Since he’s making his first NFL start Sunday, Justin Fields can now be rostered in every fantasy football league.
It took Andy Dalton suffering a knee injury last Sunday to push it, but it’s happening. The Chicago Bears will start rookie quarterback Justin Fields on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. By pure coincidence, Fields will return to the state where he played collegiately at Ohio State. An otherwise fairly milquetoast game is now markedly more interesting with Fields getting his first NFL start.
Fields literally played a handful of snaps in Week 1, but he scored a rushing touchdown and completed both of his pass attempts. With Dalton’s injury forcing him into more action in Week 2, Fields went 6-for-13 for 60 yards with an interception along with 10 carries for 31 yards.
In fantasy football leagues where it was viable to stash him until he started, Fields was probably drafted. But overall he remained widely available enough to qualify for waiver wire columns heading into Week 3. That is sure to change now.
Justin Fields Fantasy Football Outlook
With the important caveat of being just two weeks in, here’s how the Bears’ upcoming opponents rank in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks so far this season (per game; Yahoo! scoring).
Week 3-Cleveland Browns (3rd-most)
Week 4-Detroit Lions (11th-most)
Week 5-Las Vegas Raiders (11th-fewest)
Week 6-Green Bay Packers (7th-most)
Week 7-Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9th-most)
Week 8-San Francisco 49ers (6th-most)
Week 9-Pittsburgh Steelers (17th-fewest)
Matchups and situations are important to note. The Browns allowed production to Patrick Mahomes, and then Tyrod Taylor. The Buccaneers have forced their opponents into pass-heavy game scripts. The 49ers faced a quarterback who was in comeback mode (Jared Goff) and a quarterback who can run (Jalen Hurts). The Packers allowed a historically efficient five-touchdown outing to Jameis Winston in Week 1. All of those things skew a two-game sample size.
As is widely known, said and written, rushing production is a cheat code for quarterbacks in fantasy. In 42 Week 2 snaps, Fields ran the ball 10 times. He has decent weapons around him, in Allen Robinson, David Montgomery and Darnell Mooney. The biggest question mark for the Bears’ offense is the offensive line, but Fields’ mobility can help him overcome that.
As of this writing, with it sure to change quickly, Fields is available in 46 percent of Yahoo! leagues and about 51 percent of ESPN leagues.
If you can, go add Fields right now. If you already have him via the draft or a waiver wire add, you’ve now got a potential low-end QB1 with upside. If you can’t add him and don’t have him on roster as a lineup option/stash to keep him away from others, just hope his best weeks don’t come when your opponent has him and starts him against you.