Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor is unlikely to play Sunday in a great matchup against the Washington Redskins. Pryor or backup Matt Flynn could be a great dark horse fantasy football sleeper for this week.
In fantasy football, the only thing that matters is how many points a player gets for the respective fantasy football owner. Pryor is an average quarterback in reality, but in fantasy football, he is a good quarterback.
In standard ESPN fantasy leagues, Pryor is the 17th-best quarterback heading into Sunday’s games with 47 points. He has more points than New York Giants‘ Eli Manning, Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson, and Chicago Bears‘ Jay Cutler.
This week begins bye weeks and some fantasy owners are going to be without Green Bay Packers‘ Aaron Rodgers and Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton this week.
Those fantasy owners need to replace Rodgers or Newton with another quarterback this week, so why not Pryor? His fantasy production is similar to Tim Tebow on the Denver Broncos two years ago because he is a dual threat quarterback.
Pryor has gained many rushing yards with 198 this season, while having solid production throwing the ball. On Sunday, the Raiders will play the 31st-worst pass defense of the Redskins. The Redskins have given up 999 passing yards in the first three weeks, an average of 333 a week. Those quarterbacks were Philadelphia Eagles’ Michael Vick, Rodgers, and Detroit Lions’ Matthew Stafford.
Pryor is not as talented as those quarterbacks are, but that does not mean he cannot perform well against the Redskins. He is unlikely to play this week because of the concussion he suffered Monday night against the Broncos, according to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. If Pryor is unable to play on Sunday, then Flynn would be the starting quarterback.
Flynn the starting job to Pryor in the offseason, but that does not mean he is doomed to fail. Flynn has had past success and a supporting cast in Oakland. He was the backup quarterback to Rodgers from 2008-2011. Flynn did not receive a lot of playing time, but he took full advantage of a start in the last game of the 2011-12 season against the Lions. Flynn threw for a franchise record 480 yards and six touchdowns in a 45-41 victory. He is a pocket passer, unlike Pryor.
No matter who the starting quarterback will be for Sunday’s game, the Raiders have a very good running back in Darren McFadden. McFadden’s talent makes defenses have to make a tough decision if they want to game plan to try to stop the run or the pass, which leads to great play-action passes or option plays.
The Raiders also have two good wide receivers in Rob Streater and Denarius Moore. Both of them are deep threats and the Redskins have shown that they cannot stop the deep throws.
Pryor is only owned in 25.2 percent of ESPN leagues while Flynn is only owned in 1.1 percent of leagues. If an owner has a quarterback that has struggled this season or one that has a bye week, they should consider adding Pryor and/or Flynn.
Noah Weintraub is a Contributing Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @NoahWeintraub, join his Facebook group, or add him to your network on Google.
