Fantasy Football: 5 Quarterbacks You Can Pick Up to Replace Aaron Rodgers
Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars
Yahoo Ownership: 14%
While Blake Bortles is no longer the garbage-time king -- which led to him finishing as the QB3 and QB8 over the past two seasons -- he still has something to offer as a fantasy option. This is Leonard Fournette's offense now, and while that means fewer big games from Bortles, it also means we're seeing him make fewer mistakes.
So far, he's just 25th in fantasy points scored per game, but like some of the other quarterbacks mentioned here, his schedule starts to look much better in the weeks ahead. Over his next seven games, he gets the Indianapolis Colts twice, a team that has given up more fantasy points to quarterbacks than every team except the Patriots. He also gets to face the winless Cleveland Browns, a team that has given up the fifth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season on a per-game basis.
That soft schedule one of the reasons that our rest-of-season projections (heading into Week 6) were relatively optimistic when it comes to Bortles.
| Rank | Name | Fantasy Points | Pass Yards | Pass TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14th | Tyrod Taylor | 192.23 | 2,301.08 | 16.29 |
| 15th | Matthew Stafford | 190.21 | 3,009.64 | 17.88 |
| 16th | Carson Wentz | 190.10 | 2,849.57 | 18.34 |
| 17th | Cam Newton | 188.46 | 2,622.05 | 15.47 |
| 18th | Blake Bortles | 182.23 | 2,491.39 | 15.68 |
Our fantasy forecasting calls for the Jaguars' trigger man to nearly keep pace with the likes of Cam Newton and Carson Wentz. Go ahead and consider Bortles as a streaming option in the weeks ahead, but be warned -- his schedule for the fantasy playoffs includes two excellent pass defenses in the Seattle Seahawks and Houston Texans, so if you do roster him for those great matchups in the weeks ahead, have an alternate plan in place for the postseason.
