We’re back all you fantasy football degens. The dog days of the NFL offseason have finally come to an end, and with that, training camp has begun for every team. Teams and their respective depth charts are starting to fall into place, with position battles on the horizon and established players seeing notable improvements, and detriments, to their respective units. As we now have at least some kind of idea how each offense is going to play out in terms of personnel and scheme, we can begin sorting out our fantasy football rankings for the upcoming 2026-27 season. It only makes sense to start this ranking series at the top of your fantasy football team – Quarterback.
There’s so many different strategies to consider when selecting which QB to take in a fantasy football draft. There’s the “proven stud” strategy (taking Josh Allen at his ADP has worked out to a large extent every single year since his true breakout in 2020). There’s the “take the value” approach, where you take a mid-round QB that falls past ADP with peripherals that would suggest he should be valued higher. And then there’s the “punt at QB” approach, an approach that I subscribe to more times than not (personal successes in my leagues last year could be largely attributed to “fliers” like Drake Maye and Trevor Lawrence).
However, I’m not telling you to subscribe to one specific strategy. Matter of fact, I don’t think it’s a very good idea to go into a draft with one specific strategy. While I often lean on the side of taking a QB late in the draft (unless it’s a Superflex/2 QB league) due to the position being very matchup-dependant & always having the deepest waiver wire options, if the aforementioned Josh Allen falls to the 3/4 round turn, it would be unwise to pass just because “I said I’d punt on QB, so I have to wait”. If you don’t believe in Allen this year, that’s a different story, and it’s completely respectable if you want to pass on him at a value (though history would tell you this is a mistake). The end-all-be-all advice that I’ve gleaned from my 10+ years of managing 5+ fantasy teams each year: if a guy appears to be a value on your board based on where you project him, and your team composition makes it possible/ideal, take the shot and trust yourself.
With all that being noted, I’ve began compiling my list of Top 12 fantasy QBs for 2026 (with some extra analysis for a few that rank higher/lower than their respective ADPs at this point in time). This isn’t some deep data-driven analysis that has a 100% success rate based on metrics like completion rate over expected, clean pocket passer rating, etc. While those advanced metrics can be used as a good tool when evaluating fantasy football performance, sometimes it can be just as important to analyze situations holistically from a high-level perspective. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, as fantasy football often comes down to the simple fact that if you’re right more than you’re wrong, you’ll have some success. It’s a game of analysis + chance/luck, and it should be treated as fun/entertaining more so than “the data tells me this so it has to be this way”.
Okay, now let me hop off my soapbox and get into what you came here for – rankings by the average guy who’s won a few fantasy championships and doesn’t know everything. Feel free to disagree with me and call me a dumbass – I don’t pretend to have all the answers, and if everyone thought the same objectively correct way, every fantasy team would finish .500 & it wouldn’t be fun.
Note: I’ll be putting out another article closer to the season that will undoubtedly include some changes to these rankings as we get more news on injuries and utilization. This is just the way I see things with the information I currently have.
* All QBs in italics are highlighted as being significantly higher/lower than their current Sleeper ADP, and will be covered in the analysis section underneath the rankings. Rankings/ADPs are based on standard QB fantasy scoring (4 pt passing TDs).
QB Rankings:
QB 1: Josh Allen: Sleeper ADP at 3.2 as QB1. Comfortable with him anywhere mid-to-late 3rd round if you haven’t already invested in a TE. Ranked as the fantasy QB1 or QB2 in each of the last 6 years. A true difference maker with minimal changes to the supporting cast. Tough schedule this year – but this is Josh Allen we’re talking about. Nuff said.
QB 2: Lamar Jackson: Sleeper ADP at 4.1 as QB2. Slightly less comfortable with him, and would only take the leap of faith late 4th round or early 5th. Upside case is obvious (QB1 in 2024), but chances to put up 750+ rush yards (as he’s done every year he’s started 12+ games) diminishes with age/injury concerns. New OC Declan Doyle comes from the Ben Johnson coaching tree (good), but lacks primary playcalling experience in the NFL (a question mark, but not always a bad thing). The IOL issues that plagued Jackson last year have been addressed to some extent, but not solved. Overall, I’m thinking he has a bounce-back season, but not to his 2024 form. Nice to have the 2nd place AFC North schedule when that’s not the norm for this team/player.
QB 3: Joe Burrow: Sleeper ADP at 5.11 as QB4. Comfortable with him at current ADP. Health concerns be damned – you’re only getting him at the 5/6 turn because of his spotty injury history. Rushing upside is obviously capped, but the last two years that he played 16+ games (2024 and 2022) he was a Top 4 fantasy QB. Weapons remain elite, and the OLine continues to progress with investments via draft capital and more experience (3rd-year RT Amarius Mims made significant progress last year). Defense should be better with additions like Dexter Lawrence, but not good enough to limit good gamescripts for this passing attack (as if it even matters anyway, this offense loves to let Burrow cook no matter the score).
QB 4: Jalen Hurts: Sleeper ADP at 6.10 as QB6. Comfortable with him just ahead of his current ADP. I don’t think he’s going to give you 700+ rushing yards like he did in 2021 or 2022, and the tush push that’s resulted in so many of his rushing TD’s didn’t look as unstoppable last year as it had in years past. That being said, I still expect him to exceed last year’s rushing yard total (421) and rushing TD total (8) with slightly improved passing output after moving from OC Kevin Patullo (who was ass) to newly minted OC Sean Mannion (another rookie playcaller, but one who had a good mentor in Matt LaFleur after serving as an offensive coach with the Packers in 2024 and 2025). Even with the loss of AJ Brown, I feel like that change at OC, coupled with the influx of pass-catcher talent (WR Dontayvion Wicks, Rookie WR Makai Lemon, and Rookie TE Eli Stowers) still results in slightly more passing yards & TDs. Hurts was the QB8 last year – my projected improvement for Hurts across all statistical categories lands him here on my list.
QB 5: Trevor Lawrence: Sleeper ADP 8.10 as QB10. See Analysis Below.
QB 6: Drake Maye: Sleeper ADP 5.7 as QB3. See Analysis Below.
QB 7: Jayden Daniels: Sleeper ADP at 6.5 as QB5. Comfortable with him in the late 7th round range, so likely won’t have any shares this year. Health is a concern for a smaller-in-stature rushing quarterback, and the lack of offensive weapons is a real kick in the nuts. That being said, in his 17-game healthy rookie season, he finished as the fantasy QB5 with a similar lack of secondary pass-catching options (shoutout Olamide Zaccheaus and Noah Brown). That was the year he had a fully bought-in/healthy Terry McLaurin, which was not the case last year when Terry had an injury entering camp and a hold-out/hold-in that ended just before the regular season. Daniels’ rushing floor, coupled with a good YAC TE addition (Chig Okonkwo) and Scary Terry still young enough to serve as a WR1, gives him a pretty nice outlook at the Top 8 this year. I also think new OC David Blough (backup QB with the Lions in 2023, similar career path to that of Kellen Moore) is an upgrade over ex-OC Kliff Kingsbury, though there is some risk in that assessment due to his lack of play-calling experience and coaching experience in general.
QB 8: Justin Herbert: Sleeper ADP at 8.2 as QB7. Comfortable with him in the middle of the 8th round or later. Herbert is a stud, and when it comes to real-life quarterbacks who I’d want to start my franchise with, he’s a Top 5 option. When it comes to fantasy production, he’s outside the Top 5 due to his lack of outstanding statistical upside in any one fantasy-friendly area. I just can’t see him putting up 800+ rushing yards like I can see with Jayden Daniels, or 10+ rush TDs like I can see with Hurts. I also can’t see him putting up 40+ pass TDs like I can envision with Burrow (especially after four straight years of Herbert with 26 passing TDs or fewer). I can definitely be wrong in these assumptions, in which case he’s a great value at QB8. I love the addition of OC Mike McDaniels, and I expect this offense to be great when it comes to efficiency and scoring. That being said, when McDaniels ran the 2nd best NFL offense in PPG with Miami (2023), Tua Tagovailoa finished as the QB11. Obviously Herbert is a step up from that version of Tua, which justifies his ranking as QB8 with a deadly run game on a good offense.
QB 9: Caleb Williams: Sleeper ADP at 8.3 as QB8. Comfortable with him right after Herbert, late 8th round to early 9th round. Doubt he goes that late come draft season though, as people will expect even greater improvements from Williams (QB5 last year) and this offense in year two of Ben Johnson. My hesitation with listing him higher starts with how his schedule is going to look this year as compared to last season. They got the 4th place NFC North schedule last year after a shitty 2024 season, and now they have the 1st place NFC North schedule in arguably the toughest division in football. That’s not the be-all-end-all of dropping Williams to QB9, but factor in a couple of OLine downgrades (starting Center Drew Dalman retiring and starting LT Ozzy Trapilo missing the majority of this season with a ruptured patellar tendon), questions about consistency (only 8 out of 16 games as a Top 12 fantasy QB, and 6 games as the QB20 or worse), and what should be a better defense in year two of Dennis Allen – and you start to see less upside for a repeat Top 5 fantasy season.
QB 10: Brock Purdy: Sleeper ADP at 9.10 as QB13. Comfortable with him right around ADP, maybe even a tad earlier. It seems like the only thing stopping Purdy from being a QB1 is a substation induced injury run like the 49ers had last year. Alas, the 49ers have not relocated their stadium, so we have to make due with the current situation. In the two years prior to last year (the two seasons where Purdy was the clear 49ers starter and played 15+ games), Purdy finished as the QB8 and QB9 in fantasy points-per-game. We saw a season where he put up over 4,000 passing yards and 30+ passing touchdowns (2023), and a season where he had 300+ rush yards and 5 rushing touchdowns (2024). It’s not crazy to think that he replicate these totals with largely the same offensive infrastructure in place, another year of NFL experience, and the addition of bona-fide #1 WR Mike Evans (even if he’s getting up there in age). If there were no injury concerns for this offense, he’d be going as the QB7. As it stands, I think this is an appropriate place to put him in the ranks.
QB 11: Tyler Shough: Sleeper ADP at 12.9 as QB 18. See Analysis Below.
QB 12: Jaxson Dart: Sleeper ADP at 8.5 as QB 9. Will not be comfortable getting him anywhere based on my projections, as I’d slot him as a mid-to-late 10th round pick and he won’t last past the 8th round. As of right now, there are just too many question marks for me when it comes to this offense. New OC Matt Nagy has proven to be the bane of fantasy managers’ existence after sub-par stops in Chicago and Kansas City. While All-Pro WR Malik Nabers has avoided the PUP to start camp, I still have concerns of his effectiveness in his ramp-up to start the season. Dart could have some gaudy rushing numbers, but he hasn’t proven to anyone that he can keep this up for 17 games due to his reckless running style. He’s still a Top 12 QB in fantasy on a weekly basis (and will be a high end QB1 in good matchups), but I just can’t see him cracking the season-long Top 10 with all the built-in risk that’s apparent here.
QB ADP Outliers:
Trevor Lawrence: My Ranking: QB 5; Sleeper ADP: QB 10
If there’s one guy who’s a “my guy” in fantasy at the QB position, it’s T-Law. I get the hesitation from the general draft community to commit to a guy who’s only been a Top 12 QB in two of his five seasons in the NFL, but all signs point to him being an extreme value after finishing as the QB4 last year (a whopping 25 points higher than QB5 Dak Prescott, only falling 22 points shy of QB1 Josh Allen).
There’s a couple criteria that have become clear indicators of QB success to me after all my time around fantasy football. These indicators are:
- An offensive head coach/coordinator who has had massive success previously and brings continuity to the offensive system;
- An offensive line that has continuity and had at least one full season of average to above-average play;
- A QB who is capable of being mobile, especially in the red zone; and
- Enough weapons on the offensive side of the ball to have options in any area of the field.
If a QB has 3/4 of those criteria checked off, they’re set up for a good season barring injury. If a QB has all four of those criteria checked off – they’re cooking with gas. T-Law has the head coach with offensive success in Liam Coen, where he has another year to grow into the system and become familiar with the concepts/reads. He has the exact same OLine coming back into the fold this year, along with the addition of Emmanuel Pregnon (3rd round pick, a Guard many draft analysts were high on) for good depth. This OLine produced average results last year, ranking 15th in time-to-pressure (2.47 seconds) and 13th in sacks allowed (41). T-Law showed a new level of mobility in 2025, specifically in the red zone where he converted on 9 rushing touchdowns (I expect regression, but 5-7 rushing TDs appears attainable). And he has one of the better WR trios in the league, with BTJ thriving over the top, Parker Washington becoming a revelation in the slot, and Jakobi Meyers acting as a do-it-all possession receiver. I’m really finding trouble finding any place where this Jaguars offense could take a step back, as I haven’t even mentioned the ancillary passing options like TE Brenton Strange and WR/CB Travis Hunter (with however many offensive snaps the Jags feel comfortable giving him).
People might forget – the Jacksonville passing attack started slow last year. T-Law was under 12 fantasy points in 3 of their first 4 games, and the sky seemed like it was falling with wunderkind Liam Coen calling all the wrong shots. Starting in Week 5, T-Law only scored under 16 fantasy points once through the rest of the season (and that was against the best defense in the league in the Houston Texans). He finished as a Top 5 fantasy QB in 5 of the 12 remaining games, including a run of three straight Top 5 finishes in the fantasy playoffs. He did have some cupcake matchups over the back half, but the Jags rank as having the 15th toughest strength-of-schedule in 2026-27 (per Warren Sharp). I don’t expect the schedule to be that much tougher this year.
There’s also the question of how effective this Jaguars run game will be without Travis Etienne Jr. as the bellcow. I’m often of the thought that a QB still needs a decent run game/running backs to perform at a high level, as it can assist with play-action effectiveness and provide easy production in the check-down game. The Jags ended up with 1,597 non-QB rushing yards last year, and those non-QBs were under 4 yards a carry (407 non-QB rush attempts). I think it’s pretty easy to see the combo of Tuten/Rodriguez going for a similar output this year, and I don’t think Tuten is much of a downgrade in the passing game when Etienne only had 292 receiving yards last year (while Tuten had 79 receiving yards on 26 fewer receptions).
The defense has good continuity too, save for the fact that they lost standout linebacker Devin Lloyd in FA. This will likely lead to comparable, or even more advantageous gamescripts when compared to last year (you know we love QBs who are pushed to score points due to team defense deficiencies – see Dak Prescott last season). It might be rough to start (the first three weeks are vs CLE, @ DEN, and vs NE), so if you don’t have as much confidence as me in this player and team, I wouldn’t blame you for taking a shot on a late round QB with a softer opening schedule to pair with Lawrence (i.e. Sam Darnold). But things start to open up after that stretch, specifically after their bye in Week 7. So, the question is, why can’t TLaw be a Top 5 QB in fantasy yet again? Other than injury, I can’t find an answer to that question. As such, he clocks in as QB5.
Drake Maye: My Ranking: QB 6; Sleeper ADP: QB 3
Before anyone jumps on my ass to give me the business for ranking the runner-up NFL MVP significantly lower than consensus, please know: I do not think Maye’s success was only a by-product of an insanely light schedule last year. If you look at the list of successful QB criteria I just listed above with Trevor Lawrence, you can make the case that Drake Maye and this NE offense check all the boxes as well:
- Josh McDaniels, known for his success as an OC (just not as a Head Coach), is back for a 2nd year with Maye, where there should be even more comfortability in the system;
- Some might say the OLine is in even better shape, seeing as the only change was moving Sophomore IOL Jared Wilson back to his natural position at Center and adding Alijah Vera-Tucker to fill in his spot at Guard (though there could be a need to rely on 1st round pick OT Caleb Lomu to transition to Guard in order to fill in for AVT due to the fact that Vera-Tucker has missed 10+ games in 3 of his 5 NFL seasons, including missing all of last year);
- Maye showed that he was one of the more capable rushing QBs in the league last year, ranking 2nd in the NFL when it came to non-RB rush yards (628) and tied for 5th in non-RB rushing TDs (5);
- With notable improvements to this WR core, including the acquisition of AJ Brown and the signing of Romeo Doubs, this pass-catching room looks to be in even better shape than last year.
So why am I ranking the fantasy QB2 from last year outside of the Top 5? Well, there’s a couple reasons for this. You’ll note above that I said “I do not think Maye’s success was only a by-product of an insanely light schedule last year”. “Only” is the key word in that sentence. It would be absurd to think that the schedule played no role at all in Maye’s success during the 2025 season. I mean, just look at this graphic that highlights how crazy of a run they were on:
They still get the Dolphins and the Jets twice a year (which obviously helps), but the schedule opens with @ SEA, vs PIT, @ JAX, and @ BUF. Not the most daunting opening to the season, but unquestionably tougher than last year. After having the easiest strength-of-schedule going into last year, Warren Sharp now ranks them as having the 10th easiest schedule. Again, not too crazy of a difference, but enough to make an impact (especially after seeing how elite defenses turned this unit, specifically the OLine, into cannon fodder during the playoffs).
Then – there’s the addition of the two notable pass-catchers mentioned above and the parting of one notable pass-catcher (Stefon Diggs). This is obviously an improvement to the WR corps, but it may not be the most fantasy-friendly addition even if it looks like it is on paper. In 2025, Maye had only 8 of his rush attempts classified as designed runs, and 74 of his rush attempts classified as scrambles (per PFF). 43 rush yards on designed runs; 585 rush yards on scrambles. Is it crazy to think that with more WR separation/skill, Drake won’t have to scramble as much, leading to regression with his overall rushing totals? It may not make a huge impact (as his passing yardage total will inevitably go up if that’s the case), but it’s something to consider when the value of rushing yards is higher than passing yards in any fantasy format.
Look – I’m not here to tell you that Maye will have a bad season. I think his season is likely going to be comparable to last season (360 fantasy points is well within the range of outcomes). But it took Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson getting hurt, along with Jalen Hurts and the Eagles falling apart, for Maye to finish as the QB2 last year. Now he’s being drafted as the QB2 or QB3 with a tougher schedule, the possibility of regression in rushing output, and a defense that’s still going to be strong at limiting shootout gamescripts. I think he’s being drafted at his ceiling, which is why I’m staying away from him in all redraft formats with better options coming off the board in the later rounds.
As a note: TLaw finished 10 points behind Drake Maye (350.2 vs 360) on the season last year. I don’t think it’s crazy to have either of these guys slightly ahead of the other, as the situations seem very comparable. What doesn’t make sense to me? Having them more than 3 rounds apart in ADP, which is how things currently stand. You can see where the value is, and it’s not with Maye.
Tyler Shough: My Ranking: QB 11; Sleeper ADP: QB 18
Mother Shoughers – unite!!! This is another spot where I’m expecting the ADP to jump higher as we get closer to the season, but it would have to jump exponentially for me to be out on drafting Shough as a value. If you’re looking for the closest comparable to Drake Maye and his breakout last season, I can’t think of a better guy than the oldest Sophomore in the NFL.
Let’s just look at the output last year when Shough was thrust into the starters job in Week 9: 250.7 pass yards per game, 1.1 passing TDs per game, 19.3 rush yards per game, and 0.3 rushing TDs per game. It doesn’t jump off the page – but then you look at his fantasy finishes after the team’s bye in Week 11: QB23, QB12, QB6, QB16, QB16, QB9, and QB4. Okay, we’re starting to get somewhere. If you extrapolate his stats from his post-bye performances, we’re looking at 4,400 passing yards and 425 rushing yards over a 17-game season. Granted, it was an easy schedule to close out the season. But guess what? The Saints have one of the easiest schedules in the NFL this year (Warren Sharp’s 3rd easiest strength-of-schedule) after finishing 4th in the NFC South.
If his touchdown rate jumps up even a smidge from what it was last year, we’re seeing Top 12 QB as an easy outcome. Health had been a concern for Shough going back to his college days (which is why he was a 26/27 year old rookie after multiple medical redshirt seasons), but that might be the only red flag for the Saints QB entering this year.
The reason I have confidence in the TD rate increasing here is two-fold: (i) increased comfortability in year two of HC/offensive play-caller Kellen Moore’s system, a system that allowed the offense to play at the fastest rate in the NFL last year (leading to more offensive plays per game), and (ii) the Saints drafting a Top 10 talent at WR in Jordyn Tyson (while injuries are still plaguing him now, I can still see him making a significant impact this year). On top of that, the offense as a whole should be much better this year, especially with the addition of Travis Etienne Jr. at RB after a season where the Saints leading rusher was Alvin Kamara with 471 yards. If New Orleans can move the ball down the field, at the quickest rate in the NFL, they obviously score more. I think Shough is a benefactor of that.
The Saints OLine is also one of the clear ascending units after multiple 1st round investments at Tackle in 2024 and 2025 (Taliese Fuaga and Kelvin Banks Jr., who are only getting better) and a big-money FA acquisition in Guard David Edwards. Call me crazy, but this offense is starting to take the shape of the Kellen Moore led Eagles offense that went off in 2024 (though it’s only a discount-version of that offense at this point in time). That’s the year Jalen Hurts finished as the QB6 in fantasy points-per-game.
I’m not saying Shough is Jalen Hurts, and I’m not saying this offense is on par with that prolific Eagles unit. What I am saying is: (i) Shough can run the ball and has shown the ability to convert runs at the goal line with his big frame, (ii) I can easily see him passing for 3,800+ yards and rushing for 300+ yards based on last years output, and (iii) 25+ total touchdowns is definitely within the realm of possibility. Last year’s QB11 (Patrick Mahomes): 3,587 passing yards, 422 rushing yards, and 27 total TDs (22 passing, 5 rushing). I can see similar stats from Shough this year, landing him as my QB11.
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