Most fantasy football drafts are a couple of months out, but the arrival of the summer means it's time to start preparing. And step one in that preparation is getting your rankings down.
SI's Michael Fabiano has released his initial fantasy football rankings for every position, and now it's time to dig deeper into each individual position.
Quarterback has been a tricky position in fantasy football over the years. It's used to be highly valued until the "late-round quarterback" approach took hold. An influx in rushing production and overall elite play over the last few years has caused yet another shift. So let's take a deeper look at the quarterback rankings, as well as who some of the top values and busts are for 2024.
Rank
Player
Team
Bye Week
40
Mac Jones
JAX
12
39
Kenny Pickett
PHI
5
38
Micahel Penix Jr.
ATL
12
37
Jake Browning
CIN
15
36
Sam Howell
SEA
10
35
Zach Wilson
DEN
14
34
Gardner Minshew
LV
10
33
Justin Fields
PIT
9
32
Aidan O'Connell
LV
10
31
Bo Nix
DEN
14
30
J.J. McCarthy
MIN
6
29
Daniel Jones
NYG
11
28
Geno Smith
SEA
10
27
Drake Maye
NE
14
26
Bryce Young
CAR
11
25
Will Levis
TEN
5
24
Russell Wilson
PIT
9
23
Derek Carr
NO
12
22
Deshaun Watson
CLE
10
21
Baker Mayfield
TB
11
20
Aaron Rodgers
NYJ
12
19
Matthew Stafford
LAR
6
18
Caleb Williams
CHI
7
17
Justin Herbert
LAC
5
16
Tua Tagovailoa
MIA
6
15
Trevor Lawrence
JAX
12
14
Jared Goff
DET
5
13
Kirk Cousins
ATL
12
12
Jayden Daniels
WAS
14
11
Brock Purdy
SF
9
10
Kyler Murray
ARI
11
9
Jordan Love
GB
10
8
Dak Prescott
DAL
7
7
Joe Burrow
CIN
12
6
Anthony Richardson
IND
14
5
C.J. Stroud
HOU
14
4
Lamar Jackson
BAL
14
3
Patrick Mahomes
KC
6
2
Josh Allen
BUF
12
1
Jalen Hurts
PHI
5
Now that we've seen the rankings, let's look at who the biggest quarterback values you should draft are based on who is ranked significantly ahead of their average draft position (ADP) from FantasyPros.
The biggest value on the list is rookie Jayden Daniels. As the QB17 by ADP, he's not even being selected as a high-end backup. In reality, he's ranked as a low-end starting option (for 12-team leagues), and his upside is much higher than that. Fantasy value for young quarterbacks typically comes from rushing production, and that's something Daniels offers in spades. There's a chance he turns into a bust, of course, but when you're drafting him in a spot where league mates are taking guys like Trevor Lawrence and Aaron Rodgers, that's not a risk that would come back to burn you anyway.
Kirk Cousins' ADP makes him the perfect complement for a riskier quarterback like Daniels. Assuming everything ends up clear on the injury front, Cousins should be a pretty safe high-floor kind of player. He's not going to suddenly blossom into a top-end QB1 the way Daniels could, but he could save you when injuries or bye weeks hit. Ignoring quarterbacks early and pairing Daniels and Cousins in the later rounds is a great approach to capitalize on this value.
A one-spot difference is not as significant as the gaps we see for Dainels and Cousins, but one spot is significant when it's the top spot at the position. If your draft approach is to try landing the year's best quarterback, you can afford to wait a little longer than you might typically. Allen is going as the first quarterback off the board, and if you're in a more casual league you could even see Hurts falling to the QB3 or QB4 spot because of the name value Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson carry.
On the other side of the coin, these are quarterbacks you should not be drafting. They're ranked significantly behind their ADP as of our last update.
The 2023 NFL passing yards leader, Tua Tagovailoa is missing a couple of key factors for being a top-end fantasy option in 2024. First, he doesn't offer any rushing upside (74 yards and 0 touchdowns in 2023). Second, his huge passing upside last year skewed heavily toward the start of the season, not offering much consistency or value when the fantasy playoffs rolled around. For his final eight games of the fantasy football season (weeks 9 through 17), he ranked just 26th at the position in per-game fantasy scoring, averaging just 14.3 per game.
On the other side of the rookie coin, first-overall pick Caleb Williams offers none of the exciting value Jaylen Daniels does. Williams is in a great spot for real-world success as a rookie, for sure, but he's not the rusher that Daniels is, and the Bears offense also doesn't figure to be nearly as pass-heavy as the Commanders'.
Jared Goff isn't a horrible pick, being taken two spots ahead of where we have him ranked, but when you're looking at the difference between QB12 (a low-end starter) and QB14 (a high-end backup), that does matter. Goff was the QB15 in fantasy scoring on a per-game basis last season, and not much has happened with the Lions' roster this offseason to signal he's due for a jump. His high-floor production is very replaceable with players going later in the draft, and if you're taking one of the first 12 quarterbacks off the board in your league, you want it to be one with way more upside.
JASON SCHANDL
