Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Oakland Raiders quarterback Matt McGloin has played fairly well in his first two NFL starts, throwing for a 457 yards and four touchdowns with just one interception. He will get another start on Thanksgiving Day against the Dallas Cowboys, but should fantasy football owners pay attention to the undrafted free agent out of Penn State?
The Cowboys enter Week 13 allowing the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks (20.7 per game, ESPN scoring), including 22 passing touchdowns to the position (tied for second-most in the league) so far. They are coming off allowing a season-low 174 passing yards to Eli Manning of the New York Giants in Week 12, but that looks like a bi-product of a season-low in pass attempts against them (30) and the Cowboys still have the second-most pass attempts against in the entire league (454; 41.3 per game).
McGloin’s performance from a fantasy perspective over the last two weeks (31 points, ESPN scoring) is somewhat noteworthy, since the Houston Texans (Week 11) and Tennessee Titans (Week 12) both come into this week in the top 10 of the league against opposing quarterbacks. The Cowboys’ offense should have little trouble moving the ball against the Oakland defense, so I think McGloin is in line to easily set a career-high in pass attempts on Thursday after throwing the ball 32 times in each of his first two starts.
Based on pure volume and the production that should follow, McGloin is worth considering as a QB2 with upside in two-quarterback leagues for Week 13. Beyond that some favorable-looking matchups will come in Week 14 (New York Jets), Week 16 (San Diego Chargers) and Week 17 (Denver Broncos), as all three teams enter this week in the bottom half of the league against opposing quarterbacks. As long as he continues to play well and keep Terrelle Pryor on the bench, McGloin may become an under-the-radar contributor down the stretch in deep leagues.
Brad Berreman is a contributing writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradberreman24.
