ARI · QB
Projected Points (PPR)
This week
▲ +1.0 ptsAI-assisted · Researched and drafted by our automated pipeline, then checked for accuracy before publishing. How we make these
Gardner Minshew II sits on the depth chart as the listed starter in Arizona, with Jacoby Brissett behind him as the backup option on our board. That ordering is fluid in a way the numbers already hint at: across the 2025 season he played in four games, started only one, and carried a mere 4.1% share of the offense's snaps. His workload cratered to thirteen attempts and six completions, a 46.15% completion rate, thirty-seven yards and an interception, with six rushes for two yards. The result was 0.68 PPR points for the season, 0.2 per game, and a final finish of seventy-second among all players at his position. That is not a role anyone builds a fantasy roster around. The 2026 season opener flipped the script: twenty-three attempts, seventeen completions for a 73.91% completion rate, 188 yards, three touchdowns, 19.52 PPR points, and a snap share of just 5.8%. The gap between that snap share and the point total is the whole story of his volatility. Around him, Trey McBride anchors the passing offense as the primary target at tight end, and Michael Wilson leads the receiving corps at wide receiver — both represent where throws are funneled when this offense is clicking. Jeremiyah Love handles early-down work in the backfield. Minshew's job, when he plays, is to distribute to those weapons efficiently, not to carry volume himself.
The case for Gardner Minshew II starts and ends with the one game of actual 2026 data: twenty-three attempts, a 73.91% completion rate, 188 yards, three touchdowns and 19.52 PPR points, good for a position finish of forty-second that week. That is a competent, even sharp, one-game sample, and if it were sustained over a full season it would be a usable streaming option in deeper formats. The efficiency matters too — a completion percentage north of seventy percent paired with three scores on limited volume suggests he can operate this offense without forcing mistakes, distributing to Trey McBride at tight end and Michael Wilson at receiver in a way that keeps the chains moving. The honest counter-argument is that one game is not a trend, and the 2025 season is the much larger and more damning sample. A 4.1% snap share across the year, one start in four appearances, thirteen total attempts, a 46.15% completion rate, and 0.68 PPR points for the entire season describes a player who functionally did not play meaningful offensive snaps. A finish of seventy-second at his position for that season is replacement level territory, and the six rushing attempts for two yards show no rushing floor to lean on when the passing game stalls. Jacoby Brissett sits as the direct competition for this job, and any team that benched or buried Minshew to a 4.1% snap share in 2025 did so for a reason — that history does not evaporate because of one efficient opening performance in 2026. The swing between a 5.8% snap share and a 19.52-point output in the same early sample also tells you this role could be short-lived or matchup-dependent rather than an entrenched starting job. Fantasy managers should treat the 2026 opener as an encouraging data point and nothing more. The volume simply has not been there across the larger sample, and when it briefly was not there in 2025, the production collapsed to almost nothing. Until there is a multi-game stretch of sustained attempts in the twenties or higher with efficiency holding steady, the strongest version of the bullish case rests on a single week, while the bearish case rests on an entire season of inactivity. Jacoby Brissett's presence on the depth chart adds a real ceiling to how much rope Minshew gets if the efficiency dips even one week.
Leave Gardner Minshew II on the wire in most formats, and do not add him outside of deep two-quarterback leagues where streaming matters. The 2026 opener — 19.52 PPR points on efficient volume — is worth noting, but one week of data cannot outweigh a 2025 season that produced 0.68 PPR points total and a 4.1% snap share. He is not a start in single-quarterback leagues under any normal circumstance right now, and even as a flex-type option he does not apply since quarterbacks are not typically flexed, so the real question is start versus bench versus wire, and the wire wins given the volatility shown between his two measured snap shares. What would change this calculus: a second consecutive game with attempts in the twenties, a completion rate holding above sixty percent, and multiple touchdown passes connecting with Trey McBride or Michael Wilson. If Jacoby Brissett is inactive for stretches and Minshew's snap share climbs well beyond the 5.8% mark seen in the 2026 opener, that would signal an actual role rather than a spot start. Until that pattern repeats, treat him as a speculative streaming name only, worth a bench stash in deep leagues with bye-week needs but not a priority add anywhere else.
Projections, injury status and news above update automatically. This section is rewritten when his role changes. Browse every player
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