How the Teddy Bridgewater News Impacts Miami Dolphins Fantasy Options
In a pivotal Week 17 matchup, the Miami Dolphins will head up to face off with the division-rival New England Patriots in a game that has incredible playoff implications. The Dolphins are limping into this game in the midst of a four-game losing streak, with their last win coming against the lowly Houston Texans. On the other side of the ball, the home team is faring only slightly better, having lost four of their last five.
The biggest on-field storyline for the matchup is how Tua Tagovailoa returned to the concussion protocol again, leaving the starting job open to Teddy Bridgewater, which has plenty of implications in real-life and fantasy football. Due to Tagovailoa's missed time during the 2022 season, this is far from Bridgewater's first in-game action, as he has attempted 60 passes on the year, including a 522-3-3 stat line and a 61.6% completion rate.
Dolphins' WR Fantasy Implications with a New Quarterback
This is far from the former 2014 first-round NFL Draft selection's first rodeo. Though he is a competent quarterback, the ceiling for Miami skill position players is lowered with Bridgewater at the helm. He is more than capable of supporting enough fantasy action to score us some squiggly line in Championships, though, leading with Tyreek Hill, who has a wild 33% target share when the backup quarterback has thrown the ball. In Weeks 4 and 6 —the two weeks that Bridgewater took a majority of his season's snaps— Hill led the league in receiving yards (337), turning his out-of-this-world target share into a WR1 finish in those select weeks.
Jaylen Waddle honestly didn't fare much worse, turning his 15 targets into 168 yards on the backs of a couple of big plays, and finished Weeks 4 + 6 as the WR28. While predicting another overall WR1 performance from Hill would be a tad aggressive, the target tree is so small in Miami that the QB could easily deliver us a top-10 performance from Hill while still supporting a top-24/top-30 week from Waddle, even against a tough Patriots defense.
What About Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and the Rest of the Options?
As for the quarterback himself, it doesn't look promising in a fantasy sense; the Patriots have been decent in limiting opposing QB stats, and Bridgewater finished with 10.8 and 18.2 points, respectively, in his two games with extended playtime. In traditional, 1QB leagues, he should be kept on benches, while you should feel safe firing him up in 2QB/Superflex leagues. If we think his ceiling is capped in this matchup, then we shouldn't be trusting other pass catchers in our lineups, such as Trent Sherfield or Mike Gesicki.
We should also follow suit for the Dolphins' run game against a stout New England defensive front. It's bad enough that it's nearly impossible to predict whether Raheem Mostert or Jeff Wilson will lead the backfield in touches; we also have to consider that the Patriots rank fourth in schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed to the position.
