Tyler Shough, Bryce Young, and 2 Other Week 2 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Quarterbacks
Fantasy football owners are ready to hit the week 2 waiver wire. The time has come to finally invest in useful assets to win more games as the season goes on. Whether 1-0 or 0-1, we can all use help. At quarterback, there are 4 valuable options based on our number crunching. Keep an eye out for the play-callers below.
Tyler Shough
Available: 58%
Most Big-Time Throws through Sunday of NFL Week 1:
— PFF (@PFF) September 14, 2026
Tyler Shough 6
Jalen Hurts 3
Josh Allen 3 pic.twitter.com/MS2dfj7rG7
The current NFL leader in passing yards. Mr. Tyler Shough. The Saints quarterback exposed the Lions' defense for over 400 passing yards. With 3 touchdowns, Shough is the QB8 after one week.
Coming into the season, Shough was one of my favorite free-agent quarterbacks in fantasy football. Over the final 4 games of 2025, Shough was averaging 288 yards per game. He picks up where he left off in Sunday's narrow loss in Detroit, and I think we have a proven gunslinger on our hands. Shades of a Philip Rivers or Matthew Stafford? Just maybe...
In Week 2, the Saints played the Baltimore Ravens. The defense did allow just 251 yards of total offense, but they owned the clock with over 35 minutes of possession. If the Colts get to 30 minutes of offense, they pace for over 300 yards. Not great, not awful, but neither quite dominant for Baltimore.
Bryce Young
Available: 81%
Reminder: Bryce Young was the TOP RATED deep passer in 2025 with a 99.7 gradepic.twitter.com/47gDv6klil
— PFF (@PFF) September 13, 2026
Week 1 of the NFL season was so explosive that Young passed for 361 yards and was only 3rd in quarterback passing yards (Shough, Jordan Love). PFF awarded Young the 6th-highest quarterback grade of the week (85.7). It looks like Young may have two WR1s in Jalen Coker and Tetairoa McMillan?
In fact, on an episode of Fantasy Football's Happy Hour with Matthew Berry, Thielen stated that he viewed Coker as the best wideout in Carolina.
Coming into Week 2, I currently have Young ranked around QB20 in fantasy football. I still do not view him as an every-week starter, but Young has flashed enough excellence to roster as a strong backup. The Panthers take on the Falcons this week, who rate 1.8 points worse than the NFL average on defense.
CJ Stroud
Available: 71%
The Texans took on a fierce Bills team in Houston for Week 1. They went on to lose the game, but that was not Stroud's fault. He went 26-for-38 with 274 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. Since the week was so explosive offensively, Stroud only finished as the QB16.
Stroud was among my favorite sleeper quarterbacks this year. He has a top-7 fantasy season to his name (2023). Why not do it again with Nico Collins, a soon-to-come Tank Dell, Jaylin Noel, Dalton Schultz, and the explosive David Montgomery?
Houston is rated as an above-average offense (23-24 expected PPG). They also project an above-average pass rate of 58.5%. I have Stroud throwing for about 222.5 yards per game. In Week 2, he gets the Bengals defense, which opened their season by allowing 27 points to the Buccaneers.
I have Cincinnati's defense implied to let up by about 24 points per game. At home, Houston projects to score right on that number this weekend. Stroud floats around high-end QB2 status; a considerable backup.
Malik Willis
Available: 68%
Willis scored a rushing touchdown in his Dolphins debut. That proves that Willis's rushing upside is indeed real. He ran for a total of 39 yards on 6 attempts. Willis also threw for 220 yards, which was much higher than expected.
Given Willis's rushing ability, he must be touted as a sleeper pick on a near-weekly basis. If he can add more than the 23 rushing yards per game I project, Willis can easily have QB1 weeks to come.
In Week 2, Miami has the 49ers. I would not eye up starting Willis this upcoming Sunday. Rather, he is simply a high-upside backup to whoever your starter currently is.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.