If you’re active on fantasy football Twitter — which I highly recommend — then you know we spend a lot of time debating player rankings in great detail. The fantasy football Twittersphere reminds me of the ‘Poker Boom’ around 2003-04 — at the beginning, there were a handful of ‘experts’ that were dominating the proceedings. But as time has gone on, seemingly everyone is prepared and well-versed in the nuances of fantasy football.
So when Joe Orrico — @NoExpertFF on Twitter — posted this the other day, I really wanted to argue with him because, well… that’s just what we do on Twitter, right? But I just couldn’t. The facts are the facts. In redraft, if you aren’t taking one of these eight quarterbacks, you are simply doing it wrong:
Jalen Hurts
Pat Mahomes
Josh Allen
Joe Burrow
Lamar Jackson
Justin Herbert
Justin Fields
Trevor Lawrence
But what about the best of the rest? Today I dive in to dissect the merits of the next fantasy quarterbacks in line. Let’s see what they have to offer.
Fantasy Quarterbacks: The Best of the Rest (in no particular order)
Daniel Jones, Giants: The more I think about it, the more I think “Danny Dimes” might give us the highest upside of the rest. Jones was fifth in quarterback rushing last season, ahead of notables like Mahomes, Lawrence and Russell Wilson. Over 700 yards on the ground was the cutoff, too — Fields, Lamar, Allen, Hurts and Jones were the only five QBs over the 700 mark, then there was a huge drop off after that. Marcus Mariota came in sixth, with just 438 rushing yards.
Through the air, Daniel Jones is going to have a lot to work with this season, compared to last year’s deficiency of surrounding talent. Veteran tight end Darren Waller has been added as a serious weapon in Brian Daboll’s passing attack, plus Jalin Hyatt is an intriguing rookie at the wide receiver position. Parris Campbell could potentially be an X-factor addition, as well. Danny Dimes would love to keep Wan’Dale Robinson, Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton healthy, too. Lot of options. Should be relatively easy to spread the ball around and keep opposing defenses on their toes.
Ultimately, it’s a simple equation: Daniel Jones is a rushing quarterback with an elite offensive coach and improving skill players around him.
Deshaun Watson, Browns: I’m not sold on Watson ever returning to his Texans’ form – he looked completely lost with Cleveland last season – but if you somehow miss out on the top eight fantasy quarterbacks, Watson still makes sense as a high-upside dart throw. Even if he fails, once we get outside of the top eight, it’s relatively easy to mix-and-match stream options in a pinch. The potential narrative would be simple: Watson returns to form, leaning on his playmakers Nick Chubb, Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, Donovan Peoples-Jones and David Njoku. Crazier things have happened.
Dak Prescott, Cowboys: We pretty much know what we get with Dak at this point, right? He’s a very steady regular season quarterback, and he now has additional help in the form of veteran WR Brandin Cooks. To me, Dak is a ‘safe’ play outside the top eight, perhaps with less upside than Watson and Dimes.
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins: Do people realize that Tua Tagovailoa was the second-highest rated passer in football last season? And really, to me he was No. 1 because Brock Purdy’s sample size was borderline. Tua’s quick release style is highly effective, especially when the ball is getting out to wide receiver superstars Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. This team has a good mix overall, including Mike McDaniel’s highly valuable creativity. Tua will continue to thrive in Miami’s passing attack, provided he remains healthy. Fingers crossed on that aspect.
Kirk Cousins, Vikings: Kirk is stepping into newfound fame thanks to the Netflix series, Quarterback, so hopefully he isn’t getting too big for his britches (mostly kidding). At the end of the day, it’s simple with ‘Captain Kirk’: He’s steady. He’s reliable. And he has arguably the best wide receiver in the world, Justin Jefferson, at his disposal every time he steps onto the football field.
Geno Smith, Seahawks: Coming off the best season of his enigmatic NFL career, Geno now has rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba, to go along with the ‘old reliables’ DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Somehow, Geno has worked his way into the ‘safe’ category with Prescott and Cousins.
Aaron Rodgers, Jets: He can’t be any worse than last year, and this is the guy who was the MVP of the entire league the season before that. Rodgers should enjoy teaming up with Garrett Wilson, one of the most exciting young players in the NFL.
Jared Goff, Lions: I tend to call him the most underrated player in the league, and of course we love the fact that he has an elite offensive coordinator in wunderkind Ben Johnson. As a streaming play, or deep-league QB1, we have to like Goff better after the first six games of the season, once he has explosive Jameson Williams back at his disposal.
Anthony Richardson, Colts: If you want to play the upside card, here it is! We don’t know if Richardson can pass the ball at the NFL level yet, but we can safely assume he’ll be in the upper, upper echelon of QB rushing statistics. Again, if you miss out on the top eight, why not take a shot?
I’ll see ya right back here next week.
John Frascella is a published sports author who has been covering the NFL for 19 years. Follow him on Twitter @LegendSports7 for all things fantasy football, basketball and baseball throughout the year.
