Who Should I Start? Matthew Stafford or Patrick Mahomes

Monday, September 9, 9:14 AM

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford turned in a gutsy performance in an overtime loss at the Lions in his return to Detroit on Sunday night. However, for fantasy football purposes it was just an average output from the Rams signal caller. Stafford was 34-of-49 passing for 317 yards with one touchdown and one interception doing most of his damage on quick, underneath routes. Stafford did demonstrate an excellent connection with receiver Cooper Kupp (14 catches, 110 yards, 1 TD) as his other favorite target Puka Nacua was forced to leave the game with a knee injury. With 14.68 points in a standard fantasy league, 13 quarterbacks ranked ahead of Stafford in Week 1, so he is still not really an option to start in one-quarterback leagues. He could see better matchups ahead but the health of Nacua is a concern and he will have to start pushing the ball downfield more to see an uptick in fantasy scoring.

Friday, September 6, 4:16 AM

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 20 of 28 passes (71.4%) for 291 yards and a touchdown in the 27-20 win against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1. Mahomes threw his first touchdown of the season in the fourth quarter of this game. He connected with first-round rookie Xavier Worthy for a 35-yard catch and run for the score. In the second quarter, Mahomes became the Kansas City Chiefs' all-time leader in passing yards on a pass to Travis Kelce. The Chiefs quarterback also threw an interception towards the end of the second quarter on a pass intended for Rashee Rice. Mahomes did enough to edge the Ravens in this contest despite the pedestrian stats. Mahomes will look to continue the Chiefs' winning streak against the Cincinnati Bengals next week. The Bengals allowed the 12th-most points per game to opposing offenses last season and have a high-powered offense, so their Week 2 matchup should be full of scoring. Mahomes will again be a strong QB1 next week despite his mediocre output this week.