I'm in a playoff competition where you can only use each player in the postseason once. Picking through the quarterback selections this week, I can use any one of them -- I used Deshaun Watson last week. And I'm mulling going with Dak Prescott this week.
Safer choices, certainly for passing numbers, include Drew Brees, Andrew Luck and Patrick Mahomes, and probably Tom Brady and Jared Goff too. But the way Prescott has been running the ball lately -- especially around the goal line -- he might finish with comparable fantasy production anyway.
Since the Saints are the team most likely to win this week, I'd like to save Brees. With Mahomes and Luck, that game could go either way -- if I use the one who wins, I won't have either quarterback in that game available to me next week. I still might wind up using one of them, but there's an argument to be made for not using either, and having the winner available next week (and saving Brees, or Goff, for the Super Bowl). I'm wary of the game in New England -- might be lower scoring than the others, and in poor weather.
Circling back to Prescott, he's been putting up great numbers lately -- fantasy-wise, even when not great passing numbers. I'm leaving out the Colts game, where Dallas was shutout, which I suppose some will see as a cheat. But I thought going into that one that Dallas would lose, and probably badly, since it wouldn't much affect their playoff fortunes: they just needed to beat Tampa Bay, in Dallas, a week later for the division title. Which they did. So I'm setting aside the Colts game, where Prescott didn't do much. Apologies if you disagree, but I don't think it has any bearing on how he'll fare this week.
Other than that one game, he's been a pretty nice fantasy quarterback lately. FF Pts based on 4-point TD passes, 6-point runs, and 1 point for every 10 rushing or 20 passing yards.
| PRESCOTT, LAST EIGHT (MINUS INDY) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Res | PaYds | TD | RuYds | TD | FF Pts |
| @ PHI | W 27-20 | 270 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 24.4 |
| @ ATL | W 22-19 | 208 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 16.9 |
| WAS | W 31-23 | 289 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 30.3 |
| NO | W 13-10 | 249 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 18.7 |
| PHI | W 29-23 | 455 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 35.0 |
| TB | W 27-20 | 161 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 18.3 |
| @ NYG | W 36-35 | 387 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 35.4 |
| SEA | W 24-22 | 226 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 24.2 |
When push comes to shove, I'm probably not going to start Prescott. I've got three top quarterbacks who I think will be great this week, and most likely I'll go with one of them, taking the chance I'll still have great ones left the next two weeks.
But if you're in a similar type of competition, or merely want to build a lineup with a cheaper quarterback, I think Prescott needs to be considered. Fantasy-wise, he should be pretty good.