All hope seemed lost for the Cardinals in Week 8 – until it didn’t. Down big to the Cowboys, incumbent starting QB Jacoby Brissett was replaced by journeyman Gardner Minshew, who promptly put his team right back in the game. Arizona rattled off four second-half touchdowns to force overtime before winning outright, capping off an impressive upset on the road.
After the outing, Minshew was named the starter for Week 9. Is the career backup worth a waiver claim in fantasy football after replacing Brissett under center?
Is Gardner Minshew worth a Week 9 waiver claim?
November is here, and with it, here comes Minshew Mania. It’s been a while since the quarterback was fantasy relevant; really, it’s been quite some time. You may recall that he played for the Raiders two seasons ago and appeared in 10 games. For those with better memories, he spent a year with the Colts prior to that and started most of the campaign. He got his start way back in 2019 with the Jaguars, a rookie debut in which he was genuinely a starting-caliber asset for much of the year. However, he is a long time removed from his first two pro seasons in which he averaged 16.4 and 17.9 FPPG with over 5,500 passing yards and a 37-11 TD-INT ratio.
Minshew did play excellent football on Sunday in relief. He went 17-for-23 with 188 passing yards and a trio of touchdown passes against the Cowboys, making big-time throw after big-time throw. That performance was good for 19.5 fantasy points, good for a finish as the QB10 on the week despite playing only 42% of the snaps.
The 30-year-old veteran’s story makes him a likable side character in the NFL, and when he gets the chance to start, it does seem like it’s just tough not to root for him. However, there’s a big difference between playing the way he did against Dallas – one of the league’s worst defenses – and doing it again against one of the toughest matchups in the league in Week 9.
Arizona will be on the road come Sunday in Seattle to face off against the Seahawks. They’re coming off a 34-17 loss to the Bears on Monday Night Football in Week 8, but that was a pretty atypical performance for one of the NFL’s elite defensive units. Overall, Seattle still ranks seventh in PPG allowed at 19.9 and fifth in EPA/play allowed to opposing offenses. Plus, the defense sits third in EPA/dropback, second in passing success rate and first in explosive pass rate allowed.
Dive in a little deeper when it comes to quarterback production and the picture doesn’t get any prettier for the Cardinals. The Seahawks give up just 169.1 passing yards per game to the position and concede the third-lowest passer rating. With an average of 0.27 fantasy points per dropback allowed, they’re also the most efficient defense against opposing quarterbacks – the 0.07 gap between them and the next-closest team is the same as the margin between second place and 10th in the stat.
What we see here is that Seattle is truly a nightmare of a matchup for opposing quarterbacks. With the Cardinals on the road as an 11.5-point underdog (as of Tuesday), there’s very little upside in Week 9 for their offense. We’ve seen for the better part of over half a decade that Minshew isn’t a starting-level quarterback in this league, so penciling him into fantasy lineups in this spot could spell a disaster. He may be a popular waiver add following his performance last week, but let someone else fall for the hype instead unless you play in a 2QB or superflex league.
