Who Should I Start? Jameis Winston or C.J. Stroud

Sunday, November 23, 5:24 PM

New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston completed 18 of his 36 pass attempts for 366 yards, two passing touchdowns, and one interception during Sunday's Week 12 win over the Detroit Lions. He also got involved in some trickery, adding a third touchdown on a 33-yard reception that was thrown to him by wide receiver Gunner Olszewski. Winston's turnover and low completion rate were unfortunate, but his high yardage and three total touchdowns made him a valuable fantasy option once again. Unfortunately for fantasy managers who were relying on him as a streamer, Winston will head back to the bench in Week 13 if Jaxson Dart (concussion) clears concussion protocol, as expected. The offense belongs to Dart once again, but at least we've seen that Winston can be a fringe top-12 fantasy quarterback if he ever gets thrust back into the starting role.

Monday, January 12, 3:00 PM

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud averaged 234 passing yards per game in his five full starts since returning from the mid-season concussion that cost him three games. In that time, he threw six touchdowns to two interceptions while adding 169 yards and a score in a Week 18 win over the Colts that saw most of the team's starters pulled early. On Monday night, the Texans travel to Pittsburgh to face a Steelers defense that ranked 30th out of 32 teams against fantasy quarterbacks in the regular season. While Stroud doesn't offer the ceiling of some of the other quarterbacks in the playoff field, he is a smart, reliable passer with an underrated stable of pass catchers. He is RotoBaller's QB10 for the weekend, but given the plus-matchup, he makes for a smart start in any fantasy playoff format that allows players to be used only once.