Forget the final score. Forget the overthrow in overtime that sealed the Vikings' victory yesterday. Let's look a a guy who's marinating on almost every waiver wire right now: Blaine Gabbert.
Yep, that Blaine Gabbert. The same one who looked shell-shocked on every snap last season. The same one who ran play-action on a Hail Mary against the Steelers. He's now fantasy relevant, and I'd argue he could be a safe fantasy backup who could net 12 or 16 points a week in standard leagues (think 2011 Andy Dalton numbers). As for weekly salary leagues, he could be a cheap steal week after week.
Consider this: Gabbert posted his best game as a pro on Sunday. This was right after he impressed throughout the entire preseason. And not only has Gabbert finally stopped looking and playing like a homecoming queen, but his supporting cast has vastly improved. Mike Thomas, last year's No. 1 wideout, is now No. 4 on the depth chart. Justin Blackmon, Laurent Robinson, and Cecil Shorts actually resemble a receiving corps, and TE Marcedes Lewis caught his first TD since the David Garrard era on Sunday.
Is there any catch? Sure. Gabbert's 260 yards and 2 TDs came against the last year's bottom-ranked fantasy pass defense. And you could argue that Gabbert only had a measly 10 points prior to Cecil Shorts' spectacular Hail Mary grab at the end of regulation. And you could point fingers at Maurice Jones-Drew's limited workload, which will increase starting next Sunday.
But the bottom line is this: Gabbert and the Jags have a rough schedule (the rest of the NFC North, the entire AFC East, and two games against Houston), MJD is an injury waiting to happen (no player has more touches than MJD over the past three years), and Gabbert finally has reliable hands to throw to. And the Jags are still in rebuilding mode. They'll be down, they'll be throwing. And if you're looking to snag a guy on waivers, why not roll the dice on a guy who's throwing downfield, as opposed to say, Carson Palmer, who completed thirteen (!) dump-offs to McFadden on Monday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment