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Zach Mettenberger Fantasy Football Week 8 Deep Sleeper

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By @RoKnowsDFS

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In fantasy football, there will be certain weeks where you will have to dig deep into the waiver wire/free agency pool to find a one-week replacement for a position. Sometimes it’s due to drafting one too many players with the same bye week and other times it’s due to an unfortunate streak of player injuries. Regardless of what the case may be, this is a situation that has faced every fantasy player at least once if they’ve been playing for a few years. This problem can also be amplified depending on how deep the league is. If the league is 12 teams or less, then chances are there are some viable options still left. If it’s 14 teams or more, then viable options tend to be few and far between.

With that being said, an announcement by Tennesseee Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt just turned an irrelevant redraft fantasy option into one of the most intriguing deep sleeper QB options for Week 8. The announcement was that former LSU QB, and 2014 sixth-round draft pick, Zach Mettenberger will be starting in their matchup against the Houston Texans this Sunday. This decision clearly shows that Tennessee is ready to see what they really have with their rookie QB since Jake Locker, who becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, continues to be cursed with injury issues. Additionally, backup Charlie Whitehurst has made valiant efforts during his starts, but he hasn’t been able to provide that offensive spark that Whisenhunt is looking for. On the other hand, Mettenberger is the type of QB who can and will try to provide plenty of offensive sparks.

Known as a cannon-armed, risk-taking gunslinger at LSU, Mettenberger shined last year under the tutelage of Cam Cameron as the offensive coordinator and QB coach. He finished last season with 3,082 yards to go along with 22 TDs and eight INTs. Additionally, he completed 65 percent of his passes and had a QB rating of 171.4. He clearly showed the ability of a first-round draft pick, but previous behavioral issues at the University of Georgia and his torn ACL from last year made him a high-risk draft candidate so he fell to the sixth round. We will now get to see what Mettenberger can do when he knows he’s the starter and had the week to prepare for the game as such. For what it’s worth, he had a pretty good run in the preseason where he threw for 659 yards, two TDs and two INTs with a 97.6 passer rating. However, this is the middle of the regular season and competition is much stiffer.

As far as Mettenberger’s fantasy relevance is concerned, outside of dynasty leagues, he is not someone fantasy players should be targeting for Week 8 unless it’s a league with 14-plus teams and there are literally no other options available. If this is the case, then grabbing him wouldn’t be the worst decision even against the Texans. While Houston does have an excellent pass rush due to the presence of J.J. Watt, they’ve graded pretty low in regards to run defense and pass coverage. As a matter of fact, they’ve allowed the seventh-most passing yards per game this season with 268.7 and are also tied for fourth in most passing TDs given up with 13. Therefore, this is a better matchup for Mettenberger than it may seem. The main issues will be his lack of experience and his footwork which is a work in progress. However, he will take plenty of chances with the deep ball in the same way he did at LSU. With good passing options like Kendall Wright, Justin Hunter and Delanie Walker, Mettenberger should be good for around 260 passing yards, two TDs and a couple of INTs.

The future seems to be now in Tennessee and, just like Whisenhunt, it may be worth it for any fantasy owner dealing with QB issues to give Mettenberger a chance as well.

Roje Smith is a Fantasy Sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @RoKnowsDFS, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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