There are three quarterbacks who stand above the rest. That’s the general consensus, and that’s the way it played out in the Fantasy Index Open. Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers collected almost all of the top-3 votes at this position.
There are 166 ballots. All but 37 of them have those three guys as their top 3 quarterbacks.
Manning is No. 1, with almost 93 percent of a maximum score. Brees and Rodgers are just behind him, down at about 91 percent.
Then a big drop down to Matthew Stafford at No. 4, and a surprise (I thought) to see how far ahead of the other guys he was. Stafford’s at 81 percent. Andrew Luck is 5th, just short of 75 percent.
Tom Brady is generally undervalued (I think) in fantasy drafts, but he finished a healthy 6th in this poll. There is a pollution factor here, however, in that the vast majority of competitors have the Fantasy Index information in front of them, and we’ve been pretty high on Brady all along. He might be a few spots lower in a general public poll.
Matt Ryan and Nick Foles are breathing down Brady’s neck. Tony Romo and Robert Griffin III round out the top 10.
Folks don’t seem to like Cam Newton. He’s all the way down at 12th, behind Jay Cutler.
I’m embarrassed to say I came up with the biggest mistake of the entire competition at this position. Of the 166 contestants, only one failed to even rank one of the top 5 quarterbacks on his entry. I was busy with other stuff on the weekend and hurried too much in filling out the form, somehow overlooking Andrew Luck.
If Luck misses half of the season with an injury, I’ll have an advantage over everyone. If (more likely) he stays healthy, I’ll start off in a hole against everyone.
Humbling.
| FANTASY INDEX OPEN -- Quarterbacks | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Percent |
| 1. | Peyton Manning | 92.6% |
| 2. | Drew Brees | 91.2% |
| 3. | Aaron Rodgers | 90.9% |
| 4. | Matthew Stafford | 81.1% |
| 5. | Andrew Luck | 74.6% |
| 6. | Tom Brady | 70.6% |
| 7. | Matt Ryan | 68.6% |
| 8. | Nick Foles | 67.0% |
| 9. | Tony Romo | 59.1% |
| 10. | Robert Griffin III | 57.8% |
| 11. | Jay Cutler | 56.3% |
| 12. | Cam Newton | 55.9% |
| 13. | Colin Kaepernick | 54.2% |
| 14. | Philip Rivers | 46.7% |
| 15. | Russell Wilson | 41.1% |
| 16. | Andy Dalton | 40.6% |
| 17. | Ben Roethlisberger | 32.2% |
| 18. | Eli Manning | 25.2% |
| 19. | Carson Palmer | 21.9% |
| 20. | Ryan Tannehill | 14.8% |
| 21. | Alex Smith | 12.0% |
| 22. | Joe Flacco | 11.0% |
| 23. | Josh McCown | 7.9% |
| 24. | Sam Bradford | 6.1% |
| 25. | EJ Manuel | 3.6% |
| 26. | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 2.7% |
| 27. | Johnny Manziel | 2.2% |
| 28. | Jake Locker | 1.4% |
| 29. | Matt Schaub | 1.0% |
| 30. | Teddy Bridgewater | 0.7% |
| 31. | Geno Smith | 0.6% |
| 32. | Brian Hoyer | 0.2% |
| 33. | Matt Cassel | 0.2% |
| 34. | Michael Vick | 0.2% |
| 35. | Derek Carr | 0.1% |
—Ian Allan