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Favorable QB & TE Matchups for Week 1 (2021)

Zach Berger

Every week this season, Fantasy In Frames is going to help you stream quarterbacks and tight ends by going over which ones have some of the most favorable matchups each week.

For most leagues, these are “onesie” positions meaning you only need to start one QB and one TE each week. Typically, that means there are more QBs and TEs available on the waiver wire for you to pick up and play based on their matchup. The best outcome is to pick up a player that becomes playable for a few weeks or even the rest of the season. It may feel uncomfortable to stream some of these players that will be recommended throughout the season, but it is about maximizing a matchup in a single week.

Full transparency, we do not know anything yet! We are doing our best to project what we think will happen, but we have no idea how what schemes teams will use and how much usage players will get this week. The first month is the hardest time to project because there aren’t any trends yet. Most likely you do not need to stream a QB or TE for Week 1 because you should have drafted a QB or TE that you could start. However, one of the players below may have a better matchup than the player you drafted.

All players below are rostered on less than 25% of teams on ESPN.

Quarterbacks to Stream – Week 1

Kirk Cousins (@ CIN) – 24.5% rostered on ESPN:

Nobody is excited to start Kirk Cousins because he is thought of as a “vanilla” QB. He played better in 2020 than you remember. Cousins was the QB11 and QB12 in points per game last year. He was 6th in TDs with 35! The offense has not changed much from last season, and the offensive line has made improvements and is expected to be better. In 2020, Cousins finished as a QB1 50% of the time, and by comparison, Josh Allen finished as a QB1 56% of the time. In Week 1, Cousins is playing against the Cincinnati Bengals (23rd ranked defense in 2021), and that defense is expected to be a good matchup for QBs again this year. Cousins may not be electrifying, but he should carve up the Bengals with Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and Dalvin Cook with great efficiency.

Jimmy Garoppolo (@ DET) – 2.7% rostered on ESPN:

Everyone is excited for Trey Lance to take the league by storm, but for at least Week 1, Jimmy Garoppolo will be the starting QB for the San Francisco 49ers. He missed 10 games due to injury last year, but in 2019 he played all 16 games and produced solid stats. In 2019, Garoppolo was 5th in TDs (27) and 6th in completion % (69.1). The 49ers have potent offensive weapons between George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, and Raheem Mostert. The 49ers play the Detroit Lions in Week 1, a Lions team that was the worst-ranked defense and gave up the most points last season. Heading into the 2021 season, the Lions are expected to be a bottom-third defense again.

Honorable Mentions: Ben Roethlisberger (@ BUF) – 32.6%, Jameis Winston (vs GB) – 25.1%, Ryan Fitzpatrick (vs LAC) – 23.2%, and Sam Darnold (@ CAR) – 5.8%

Tight Ends to Stream – Week 1

Anthony Firkser (vs. ARI) – 11.6% rostered on ESPN

All the shine on the Titans is for AJ Brown, Julio Jones, and Derrick Henry. Jonnu Smith (65 targets in 2020) is no longer on the team, and Firkser is the TE1 for the Titans this season. Vacated targets are not a real stat because targets must be earned, but Firkser still had 53 targets last season playing behind Smith. It is reasonable to expect Firkser to see more targets with an increase in snaps. The defense cannot cover all of the offensive weapons consistently, and the Arizona Cardinals have struggled against TEs for the last couple of seasons. Vegas has put a scoring total of 52 points on the game, which means they are expecting an offensive game. When you are streaming TEs you are just hoping for a TD that week, and Firkser in this matchup has a better chance to score compared to other TEs on the waiver wire.

Tyler Conklin (@ CIN) – 2.1% rostered on ESPN

I know Chris Herndon just joined the Minnesota Vikings, but Tyler Conklin is still the projected starter for Week 1. The Vikings played at least 2 TEs at one of the highest rates in the NFL last season. In fact, Conklin was getting about the same amount of snaps as Irv Smith the last month of the season when Kyle Rudolph was out at the end of 2020. In the last 4 games of 2020, Conklin averaged 3.75 rec/g, 5.85 targets/g, 42 yards/g, and 12 yards/rec. Kirk Cousins is a streaming QB this week because of the matchup and that is why Conklin should be considered a streaming TE as well. If Conklin sees similar usage in Week 1 as he did the last four weeks of 2020, then Conklin has a solid opportunity to score, which is all you are looking for off the waiver wire.

Jordan Akins (vs JAX) – 1.0% rostered on ESPN

Please don’t click off this article now! Hear me out, the Jacksonville Jaguars were a terrible defense last season, and they are expected to be a bad defense this season. Akins is a shot in the dark, but the Texans are lacking in offensive weapons this season. Akins is a big target in the middle of the field and he averaged almost 4 targets per game and a 12.7% target share in the redzone. Will Fuller is no longer on the team and he had a 16% target share in the redzone last season. All of those targets will not go to Akins, but there is an opportunity for Akins. It only takes 1 TD to make Akins a TE1 for Week 1.

Honorable mention: Zach Ertz (@ATL) – 24.3%

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