Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer won’t make the trip to San Francisco on Thursday night, according to the team, leaving Drew Stanton as the starting quarterback.
And that begs one obvious question: How effective will wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd be, from a fantasy perspective, without Palmer?
We’ll start with Fitzgerald, who has had a strong start to the season.
After notching a combined 33 points in his first two contests, Fitzgerald has cooled off, scoring six fantasy points in each of his next two games. So will Fitzgerald return to his WR1 status against San Francisco, or will Stanton’s presence limit his effectiveness?
Bet on the latter.
In 2014, Drew Stanton started eight games for the Cardinals while Palmer was injured. Fitzgerald played in six of those contests, catching 23 passes for 239 yards and zero touchdowns while losing one fumble. That’s an average of 3.6 fantasy points per game.
Fast-forward to last year, when Palmer played a full slate of games and Fitzgerald averaged 10.3 points per contest as the No. 10-ranked wideout in all of fantasy football. It’s clear that Fitzgerald has a strong rapport with Palmer and less of one with Stanton.
You shouldn’t consider the talented wideout anything more than a flex play this week, even against a San Francisco defense that has given up 23 or more fantasy points to opposing wideouts in three straight weeks.
Stanton’s insertion into the lineup likely won’t help Floyd, either.
The wideout hasn’t done much this year, and in Stanton’s eight starts in 2014, he registered 20 catches for 387 yards, two touchdowns and one lost fumble. That was good for 6.0 fantasy points per game, contrasted to the 7.2 points per game he registered with Palmer last year.
While he takes less of a bump than Fitzgerald, it’s hard to see his value increasing under Stanton. At this point, he’s a WR4 and only a flex option in deeper leagues.
You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter. All points-against and fantasy stats via ESPN.com.
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