The Top 10 Fantasy Football QBs in 2020
This is the final chapter of my positional breakdown for the 2020 Fantasy Football Season. Here is a quick reference for the other positions in case you missed any: RBs, WRs, TEs, DSTs. Now let's get into the Quarterbacks:
Sleeper: Tyrod Taylor – This is really only a play for 2 QB leagues, but the Chargers have a very favorable schedule, especially early in the season. Their first three games are @CIN, vs. KC, and vs. CAR – three teams that aren’t expected to have good defenses. He will likely lose his job to rookie QB Justin Herbert through the season, but it doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of his streaming matchups early in the season.
10) Josh Allen – He grew leaps and bounds from his rookie season with 20 TDs and 9 INTs. But the most valuable part of his fantasy game come via his feet. He rushed for 510 yards and 9 TDs last year after going for 631 yards and 8 TDs as a rookie. He’s a big 6’5” 237 lbs. and isn’t just a slide and move onto the next play in the open field.
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9) Matthew Stafford – He only played eight games in 2019, but in those eight games he threw for 19 TDs to only 5 INTs. OC Darrell Bevell has him chucking the ball down the field early and often and he’s got a good receiving corps headlined by Kenny Golladay. At age 31, his back injury is worrisome, but assuming he’s back to good health, he’s a strong option.
8) Drew Brees – At age 41, he’s coming off a career-high 7.1% touchdown rate and led the league in completion percentage with a ridiculous 74.3%. During the fantasy playoffs last season he was untouchable with 15 TDs and 0 INTs in the final four games. Stud WR Michael Thomas is back and Alvin Kamara should be in better health. They also signed the best #2 WR he’s had in quite some time in Emmanuel Sanders. Everyone is selling, but he’s too steady. Take him in the later rounds in 1 QB leads and be happy about it.
7) Deshaun Watson – He’s an immense talent, but he just lost his best Receiver and now their pass catchers are all small, fast guys who tend to battle injuries: Will Fuller, Brandin Cooks, and Randall Cobb. They’ve also got David Johnson and Duke Johnson in the backfield who are both better Receivers than runners. The Texans strategy kind of reminds me of when the Phoenix Suns had almost exclusively small forwards. It feels so crazy, it just may work, but I’m also not putting a lot of stock in it, which is why I have Watson at #7 in my QB fantasy rankings.
6) Tom Brady – Yes, he’s 43 years old, with a new team, and he had a down year last year. But he is going from the outhouse to the penthouse with skill position guys. He had Antonio Brown for one game last year and Josh Gordon unfortunately was dealing with his demons and Gronk was retired, so he was throwing to N’Keal Harry, Phillip Dorsett, and Benjamin Watson (aside from Julian Edelman of course). But in Tampa, he’ll have Mike Evans (who is aiming to be the first player to ever start his career with six consecutive 1,000 yard seasons), last year’s breakout star Chris Godwin, O.J. Howard, Cam Brate, a guy you’ll soon know named Scotty Miller, and his old buddy Gronk has even came out of retirement to join the party. I’m not saying it’ll be 2007 all over again, but I don’t think 34 TDs with 12 INTs is out of the question and a ton of passing yards.
5) Kyler Murray – He was lightning in a bottle last year with an impressive 20 TDs and 12 INTs through the air with another 544 yards on the ground with 4 rushing TDs. And now he gets a major upgrade at Receiver with DeAndre Hopkins. They also appear to have solved the running game with Kenyan Drake. The arrow is firmly pointed up in Arizona and Murray is generating some darkhorse league MVP buzz. I’m not that high on him, but for my money he’s the most exciting player in the league.
4) Russell Wilson – He’s coming off his best season, which is saying something. Mr. Unlimited will be good for ~32 TDs and only about half a dozen INTs. He’ll be able to chip in about 300+ rushing yards and a few scores there too. He’s also got some emerging weapons on the outside with D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Josh Gordon. The Seahawks have also been linked to Antonio Brown, who Wilson works out with in the off-season on occasion. He hasn’t missed a game in his career and is a very safe play at the QB position.
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3) Dak Prescott – He’s coming off a career-best year and is in a contract year after signing the franchise tag with the Cowboys. Mike McCarthy is the new HC and he’s also got a new weapon on the outside with rookie WR CeeDee Lamb. He threw for almost 5,000 yards and 30 TDs last year and things are slated to improve. He also offers good rushing upside as he averages 313 rushing yards and 5 TDs on the ground his last three seasons.
2) Patrick Mahomes – It’s hard to separate these two and I’d actually look to your scoring system to make the call. If passing TDs are worth six points, I may actually lean Mahomes. But in most fantasy leagues, passing TDs are worth four points, in which case Lamar Jackson’s rushing upside combined with his ever-improving passing makes him the #1 in my mind. Mahomes had a down year last year after getting hurt in Week 1 and took a bit to get back on track. Luckily for Chiefs fans, that was the playoffs and he ended the season hoisting a Lombardi Trophy. But his MVP season of 2018 in which he threw for 5,097 yards and 50 TDs to just 12 INTs and added 272 yards on the ground with 2 scores there are very achievable for the next few years for Mahomes. He’s an incredible talent but if you’re in a 1 QB league, I wouldn’t use a 1st rounder on him or Jackson. There is too much top tier talent at more important fantasy positions.
1) Lamar Jackson – 1,206 rushing yards with 7 TDs on the ground are good numbers for a Runningback. But he added in 3,127 yards through the air and 36 passing TDs to just 6 INTs. If you had Lamar Jackson last year, you likely made the playoffs in your league and he blew everybody else out of the water at the position. Will he repeat that this season? You’d expect a dip, but even a 20% dip in performance would be worthy of QB1. But decline doesn’t go hand in hand with his mentality, which has been compared to greats like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. If it’s possible we haven’t even seen the best of Lamar Jackson yet, that’s not something you’d want to pass up.
This was a fun week blogging all these positional breakdowns, thanks to everyone for reading! And make sure to keep up with all the waiver wire transactions and start em/sit em recommendations this season by subscribing to the Fantasy Football Factory podcast hosted by Hank, Rone, and Nick Turani. Best of luck to everyone this Fantasy Football Season!