Fantasy Football 2017 - QB Rankings Pt. 2 + Lev Bell Concerns

Only four of those years has he finished inside the top 10. But Mike, you believe this could be the year he does it again. I do. And what's difficult about projections, right, is we go through all the numbers and we project what their final stat line will be. Ben Rothesberger's, his final stat line for me puts him at the number six quarterback. Does that mean I would draft him as the number six quarterback? No. And that's why it's fantastic.

for the footland that they're listening to this show and understanding that it's all about roster construction and knowing that Ben Rothesberger is, in fact, almost unstartable on the road. But I believe the addition of Martavis Bryant makes that different. I think you can actually play him on the road when Martavis is on the field. And you know that those home games, he can go off for five touchdowns at any given moment. His offense is...

unbelievable, his wide receiver core. And Leveon Bell, you guys, I don't know if you realize this, just off the top of your head. What's the career high rushing touchdowns in one season for Leveon Bell? Wow, I'm going to guess, I'm going to guess 10? Eight. Eight is the most rushing touchdowns he's ever had. And that was his first and second year. So they don't, that's not the name of Levy on Bell's game is getting those 16 rushing touchdowns like Zeke.

But they're going to score a bunch of touchdowns, and that comes through Ben Rothesberger. So I think by the end of the year, he's going to be fantastic. If he drops in your draft, then I'm okay picking him up. I won't take him as the number six guy, but I think that he's just going to have monster, monster weeks. Best ball, I love Big Ben. One of the things that surprised me the most about Big Ben, when we were data mining for the ultimate draft kit consistency charts, and I'm putting all these things together over the last three years going through the data.

Ben Rothlisberger gets this rap, especially from us, of being very inconsistent, right? Because of the home and away splits. And while his road games are games where you usually don't start him, I was blown away to see this stat. Over the last three years, when you're only talking games played, and we have to keep in mind, Ben Rutherlisberger averages missing about two games a year. But in the games that he plays, there's only three players.

who have a higher percentage of finishing as a top 12 quarterback. One of them was Dak Prescott. We talked about him already. He's only had that rookie year where he was just consistent but not blow up. The other two, Andrew Luck, Aaron Rogers. Then it's Ben Rothlisberger. So when he's playing, especially if he's playing at home, he's probably got as good a shot as anybody to be a top 12 option. If you can grab him and pair him with another.

quarterback i i really do like ben rothusberger he usually gets overdrafted though in most home leagues yeah i guess for context ben rothusberger right now is a ninth round draft pick and so that's like him there if he drops there's there aren't a lot of quarterbacks who have the potential to throw for five thousand yards right and big ben with this wide receiver core

is one of them. All right. Is James Winston one of them? You add Deshaun Jackson to the offense. He was only a QB1 six times last year. James Winston just over 4,000 yards, 18 picks and 28 touchdowns. But the excitement for Winston, it's through the roof. You guys right now, you have them at 10. I got him at 16. What is the effect of Deshaun Jackson when it comes to James Winston's stat lines and what he can do in fantasy?

You know that Deshaun Jackson will help him on a handful of weeks. And the hope is that Deshaun Jackson helps out Mike Evans, which inso facto helps out James Winston. James, he's thrown for over 4,000 yards his first two years, which is great. But talk about someone who's been inconsistent. You have a solid, yeah, not even solid, a decent start to the year. But then the final six games wasn't a quarterback won a single time. And that included.

some games against the Saints, right? And it's very frustrating to have James Winston where you think that, okay, this is a great matchup. I know I can plug in James Winston, but then it doesn't work out because they are a defensive team. They want to run the ball. So if the game script is not going in a way that they are trailing,

then James is going to be limited in his attempts. Yeah, I mean, I was going to bring that up. We were doing that Sleeperbot league where we start two quarterbacks. James was the highest on my rankings, but I chose not to take him there because he's harder to predict. His games don't usually come when you think they're going to come. So I ended up bypassing him there. I do worry.

I mean, this is a quarterback that has not yet in his two years finished in six points scoring as a quarterback won yet. There's a lot of projecting forward, but it's a team that does not want to be a pass-first team. And that, I think, limits his upside. You guys see that. Lots of lots of mistakes still. So, I mean, those interceptions have to come down. Delvin, bro. Bro. Yeah, all that. Fabula. Saints. They fired all of their orthopedics who, like, three weeks ago diagnosed him with a bruise. Yeah.

broken bone and they're like orthopedists that is yeah i think i said orthopedics uh that's what jordan reed has yeah orthotics those are orthodox oh dang it man we're missing up all over the place ah ah well someone's got braces that's all i know someone's wearing braces oh my good yeah that that was a misdiagnosis they put braces on him instead of treating the leg and that was all right 1415 why'd you hire an orthodontist my

Mark, we are experts. When it comes to the medical field, look no further than the three of us. Yeah, if you're listening to this is your first time and you didn't realize all three of us are medical doctors. Now you know. Now you know. For sure. 1415, Marcus Mariotta, Cam Newton on our quarterback rankings. I have Cam Newton at nine. You do not.

No, I do not. I am very optimistic. He may end up being a my guy with the ninth round ADP and PPR leagues. I think Cam Newton has every chance of returning to fantasy glory this year. I don't think the rushing yardage is going to change. I don't think his goal line presence is going to change. But he's got a ton of weapons. You guys have talked about the sleep, kind of the sleeper nature of Kelvin Benjamin and now Curtis Samuel's back, McCaffrey. Chess.

Funches is a starter right now. Funches is a guy who plays in the NFL. And Greg Olson. Greg Olson is an indispensable weapon for Newton. And you know what else? He's got one of the best schedules in football. We've talked a lot about the problems that you have with Des Brian or Alshon Jeffrey being in the east with all those corners, which, by the way, got even harder now that Derby is a part of the Eagles staff. So now Des adds two more games with Darby. Look, Cam Newton's got a cakewalk.

of a schedule compared to a lot of other quarterbacks. He's also got a chip on his shoulder. And depending on what you believe about Cam, I'm a... That's a chip in his shoulder. That's actually Delvin Bro, who he gets to play against two times a year. Or it doesn't now. Yeah, so... That's his leg. Yeah, that's his leg, bro. Well, no, I'm just chipping... Tomato, just trying to, you know, call it back. Okay. I like Newton a lot more than Mario Yoda.

You guys have them very similarly rank. So talk about what you like and don't like about those two players. I like Marietta over Newton. The reason why is because both of these players, I think, can provide a lot of value running the ball. But Marioita is young.

is still, you know, actively able to run. I think the team is not worried about him yet. The way that because of last year's injuries with Cam Newton, because of Cam Newton's age, years in the league, this is usually, Mike, you've talked about this, where those rushing, those massive rushing numbers of yardage and attempts tend to fall off for rushing quarterbacks. And I don't think he is a good enough pocket passer.

to be a superstar fantasy relevant player. Now, Mariotta, on the other hand, he doesn't rely as much already on the running game. He has the capabilities. But now you add in weapons that he has not had. I think Eric Decker is going to make a huge difference for him. And now you have two rookie wide receivers who both are, you know, one was the, you know, a top 10 pick in the NFL draft and the others just looked outstanding in preseason.

I think he has the weapons and a great offense. That's Corey Davis and Tijuana. Yes, Corey Davis and Tewan Taylor. Mario, to me, is a much higher upside guy than my rankings indicate. Right now, I've got him at 15. But if you had to say which of those two players, Cam Newton and Marcus Mariotta, could end up a top five player. Wouldn't you give that to Cam Newton? If you're going top five, then I would.

Say it's Cam. Cam's done it four times. Yes. In the top five. Yes. And if you're going completely for top five, it will be Cam. But I think Mariotta has a better chance to be a quarterback one. Interesting. He had the super great streak last year from basically weeks five through what, nine, where he finished the top 12 receiver every single week. He had a very nice quarterback. Yeah, that makes sense. He plays quarterback, so that's where he finished. He had a great matchup.

Yeah, his schedule was great for there. Great offensive line. You take Marcus Mariotta, who was the most efficient passer inside of the 10. He had to throw a touchdown on almost 61% of his passes inside the 10. That's far in a way number one. Now, if you want to refer to that as an outlier, I can understand how you want to make that argument. But now the team has added Eric Decker, one of the most prolific touchdown scoring wide receivers of the.

of the last decade. I mean, Eric, people don't realize how good Eric Decker is and how it, he just, he gets open and he scores touchdowns. That's, that's what Eric Decker does. Now put him on this team. Richard Matthews broke out, showed what he can do, and the, and defenses still have to worry about DeMarco Murray and a great offensive line. So I, I just like Marcus Mariotta's potential and he's improving.

He's continuing to improve. I don't know that Cam Newton is improving anymore. I think are we, I think Cam Newton is who he is now in the league. And that has me leaning to go with Mario. Let's talk about one of the more polarizing picks in fantasy football at number 16 on our quarterback rankings. This one's going to upset some people. Derek Carr, I think the love of Derek Carr. But Andy, okay. Derek Carr is like a top 10 quarterback and he's young and he's got a great team. How in the world is he 16th?

Yeah, that's a good question, voice of public opinion. I think it comes down to the stats. Does that work for you? Yeah, okay. I love Derrick Carr. I love the Oakland Raiders. As a fan, I love rooting for him. I think he's a good NFL quarterback. I think he's a winner. I think he is a growing talent. I think he puts in the work. I think all those things are true. But at the end of the day,

The numbers haven't justified this kind of top six, seven quarterback that some people believe he will be. They want us to give him that respect. If you look at the top 10 quarterback episode comments that we received, a lot of them had to do with. Where's Derek Carr? You're not giving this guy the respect he deserves. I think we're giving him exactly what he deserves. He's a 4,028 guy right now.

He has a great offensive line that also facilitates a very good red zone offense and a good red zone rushing attack with Marshaun Lynch, last year, Latavius Murray. What is the actual upside of Derek Carr? I think the upside is tremendous. To be fair, you guys have him at 15, 18. I have him an 8. I do see him as a top 10 quarterback. Yeah, so you really are. I side more with the voice of public opinion. It makes sense because.

Because you are. Here's a quarterback that was, you know, two years ago he was the 15th ranked quarterback. Last year he was the 10th, you know, ranked quarterback. And now. These trends continue. Yeah, these trends continue. I mean, eight is clearly there. Well, it would be five. Yeah, it would be five. I was like what? Well, it was my ranking. You want to move them up. You should have gone back another year because he was 20th and 2014. Oh, wow. You're right. 2015, then 10th.

I mean, come on. We already know. So here's, but here's the argument for him. Actually zero. He is a, he is a quarterback that has a great offense who has rapport with his receivers. They've added a good tight end to the mix. And, and he has an excellent offensive line. Marshawn Lynch could very well help the passing game. And there's a, you know, plenty of reason to see.