Fantasy Football Rankings: Updated rest-of-season QB values and tiers
We've been running through a Shuffle Up reset in recent weeks, and we'll complete the lap with the quarterbacks today. We've left the QBs for last because it's the least taxing of the four major fantasy positions. While quarterbacks dominate the real-life NFL discussions, it's generally not that difficult to find a QB fill for fantasy purposes.
What you'll find below are tiered, dollar-based rankings for the quarterback position. Use this for self-scouting, trade ideas, pickup thoughts or as something to read because you're bored. I'm not here to judge you.
Players at the same salary are considered even, and this exercise is for 1QB leagues. Check-status injured players are marked with an asterisk. Let's load up the salaries and see what we find.
Tier 1: The Big Tickets$24 Josh Allen
$23 Lamar Jackson
$22 Patrick Mahomes
$21 Jalen Hurts
$20 Drake Maye
$20 Matthew Stafford
This hasn't been a year where the elite quarterbacks are running away from everyone else. The budget-conscious QB drafters have won, if they landed on one of the right answers. Drafting Allen or Jackson early has not paid off.
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Allen is still QB2 in points per game, and he's first on this list because his rushing floor and equity at the goal line are enormous advantages. But Buffalo is going to regret failing to give Allen a star receiver to work with.
Jackson has been good but not electric in his first two games back from a hamstring injury, and a knee issue kept him from Wednesday's practice (though he returned to work on Thursday and he's expected to play against Cleveland). The appealing angle for Jackson is the closing schedule, which includes a pair of juicy matchups against the hapless Cincinnati defense (Week 13, Week 15).
A lot was made of Stafford's back issue in the summer and I'm not proud to admit I shunned him at the draft table. Not only has Stafford held up just fine, but he's having the best season in what was probably already a Hall of Fame career. He leads the league in passing yards per game and touchdown passes, and his last six fantasy starts look like this: QB2, QB8, QB26, QB4, QB8, QB2. With Puka Nacua to dominate between the 20s and Davante Adams automatic around the goal, Stafford is working with perhaps the best receiver room in the league. And Sean McVay has always been a head coach who knows how to maximize his best talents.
Tier 2: Legitimate Building Blocks$19 Justin Herbert
$19 *Jaxson Dart
$18 Dak Prescott
$18 Baker Mayfield
$16 Daniel Jones
$16 Caleb Williams
$15 Jared Goff
$15 Sam Darnold
There are a lot of ironies tied to Dart and Brian Daboll, the exiled New York coach. It was Daboll who pounded the table for Dart during draft season, and Daboll who schemed Dart to a QB3, QB3, QB13, QB7, QB3 run over the past five weeks. But Daboll was also proactive with Dart's called running plays, and perhaps that's put Dart in harm's way too much. Interim coach Mike Kafka needs to straddle the line between using Dart's athleticism and improvisational skills, but not exposing him to excessive punishment.
I was worried about Darnold slipping after leaving the womb of QB whisperer Kevin O'Connell, but he's been even better in Seattle, checking in with a 9.9 YPS and a league-best 77.6 QBR. Darnold is also completing a silly 71.1% of his passes despite Seattle throwing the ball downfield much higher than the league rate. He's finally cashed in fully on his prospect pedigree, making beautiful music with WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The trade for Rashid Shaheed should help this offense, too. Seattle's schedule is about to get much harder and we all remember how Darnold crashed at the end of last year, but I've let go of any pumpkin risk here. He's a made man now.
Speaking of pumpkin risk and schedules about to get harder, those themes also apply to Jones with the Colts. But Shane Steichen is back in our circle of trust, and the Indianapolis passing game is helmed by three plus talents (Michael Pittman Jr., Tyler Warren, Alec Pierce) who all threaten different parts of the field. When Josh Downs is your fourth or fifth option in the passing game, life is pretty good.
Tier 3: Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down$14 Bo Nix
$14 *Joe Burrow
$13 Jordan Love
$12 Joe Flacco
$12 *Brock Purdy
$11 Trevor Lawrence
$10 J.J. McCarthy
$9 *C.J. Stroud
$8 *Jayden Daniels
$7 Aaron Rodgers
Love's upside is probably gone for good now that Tucker Kraft is out for the year. The Packers have battled injuries at the WR spot, but I wonder if their constant platooning at that position keeps anyone from ever hitting their theoretical ceiling. I'm generally a Matt LaFleur supporter, but I suspect the Packers are going to unplug their offense in the next few weeks, trying to win boring games with defense and the running game. Green Bay would probably sign up for a month of 18-16 football, if there were such an option.
Evaluating the injury-comeback guys always feels like a fool's errand. A healthy Burrow belongs at the front of the list, the head table. But if Cincinnati goes 1-2 or 0-3 in the next three games, it might decide the season is essentially over, decide not to risk a Burrow return. Obviously, the Bengals have a delightful setup for fantasy, the ultimate carnival - loaded offense, condensed target tree, horrible defense. But if you hold onto Burrow comeback hopes, you really want Joe Flacco to upset the Steelers this week.
Tier 4: Bargain Bin$6 Michael Penix Jr.
$6 Jacoby Brissett
$5 Tua Tagovailoa
$4 Justin Fields
$4 Marcus Mariota
$3 Geno Smith
$3 Bryce Young
$3 Tyler Shough
$2 Cam Ward
$1 Dillon Gabriel
$1 *Kyler Murray
The best thing I can say about Penix, well, he's not Kirk Cousins. And I suppose the growing rapport between Penix and Drake London has been a fun story. But what happened to Darnell Mooney in Atlanta? He was a reliable deep threat last year, but Penix and Mooney have zero chemistry this season. As great as London is, the Falcons need another pitch.
For years, we speculated that the Trey McBride touchdown drought was really a Kyler Murray problem in disguise. The Brissett run over the past month validates that theory. McBride now has 12 touchdown catches for his career - five from Murray, five from Brissett, one from David Blough and one from Joshua Dobbs. If the Cardinals want to keep Murray on the sidelines for the rest of 2025, fantasy managers will not complain.