QB Rankings: 11-20 + Preseason Highlights, Buckle Up! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 8/16

Yeah, I mean, you're going to need to do that every single year that he's a Bengal. It's just a question of whether he can step forward this year. I believe that he can, but I don't think it's going to happen in the beginning of the year. So I'm with Mike, and I'm with you, Andy. He's off my draft board. He's just, he's going in single-digit rounds.

as, you know, the quarterback 13 right now, he's my quarterback 16, but if I had to break down first half of the year versus second half of the year, he'd probably be near my quarterback 22, 23 for that first half of the season. So he's a guy I'm looking for waivers, maybe a cheap trade later, and not even a cheap trade, waivers. He's going to get cut at some point. It's also going to give you a chance to see if this offensive line is better than it was last year because, you know, there's some optimism and some hope.

But just imagine the way that where T. Higgins would be in fancy drafts if they had invested in Sewell instead of Jamar Chase. You'd have a clearer picture of the passing game. So he connected on just nine of 48 deep targets last year. Although Sewell got, Sewell kind of got schooled there in the preseason. Sewell school? Yep. Got taken to school? Okay. Forty eight past attempts a game. You're right. He's going to throw it a bunch, but there's some.

things he has to overcome. Trevor Lawrence, or as Jason calls him, Justin Lawrence, coming back, coming in at 17. He's being drafted as the quarterback 14, so there's a lot of excitement, and we'll see if that's warranted. I am the highest of the three of us right now. It's still behind ADP, but I'm at 16. You guys at 21, less optimism. Look, number one overall pick. Going to have a chance to start from week one.

And lots of, you know, you saw a little glimpse of this in the preseason game, seeing how they're going to utilize Leviska-Schanalt. Marvin Jones, and that was another takeaway. We had moved on from that question. Played every down, right? But Marvin Jones, that's just one game, very small sample, but it looks like Marvin Jones is the wide receiver from this team that you're, if you're going to draft any of them late, I would.

Take Marv. Yeah, I mean, obviously, Chark was not there. So it could be, you know, look, if Chark's not there, Marvin's going to be the guy. But he did look really good, had a good connection with Lawrence. And I have no problem drafting Trevor Lawrence, calling your shot on Trevor Lawrence. He's a guy that.

It doesn't get enough credit for his wheels, his legs. He put up a lot of rushing yards in college. I think he'll put up a good amount of rushing yards, a nice baseline. If he gets 250, 300 rushing yards this year, I will not be surprised. And that'll be a really nice baseline for a rookie. He's got Travis C.T.N. to dump the ball down, too. And really, Levisca Chanel, a lot of manufactured yardage on the screen game. So I'm fine with that. The problem is you really, like,

I'm not so bullish to draft him at his current ADP because he's in the 10th round. He's the quarterback 14th off the board. And usually around that place, there are quarterbacks I have more confidence in this year. But I don't blame anyone for, I would much rather take the shot on Trevor Lawrence than grab a Matt Ryan type, even though I've got, you know, Matt Ryan a couple spots ahead because I think the probability says that Matt Ryan scores more fantasy points this year than Trevor Lawrence.

I don't really care about scoring the quarterback 15th amount of points. I want someone that can really do something special for my fantasy roster, and maybe Trevor Lawrence can. Justin, sorry, Justin Lawrence. I think that he's the perfect pick for late round fantasy flyer quarterbacks because you start against Houston, right? That's great. And then you get Denver, Arizona at home. No, it's okay. Denver? Well, look, this is a horrible defense.

You saw this last year. The Jacksonville defense is that part of the equation is built in, right? Like they're not, they didn't do enough to recover this near last rank defense. They're at home against Denver. I'm not terrified of that. And then they're at home against Arizona, not terrified, and then they're against Cincinnati. So, and if you see great things in those first four games. Right. It's kind of the unknown upside. Maybe you have somebody that, um,

Like Jason said, he rushes the football a bunch. And Marvin Jones is making an impact. And ETN out of the backfield. Like I'm with, this is the first pick that we've talked about today where I'm like, okay, I'd take him. If he slips to the 11th round, I'd take him and start it and just see what I got. Because Houston is a nice first week matchup. Agreed on that. And then if you want to cut him and go pick up Matt Ryan or Kirk Cousins off of waivers, you can do it. Big Ben at 18, Mike. Jason's actually the highest.

Among Us with Rothersberger at 15 on his rankings. Mike, do you view Big Ben as a great last round, start him, see what you got? You know, you know the weapons are there, Claypool, Johnson, Juju, Najee. We were, Jason and I were just talking about this because I was, you know, giving him friendly grief about him being the quarterback 15, which I immediately followed up with, I have been too low. Like 22.

is not where I expect Ben Rothesberger to finish if he's on the field. Because if he's on the field, we're going to see a lot of volume. He was, you know, by the revisionist history, he was terrible last year is what people will say. But he threw the ball over 600 times. He had 3,800 yards. He had 33 passing touchdowns. He was the quarterback 14. He was the quarterback 14. The wide receivers surrounding Ben are,

Pittsburgh did it again. They fully replenished and have an incredible trio of wide receivers to work with. And maybe Ben's arm is a little bit better this year. And Najee is a much better option that they had at the running back position last year. That includes in the passing game. So I think that Ben here of my ranking of 22 is too low. Now does that make a difference of, am I drafting? Ben, that's...

a little bit difficult opening up the season on the road against Buffalo. That's, at least it's not cold yet. But that's not necessarily how I want my fantasy football season to start. However, Vegas and Cincinnati right after that, Weeks 2 and 3, Big Ben is interesting. Big Ben is, I really love Big Ben this year. And I want to explain the difference for me between.

He is Kirk Cousins. He is Matt Ryan. I'm down on Matt Ryan. I'm down on Kirk Cousins. The reason is because the only time I really want one of those type of guys is my quarterback two in a Super Flex League. If I'm drafting multiple quarterbacks, I want a guy like that. I want a guy who's like, yeah, he's probably going to be finished quarterback 14, 15. He's not the guy who's going to win everything for me, but plug in that spot. The difference is Big Ben is the quarterback 27.

He is in a super flex league. Yeah. He's like one of your last picks, you know, in a super flex league. So he was a quarterback 14 last year. We all expect Deontay presumably to be better this year than he was last year. Definitely with Claypool. Juju's just doing what he's been doing. And we haven't even mentioned Eric Ebron could catch touchdowns. Yeah. Fryer Muth was a rookie titan I really liked. So the weapons are there. I don't think he's anything special.

But he is so free that in a Super Flex league, I think he's mispriced. All right. Let's close it out. Ryan Fitzpatrick at 19, Baker Mayfield at 20. And then I have some questions about some other names. But Fitzpatrick, Mike is the highest on him. All of us outside the top 12 with Fitzpatrick, obviously our consensus 19. I'm at 19 on the dot. Jason at 24. Barf.

But you don't like that? No, I hate that, man. I love Ryan Fitzpatrick. I get it. I think you can, look, I think you can love Ryan Fitzpatrick and be reasonable with this offense. I know you love Curtis Samuel. I think it's going to be a little bit of a slower offense. I think you're going to have some weeks where they don't need. What would you call that? Flamboyant Fitzpatrick? I mean, like. Sure.

the Winston version of Fitzpatrick. He's got different quarterbacks in him. I don't know if he knew that. He is a variety of different quarterbacks inside of him, and he turns different ones on at different times. And if he plays 16 games, it'll be the first time in over half a decade, you know. As if he makes the playoffs as well. Well, that'll be the first time.

ever and he's played for over a decade so yeah I mean he on a on a per game basis he's got the weapons he can run the ball shockingly and I think he's fine for a late round streamer a second quarterback I'm happy with him but the way he plays and the age that he is I don't see him making a full season he's the fantasy football quarterback equivalent of driving without a seatbelt like your weeks

are a little sweatier with Ryan Fitzpatrick. They could end up exhilarating. They could end up the best ride of your life. Oh, you're going to get there quicker too. No, I don't need to buckle. I'll just hop in that car. I'm going to get there quick. Fractions of a second? Fractions of a second, but be careful. Kids buckle up. Yeah, I don't, the metaphor, not sure I really, it all made sense. I don't know if it's more exhilarating not to be strapped in. What do you think, Al? Is it more exhilarating?

Of course. I'm, look, I'll jump in here. I'm in on Ryan Fitzpatrick. I mean, I had already brought up the stats of the, of a Turner offense. The Turner offense is you throw it a bunch. It doesn't matter if you have an elite defense, which they did last year, and they do this year. They still were one of the most pass happy teams in the league. And Ryan Fitzpatrick is a better passer than what they had the last couple years. So he opens up the season at home.

Against the Chargers and then against the Giants. That's two solid matchups. Maybe Jason's right and the Chargers are vastly improved compared to last year, getting some pieces back. I'd still be happy with that. And then Atlanta in week four, he's got a good opening schedule to the season if you want to take your shot at some match. And last year with the wide receiver core that Tua is getting a pass on.

For last year, you know, like, well, Tua didn't have weapons last year. In seven starts, Ryan Fitzpatrick, with those wide receivers, was averaging the seventh most fantasy points at the quarterback position, more than Herbert, more than Brady. That's a good point. Like Fitzpatrick will. You know, every once in a while I get one in. And with Terry McLaurin, in my opinion, one of the best young wide receivers in the league, I think Ryan Fitzpatrick is set up for some serious fantasy success this year.

We have Baker at 20. Derek Carr is at 21, Tua is at 22. That's just a rule, though. Yeah, 22. Yeah, 22. Like, don't blame us. I, Daniel Jones 23, Sam Donald 24. I'm not interested in any of the names I just said, except for keeping my eye on Tua. Okay. I know he had an ugly interception to end his preseason game.

But he actually looked pretty sharp to me. He did. He has a couple tight ends. He was leaning on Will Fuller will come back. Waddle, Parker, and a downfield passing game where, look, you try to. Nobody expected all of the late-round quarterbacks that ended up winning people leagues to do what they did. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been late-round quarterbacks. So every one of those guys looks stupid now.

Tua may be stupid to pick in your draft, but like Lawrence, two is the only other one where I'm like, well, we don't know what the ceiling is if you equip him. And he's immaturing, you know, like it's year two. So I can absolutely get that. He looked good at the beginning of the preseason game. And if you want to take your shot on a second year quarterback who has a lot of weapons, I'm fine with that. The two names that I would throw out.

I'm fine with Baker. Yeah. I think Baker actually has a chance to have a decent season. He's got a phenomenal offensive line and a great offense. Yes, they are run first. But at the same time, if Odell Beckham comes through and Jarvis and People Jones and, you know, Kareem Hunt can grab the ball, I think that he could end up being okay. And he's drafted obviously much later than some of those safe quarterbacks earlier. And then in a...

In a super flex league, when you're looking at your third quarterback, I'm still taking a shot on Sam Darnold. He's very, very young. He might be equipped for the first time in his career with a coach that can get it done and weapons with Christian McCaffrey, Robbie Anderson, Terrence Marshall, DJ Moore. I mean...