Washington Football Team: 2021 position-by-position fantasy relevance
By Evan Pascal
Quarterback
On the Roster:
- Ryan Fitzpatrick
- Taylor Heinicke
- Kyle Allen
- Steven Montez
Assuming that Ryan Fitzpatrick is the starter for the season, he will be the one we evaluate. I do think that if Heinicke gets an opportunity this season, he would be a great matchup-dependent streamer, but I don’t know if he actually plays at all this year.
Fitzpatrick is an interesting player to evaluate because he’s only played for a full season of games three times in his sixteen-year career. The last time was in 2015 for the Jets, where he actually put together a nice season.
From the small sample size in its entirety, we have seen some really big ups and REALLY big downs. However, in Washington, Fitzpatrick has the potential to have his best season to date — at least in terms of fantasy.
In 2020, the Washington Football Team averaged 37.9 passing attempts per game. This placed Washington in 8th for that category. Taking Fitzpatrick’s average of 7.8 yards per attempt that he had last season, he would be projected to have roughly 296 yards a game. That would have been third-best in 2020.
Now I know, this may be jumping the gun a little bit. Fitzpatrick will probably not be the third best quarterback in terms of yards next year. But, It’s important to pay attention to. The last few years, he’s only had the opportunity to be a “bridge” quarterback for young players. Which is the main reason why Fitzmagic hasn’t gotten the respect he deserves. But, since 2018, Fitz has actually done really well:
- 2018: Fantasy QB1 in Weeks 1-3
- 2019: QB2 in Weeks 7-17
- 2020: QB8 in Weeks 1-6
These were all before his former teams put their “franchise” quarterbacks in to takeover. Again, I’m not expecting Fitzpatrick to be your fantasy hero in 2021, but I do think the Fitzmagic is real and relevant. He could be a late-round steal in your draft.
Verdict: Worth a roster spot as a late-round pick. Solid backup.