Fantasy Sports Fantasy Football

Fantasy Football Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickup: QB Brian Hoyer

Fresh Videos

By @bradberreman24

Brian Hoyer, Cleveland Browns, Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Browns made a historic comeback Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, led by quarterback Brian Hoyer, who finished the game with 292 yards and three touchdowns along with an interception. He has now posted at least 12 fantasy points (ESPN scoring) in all four of his games this season, and Johnny Manziel does not seem to be a serious threat to take away playing time in the near future.

Week 6 brings a matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had allowed more than 300 passing yards in back-to-back games and multiple passing touchdowns in three straight contests prior to intercepting  Jacksonville Jaguars  rookie quarterback Blake Bortles twice and limiting him to 191 yards in Week 5. The Browns played the Steelers in Week 1, and Hoyer went 19-for-31 for 230 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions. But the Steelers have lost top cornerback Ike Taylor to an arm injury since that game, and the dismal results in the two games before Sunday spoke for themselves.

After a fairly middle of the road matchup against the Steelers where he may need volume to put up numbers, Hoyer gets a favorable stretch of games. Two of Cleveland’s following three opponents (Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7 and Tampa Bay Buccaneeers in Week 9) entered Week 5 in the bottom-10 of the league against opposing quarterbacks (ESPN scoring), and a matchup against the Oakland Raiders is coming in Week 8. Week 9 has six teams on a bye, and with Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford idle the number of viable fantasy quarterbacks will be greatly reduced.

Hoyer is worth a look in two-quarterback leagues over the next few weeks, but those that consider adding him need to be aware of fairly tough matchups in Week 10 (Cincinnati Bengals) and Week 11 (Houston Texans) when pondering his long-term outlook. The threat of losing his job to Manziel will not go away, but as long as Hoyer is healthy and playing solidly a change is unlikely to be made.

Hoyer is currently available in 95 percent of Yahoo! leagues, and I expect him to remain widely available for at least a few more weeks. Wide receiver Josh Gordon is eligible to return from suspension in Week 12, so if Hoyer can stay afloat until then he could be fantasy relevant at a crucial point in the season.

Brad Berreman is a Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Connect on Google +.

Share Tweet
Trending Now on