Top 10 Quarterbacks + Bold Takes, Hype Train

oftentimes ignored.

Oftentimes, you know, you don't get the highlight real type of stuff from Matthew Stafford all the time. But at the end of the day, you're very, very comfortable with the fantasy production for Matthew Stafford in your lineup. Yeah. So that's all it is. It's a comfort level with Matthew Stafford. And last year, 29 touchdowns only 10 interceptions. He's just a good quarterback. He is a good quarterback. Six of the last seven years. He's been a quarterback one. So you know what you're getting. His weapons, you could argue, have been improved another year with Marvin Jones. Kenny Galladay coming into his, so smooth. So smooth.

Kenny G. So smooth. And then one of the other things I look at when I'm drafting a quarterback late in the 9th, 11th, 12th round, I look at the opening schedule. And the opening schedule is fantastic for Matthew Stafford, starting with the Jets, the Niners, the Patriots, and Dallas. There's no matchups there that I would go, I need to sit up. The pets? No, not at all. Hmm. I mean, they were.

They were dominant the second half of last year. The second half of last year, they were good. I think they've got a decent defense. But the one thing I know is when you have... They're also not in New England for that matchup to start the year, so that made me more comfortable. They're in Detroit, and whenever you have two great quarterbacks going against each other, there's always a home stafford against Brady says put a point. Sure. I agree. I'll be real quick. Even though I have Matthew Stafford 11, I love him this year, back of the ninth. So even in your home leagues...

Maybe you're getting Stafford in the double-digit range, and he's a later, not a super late, but a later quarterback who could just be your starting quarterback for the entire year. Number seven. All right. Number seven is Andrew Luck. I have him at five. Mike has him at five, Jason at 13. I think I know the analogy for Andrew Luck here. And this is, you know, if you know a friend and you've invested money with him in the past and you get paid out each and every time, it's kind of a,

Just take my money. Just take my money and do something with it. With Andrew Locke, I think Mike and I are both probably of the opinion that it's, if he's going to be the starting quarterback with one of the best receivers in the game on a team that can't play defense, then I'm in. I'm in on Andrew Locke. And right now he's the eighth round pick. I don't know if I'm going to own him. I don't know if he's going to be on any of my teams because I could probably take Cam Newton.

He's going to rise in 80. Yeah, that's what I mean. That means Newton will be my guy. Over the last month, he's gone from the 10th round to the 8th round, and the arrow is still pointing up. If you're drafting right now, Andrew Luck is actually a value. I probably have him too low at 13. I'm leaving him there to ensure that he gets through a couple more preseason games, doesn't have any setbacks physically. But the value is there today. Now, in another month when drafts are happening at the end of August,

If he's in the sixth round, yeah, I'm not grabbing him. 2016, the last time he played, he was the fourth best fantasy quarterback. You can see three of the past four years when he's played 15 or more games. So pretty close to a whole season. Any of his full seasons. Nine four, two, four. Yeah. Top, but I'm saying three of the last four, top five. Yes. He's a great quarterback. And right now, I'm with Jason. The value is there right now. But I would have some concerns in.

over the next couple weeks of him just rising too high. Number eight. Captain Kirk. Kirk Cousins coming in at number eight. I have him at seven. He was one of the players that actually moved up a little bit recently in the ultimate draft kit, Jason at eight, Mike at eight. We all pretty much agree on the upside of Kirk Cousins, incredible weapons in Minnesota. Great pass-catching weapon out of the backfield in Delvin Cook, two of the best wide receivers in football.

some ancillary pieces that I think are really valuable there in Kyle Rudolph and the other wide receivers in that wide receiver room. Kirk Cousins just has everything laid out for him and then thus far in preseason, he's looked great. Since becoming a starting quarterback in the NFL, so that's three seasons of Kurt Cousins. He's finished quarterback eight, quarterback five, and quarterback six. Now we know that.

His head coach, Coach Gruden in Washington, has a system that is, it's very friendly for fantasy quarterbacks. We've seen him have success in a few different places, including with Andy Dalton, who Andy Dalton has turned into rubbish for fantasy purposes since Gruden left. We will now get to see, is Kirk Cousins a product of that system? Or is Kurt Cousins actually a good quarterback?

I am on the side that Kirk Cousins is actually a very good quarterback. He's a good quarterback. He's set up for success. He's got the best weapons he's ever had. If there's any downside here, it's the fact that similar to the Drew Brie's argument from my standpoint, I think that they won't ask him, you know, does he have the capability to throw for 5,000 yards? Yes. Would he ever, in a million years, need to or be asked to with this type of defense? No. All right. Let's move on to number nine.

A player that I think fits, you know, if Mike has Drew Brees up higher than the average, and I have Matthew Stafford up higher than the average, this seems to be Mike's guy. Or I'm sorry, Jason's guy. Big Ben Rothesburg, I have him at 12. Jason, you got him at fine.

I do have him at five. And here's the simple and honest truth. He has done that once before. He has done it once. But if you look at his games played, the simple and honest truth is he's usually a top five projected type of guy. If you were to play 16, the big shock here isn't that I have him at five. It's that I've statted him out for 16 games. Right now he's already banged up. Exactly. He had his nog and bonked as we have established. So I will say this.

I like where he is right now for draft season, assuming, you know, he's fine from this concussion. Right. You know, his early season schedule is, you know, good for the first three weeks. I believe that the offense is going to be absolutely electric in Pittsburgh with Juju, with James Washington, Antonio Brown, Levi-on-Bell, the defense taking a step back after losing Shazir. I think Ben Rothesberger will be great. Now, at the end of the season, does he finish at number five?

only if he play 16, and he very well might not, even as simple as just being sat in week 17, which is the common practice if they've locked up a playoff spot for Mike Tomlin. I'll say the year that Big Ben did finish number five, that was Martavis Bryant's big touchdown season. And since that time, Pittsburgh hasn't had a wide receiver too like Juju Smith-Schuster. So I don't hate.

the ranking of number five. I think it's aggressive. I think number seven where I've got him is just perfect. You think your rankings are... My ranking is pretty good, huh? It's the best. All right, let's make some headlines here. Number 10. I think this is where people are... I can see the YouTube and the Twitter comments and question marks and all those things, because up to this point, you're still listening going, where is Carson Wins? Where is Deshawn Watson? Maybe that's the bigger one. Tune in tomorrow.

Nope, tune in right now. Tide. We have them tied. Consensus number 10 for each guy, which is interesting because there are parallels between them. High efficiency. A lot of parallels. High hype. High hopes. As Jeremy, our friend Jeremy would say. Now, Jason still has Deshaun Watson at four, and I still have Carson wins at six. So we buy into the, I guess, the long-term.

high upside value of both of those players. But based on our consensus rankings, they come in tight at 10th. What do we want to talk about here? I mean, Carson Wentz, there was news yesterday that during an interview he said himself, it's going to be close when asked about his availability to even play in week one. And if you are the Philadelphia Eagles, you're taking no chances with your franchise quarterback. You're putting Nick Foles, the Super Bowl MVP, in the game for the first couple weeks. I think if I were...

coming off of an ACL tear or some kind of major injury at the quarterback position. This is what I would say every single time to the media. I would just be getting it out there. It's going to be close. It's going to be close. Because then either way, you come back week one, you're a superhero because you've miraculously recovered. And two, you're putting teams, maybe you're getting them off their game, the defenses of, okay, well, we've got to plan for Foles. We've got a plan for Carson Wentz. So I think that's the...

That's the move that I would go with. As opposed to the Andrew Luck of last year move? Yes. He's definitely going to be ready. Yes. Yeah, I mean, for me with these two guys, all the parallels, you have two knee injuries, one that was worse for Carson Wentz than for Watson, later in the year and a worse injury. But they both bring fantasy value with their legs. So we don't know for sure.

how they're going to run this year, whether they'll be hesitant at all to put it on the ground as often as they did last season. That's one issue. But the biggest issue between both of these guys, look, I've got Deshaun Watson as my number four quarterback. I think he's going to rush enough to matter because that's what fantasy football quarterbacks, you know, give him such a big bonus. But he is the quarterback two taken off the board right now.

ahead of everyone we just talked about, other than Aaron Rogers, that's insane. We've seen him for how many games, five, six games that he has actually, I think, started five, played in six or started six, played in seven. Yes. I mean, it's too small of a sample size with a guy coming off of an ACL to say, I'm going to take him number two. You are hoping that you get that few.

That three-week stretch where he lit the world on fire with every touchdown pass to Will Fuller imaginable. Even if that efficiency comes down, the counterpoint for Deshaun Watson is staying in that top three is that the rushing pace, if he's healthy, you're in the 700s. I mean, he ran for 269 yards on 36 carries in six games. So if he becomes the quarterback four, where I have him ranked.

He will not provide value on being drafted as the quarterback, too. That's my point. He has a better, he has a worse offensive line than Carson wins. He has a better outside weapon in Deshaun and DeAndre Hopkins, maybe two better weapons, and Will Fuller and DeAndre Hopkins. And he's also been removed from the injury a little bit more than Carson wins. So it's interesting when you look at both players. I think we expect them to be very good professional.

uh fantasy contributors for a very long time it's just regression yeah last year um last year he threw a he threw a touchdown every six and a half passes that's that's impossible we're just reiterating that point yeah yeah because that's that's the big point for me for both of them wens and doshan watson league average is right in the middle of the four percent of

for a touchdown rate. Deshawn Watson over nine. Carson Wentz over 7%. Historically, when guys do that, they regress, but he will Watson be able to do off on the ground to counter that. Throwing a touchdown every six and a half passes. That's pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty nice. Last year, Carson Wins was the top 12 quarterback, 76% of his starts. 71%.

for Deshaun Watson. So they were both elite league winners last year. Carson wins with as many top five finishes as Brady Rivers and golf combined. By the way, people doing the golf yesterday, Mike. Oh, you got to do it to the left, do it to the right. Oh, my gosh. All right. Hey, don't forget, after a long offseason, fan duels ready, more ways to play and most importantly, more ways to win. If you're not a fantasy expert, they have all kinds of contests just for casual.

Fans like beat the score, play with your friends, because the only thing better than winning cash is winning your friends' cash. And they also have preseason fantasy contests going right now. So sign up at fanduil.com slash footballers and get a $10 bonus when you make your first deposit age and state restrictions apply. All right. That does it for today's episode of the show. Come back for some more quarterback talk tomorrow. Maybe some more names that you'll be paying attention to late in drafts. We'll bring you some quarterback sleepers.

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