Ryan Fitzpatrick's Fantasy Outlook Improves After Being Named Dolphins' Starting Quarterback

As of Sunday, September 8th, Ryan Fitzpatrick will have started at least one game for 25 percent of the teams in the NFL. Despite trading for 2018 first-round pick Josh Rosen, the Miami Dolphins have named the 14-season veteran Fitzpatrick as their starting quarterback for their Week 1 meeting with the Baltimore Ravens.

This doesn't lock Fitzpatrick in as Miami's QB1 for the full season, and it would be a surprise if Rosen doesn't end up starting at least a few games, but the announcement is good news for Fitzpatrick's fantasy value to start the season.

Fitzpatrick isn't an especially exciting quarterback in the world of real football — there's a reason he's on the eighth team of his NFL career — but it's been a different story in fantasy football.

He only played eight games in the 2018 season, but he was also one of only five quarterbacks to average at least 20 fantasy points per game. He also finished 16th at the position in 2015 (his last year as a full-time starter).

For as poor as the Dolphins' outlook is for the 2019 season, one of their few strengths lies in the weapons available in their offense. Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson have both shown themselves to be capable big-play receivers, Kenyan Drake offers some serious receiving prowess out of the backfield, and 2018 second-round pick Mike Gesicki will be entering his sophomore season as the team's tight end.

This isn't likely to turn Fitzpatrick into an every-week starter in fantasy, but he's shown that he can boast some intriguing upside, and that should keep him on the radar in two-QB leagues and deep leagues (16-team plus), while he could even make for a viable streaming option or bye week replacement when he gets a favorable matchup in typical 12-team leagues.

One massive red flag to look out for is the Dolphins' early-season schedule. They open with a brutal series of matchups, taking on the Ravens, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers. The Ravens, Cowboys and Chargers all allowed bottom-10 fantasy production to opposing QBs last year, and the Patriots also ranked slightly better than average.

That takes Fitzpatrick off the fantasy radar for the first month of the season, and there's a chance that he ends up getting replaced with Rosen if he stumbles out of the gate during that stretch.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.