It was an odd year for a position that was so high scoring, truth be told. Health played a huge factor in how guys ended the season, rankings-wise, both their own health and the players who they were throwing to. Like my Physics teacher once told me ‘it all matters’! Or was it ‘it’s all matter’…I got a ‘D’, ok. Not like it would’ve helped me writing for a Fantasy Football site, of course. Why strive to be the best at everything when you can be at least average at one thing, that’s what I always say. In 1QB leagues, you could’ve cobbled together a string of guys and put up top 10 numbers but let’s not kid ourselves: it ain’t that easy, hindsight is always 20/20 and we all know how nice it is to plug a QB into your starting lineup week 1 and forget about it until their bye week. It’s a good feeling that few got to experience this year and for those who did, I hope you enjoyed it…you dirty bastards. But enough of bashing my readership, here goes. Let’s take a look back at the top 20 quarterbacks from the 2013 Fantasy Football season…
Stats based on passing yards, passing touchdowns, interceptions, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns
1. Peyton Manning – Not gonna lie, I think I started this post in early November. I mean, c’mon. You don’t open the season up with a 7 TD passing day and not end the year as the #1 QB, do you? Rhetorical. PS, I was lying. I just started this right before New Years. PPS, you still believed me though cuz it’s just true. PPPS, those rushing numbers? LULZ. It was a monster year for PFM. Preseason rank #8, 2013 Projections: 4600/34/12/5/0. Final Numbers: 5477/55/10/-31/1
2. Drew Brees – Another year, another 5,000 yards. Ho-hum. Touchdown passes were a bit down but yeah, whatevs. His home/road splits were downright crazy, though. Like ‘am I really gonna go gaga over him next year’ kinda crazy. I think he would’ve finished 4th in QB this year if a couple other guys further down played every snap this season. Like Lorena Bobbit on a grassy hillside, I’m just throwing it out there. Try and get that image out of your head with some stats now. Preseason rank #2, 2013 Projections: 2013: 5091/40/18/5/1. Final Numbers: 5162/39/12/52/3
3. Cam Newton – Here’s where I disagree with how these things work, y’all. The best part of Cam’s game since his rookie season has been his legs and that actually went down this year. In fact, while we’re at it, his passing yards were way down too. What the heck? I’ll refer you back to what I said in Brees blurb. As great as offense was as a whole, QB was actually a bit of a downer in 2013. Preseason Rank #4, 2013 Projections: 3915/20/15/712/8. Final Numbers: 3379/24/13/585/6
4. Andy Dalton – Dah, the Red Rocket. So, I already mentioned Brees’ home/road splits were crazy. Dalton’s were pretty much the same crazy split albeit with some major decline in overall numbers, of course. TD to INT ratio of 2:1 at home and 1:1 on the road and the yardage was split. It’s not very often you’re gonna see a 20 INT QB finish in the top 5 in fantasy scoring. I think that’s the note I’m gonna end on because I have an 2014 overrated post to go write. Preseason Rank #19, 2013 Projections: 3780/25/15/129/1. Final Numbers: 4296/33/20/183/2
5. Andrew Luck – Hrm, ok. it’s still a passing league, right? Yeah, it feels false putting Luck here, too, but not as false as the dingy gingy up above. Luck basically reduced his TOs from last year to this year. That’s kind of it. Other numbers didn’t go up by that much and yet, here he is. Aren’t you excited? I’m not. I will be later, though. Not that kind of excited, pervert. QB excited. Preseason Rank #10, 2013 Projections: 4260/25/15/220/2. Final Numbers: 3822/23/9/377/4
6. Phillip Rivers – If I had a highlighter that I could mark guys in the pre-season for you, I would do it. Instead, I just create tiers and explain what they mean. Rivers was in the same tier as Cutler and I called it the ‘Hide-A-Bed’ tier where decent to great QBs in the past could have big years and are going at ridiculous low rates. That was Rivers. I don’t care what kind of face you make, Phillip, your season was good for the price of admission. Preseason Rank #22, 2013 Projections: 4235/28/15/35/0. Final Numbers: 4478/32/11/72/0
7. Matthew Stafford – When I wrote about him in the Top 20 Quarterbacks way back in June I said ‘Just as much as he’s not a 41 touchdown guy, he’s also not a 20 touchdown guy either. Stafford looks primed for a fantasy bounce back campaign this year’. And for the most part, I was right. Just don’t tell his owners they could’ve dropped him for Kyle Orton or Kirk Cousins the last two weeks and won a championship, m’kay? Preseason Rank #11, 2013 Projections: 4932/29/16/105/1. Final Numbers: 4650/29/19/69/2
8. Russell Wilson – I really thought he was gonna groove in another beautiful second half but alas, it wasn’t to be. I was really hoping for my oatmeal to not be lumpy, RW3, but instead you had to go Digital Underground on me. In the end, still a good season but I think we should and could hope for better in 2014 from @DangeRussWilson. Preseason Rank #6, 2013 Projections: 3610/28/12/550/5. Final Numbers: 3357/26/9/539/1
9. Ben Roethlisberger – It was a fine fantasy season for Big Ben but on a more serious note, a lot of people talked about it being a good reality year…eh, beg to differ. There were plenty of moments where I wondered if I was watching Big Ben or Brock Osweiler out there…ok, that was harsh. Just saying it wasn’t as pretty as everyone is making it out to be in the real world but again, it’s a fantasy site so YAY BIG BEN. Preseason Rank #15, 2013 Projections: 4266/26/11/112/0. Final Numbers: 4261/28/14/99/1
10. Colin Kaepernick – Sometimes its good to know what you have and conversely what you don’t have. What you don’t have in Colin is a guy who performs well without key players. Yes, yes, guys always struggle when their big boys are out but Kaep without Crabtree for most of the year was pretty miserable to say the least. Just keep this in mind for future fantasy implications if you ever want Kaepers served in it. Preseason Rank #9, 2013 Projections: 3272/22/13/570/8. Final Numbers: 3197/21/8/524/4
11. Tony Romo – Didn’t play the final game of the season but if he got Orton’s numbers, he probably finish either at or above Big Ben and given that everyone still blames Romo for Kyle’s interception, we might as well give him the rest while we’re at it. Preseason Rank #12, 2013 Projections: 4368/28/13/70/1. Final Numbers: 3828/31/10/38/0
12. Matt Ryan – Remember earlier when I said I wasn’t overly interested in talking about Andy Dalton? Yeah, cuz this guy. Ryan had to endure Julio Jones missing 11 games, Steven Jackson missing basically 6 games, Roddy White not being healthy until the tail end of the season, an aging/slowed TE in Tony Gonzalez and an offensive line that resisted penetration like it was Jenna Jameson. And yet here he is after all that. Yeah, I’m gonna like Ryan again in 2014. Preseason Rank #7, 2013 Projections: 4740/30/12/105/1. Final Numbers: 4515/26/17/55/0
13. Tom Brady – So the good: when Gronk returned, so did the numbers. The bad: we only got to see Gronk for 7 games. The ugly: Gronk might miss a good chunk or be ineffective in 2014. The sick, sad and wrong…NO ONE HIGH FIVES THIS GUY! Preseason Rank #3, 2013 Projections: 4836/35/10/30/2. Final Numbers: 4343/25/11/18/0
14. Nick Foles – Not gonna lie, if I had a word to describe my loins right now I’d go two syllables and make you think of a nice hot cup of cocoa. The word is ‘frothy’, my gentle readers. The Chip Kelly experiment was – at least for one season – a raging hard on of success and Foles benefited greatly from it once Vick left the picture. I verbally nuzzled with him a lot before the Vick signing – not lying, look here – so if you’d like a glimpse into 2014, I’m gonna have a hard time not putting him top 3 next year for QBs. Preseason Unranked. Final Numbers: 2891/27/2/221/3
15. Alex Smith – Not sure what to say here. I’ll admit I was wrong about his fantasy value but in looking back on why I undervalued him, I have a hard time finding fault. I think there was one crazy stat on about his 5 TD game against Oakland in week 15 was that they traveled in total about 20 yards. In the end, I said his upside was a QB2 and…well, here we are. Preseason Rank #25, 2013 Projections: 3345/19/10/210/2. Final Numbers: 3313/23/7/431/1
16. Ryan Tannehill – On the one hand, he lived up to my high ranking of him in the off-season. On the other, he lived up to it just enough to reach it but not to eclipse it and he was in a tier that I expected to exclipse their rankings so…I believe they call this a push in Vegas. Preseason Rank #16, 2013 Projections: 3888/25/15/258/1. Final Numbers: 3913/24/17/238/1
17. Carson Palmer – On the one hand, Palmer threw 22 INT. On the other, he threw for 24 TDs and over 4,000. On the third hand which is just part of the clap hat you’re wearing, you probably only got a handful of games you actually wanted to start him in. Have I said ‘hand’ enough yet? No? Ok, let me handle it. Eh, I don’t know what I’m talking about anymore. It’s Carson Palmer, let’s move along. Preseason Rank #24, 2013 Projections: 3864/21/14/25/1. Final Numbers: 4274/24/22/3/0
18. Joe Flacco – Well, he definitely didn’t live up to his contract, we can at least say that. At least the fantasy community didn’t match the Ravens’ idiocy in overpaying for him on draft day. He pretty much put up the same line he had last year this year but doubled his interceptions. That’s what happens when a team relies upon the run so they can take 50/50 long ball shots down the field. When the run game dries up, so do the odds. Just ask Eli Manning. Preseason Rank #20, 2013 Projections: 3905/23/11/42/1. Final Numbers: 3912/19/22/131/1
19. Robert Griffin, III – Definitely a draft day bust but you go with what you know and what we knew was he’d be starting game 1. What we didn’t know is that he wasn’t ready mentally or physically to be out there on opening day. Throw in the issues with the Shannys and you have a season full of disaster. The bright side of it all? Despite all the issues and inconsistency, his Fantasy PPG average was nearly identical to Matt Ryan and his down season came with an unusual zero touchdowns on the ground. I’ll take the RGIII discount in 2014, my friends. Preseason Rank #6, 2013 Projections: 3311/24/8/812/6. Final Numbers: 3203/16/12/489/0
20. Geno Smith – To be fair, I think these last 4 to 5 guys or so were easily replaced by a franken-QB like the Bears or even the Browns. I haven’t done the statistical digging but something in my innards says its true. Or perhaps that’s just the bad Thai from last night. I don’t have a peanut allergy, Tasty Thai, I’m simply allergic to salmonella! But I digress…and why shouldn’t I? I mean, look at these stats…as I said in the preseason, the rookie QB class of 2013 didn’t have the same look nor feel as the 2012 one did. Preseason Unranked. Final Numbers: 3046/12/21/366/6
