Who Should I Start? Brock Purdy or C.J. Stroud

Monday, October 27, 6:47 PM

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan isn't ready to say if quarterback Brock Purdy (toe) will be able to return to play in Week 9 on Sunday against the New York Giants, according to Nick Wagoner of ESPN. "It's too early to say. I don't think it's a long shot. We'll see how he's doing on Wednesday," Shanahan said. Purdy has made slow and steady progress since aggravating his turf-toe injury in the Week 4 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but his status for this week remains up in the air. In addition to Purdy's status, backup Mac Jones (knee) is dealing with a knee injury and is day-to-day this week. The 25-year-old Purdy will probably need to upgrade to a full practice this week to get the green light to return on Sunday against the Giants. San Fran's offense will receive a boost whenever Purdy can make his third start of the year, and he should immediately be on the low-end QB1 radar for fantasy football managers.

Monday, October 27, 12:23 AM

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud completed 30 of his 39 pass attempts for 319 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception during Sunday's Week 8 win over the San Francisco 49ers. He also rushed for 30 yards on seven rushing attempts. Outside of the one turnover, Stroud had a very strong performance, setting a new season-high in passing yards while leading Houston to a victory at home. The 24-year-old has been playing better lately, amassing nine touchdowns and two turnovers over his last four games. He ranks as the overall QB9 in fantasy points per game during that span. Managers should be generally optimistic about Stroud going forward, but he might rank outside the top 12 fantasy quarterbacks in Week 9 against a Broncos defense that just dismantled Dak Prescott.