week

Ryan Tannehill
Week 1 Finish: 22

What happened: This was disappointing from a fantasy angle, as Miami’s dink-and-dunk offense prevented Tannehill from taking advantage of a vulnerable Washington defense.

Carson Palmer
Week 1 Finish: 2

What happened: Palmer was excellent, and ended up being my most-owned passer in DFS. I probably should have had him higher in the ranks given the players I used him over.

Jameis Winston
Week 1 Finish: 20

What happened: I took the wrong end of Winston and Marcus Mariota, so hopefully you didn’t go all-in on Winston. He has a great chance to bounce back this week against the Saints.

Andy Dalton
Week 1 Finish: 9

What happened: He was somewhat better in the real game than in fantasy, unless you stacked him with Tyler Eifert. Still, it was a top 10 performance from a quarterback available in most leagues.

Tyrod Taylor

Week 1 Finish: 14

What happened: Most of his value came from the long touchdown to Percy Harvin, but you were likely content with what you got out of him.

Streamers for Week 2

Carson Palmer vs. Chicago Bears

While Palmer’s ownership has increased, he is still a free agent in many fantasy leagues, and is likely to return to the top 10 quarterbacks this week.

Joe Flacco vs. Oakland Raiders

While the results from Week 1 against Denver were not encouraging, Flacco has a cakewalk of a matchup with Oakland, which allowed Dalton to walk right over it. Still, he’s too risky for me in shallower leagues.

Colin Kaepernick vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

The 49ers were conservative against Minnesota in Week 1, but Kap should get more of a leash against a Pittsburgh defense that Tom Brady destroyed. Regardless of Brady’s success, the Steelers are a weak defense and Kaepernick has intriguing upside.

Andy Dalton vs. San Diego Chargers

I’ll go back to the well with Dalton, who faces a Charger defense that picked off Matt Stafford twice last week but was nothing special last year. It’s not nearly as much of a slam-dunk as it was last week, but Dalton should be fine this week as a streamer.

Nick Foles vs. Washington Redskins

The Washington defense was excellent in Week 1 against Miami, but I think part of that was Miami’s playcalling. Cornerback Chris Culliver is out, although Bashaud Breeland returns from suspension to man the slot. Foles was surprisingly competent against the fearsome Seahawks defense (albeit one that was missing Kam Chancellor), so he could be in for a big week against a weaker secondary.

I'm not too strict with my ranks, so please don't be either. The gap between a lot of these players is so small there's no reason to fret about what looks to be a poor rank. For the column '2014 Pass Defense Rank', I used numberFire's Adjusted Defensive Pass Net Expected Points per Play, which adjusts for strength of schedule and measures how good a pass defense was on a per-play basis. You can learn more about Net Expected Points here.