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Fantasy Index Experts Poll

Bob Henry captures Quarterbacks category

It wasn’t a great year for quarterbacks, with Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck getting hurt, along with a bunch of others. Bob Henry of FootballGuys did the best job of tip-toeing through the carnage, emerging as the winner at this position in our Experts Poll competition.

There wasn’t much separation in this category, but Henry made enough good decisions to nudge ahead of the other 19 entries.

Luck was a top-4 quarterback on 70 percent of the ballots. Henry ranked him 5th, helping his cause. More notably, Ryan Tannehill and Carson Palmer each appeared on 60 percent of the ballots; Henry didn’t include either in his top 20, giving him a big boost. He instead was one of the few to include both Blake Bortles (17th) and Carson Wentz (18th), generating a nice chunk of production. Bortles isn’t a great passer but played all 16 games, finishing 12th in total fantasy points.

Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Tom Brady, Kirk Cousins and Matthew Stafford were the top 5 scorers in this format, and while Henry didn’t bang the drum hard for any of them, he ranked of those quarterbacks higher than more than half of the other 19 analysts.

That was enough to edge him past Jeff Ratcliffe (Pro Football Focus). Then the sharks came out, with Tony Holm (Fantasy Sharks) and Lenny Pappano (Draft Sharks) finishing in 3rd and 4th.

Ryan McDowell (Dynasty League Football) probably had the best selection at this position – the only person to include Deshaun Watson in his top 20. But Watson ended up being lost for the season in October, preventing McDowell from being able to cash in on that forecast.

Cory Bonini and Sam Hendricks ranked Carson Wentz higher (17th) than everyone else, but didn’t fully benefit when Wentz missed the final month of the season.

The way we score it (with every pick by every expert being graded in varying degrees) Luck, Rodgers and Tannehill were the most important players. Only two panalists didn’t rank Rodgers 1st (and they had him at 2nd) so he ultimately wasn’t a big factor.

If we instead use Waiver Wire Scoring (limiting the damage of injuries and picks that go horribly wrong – focusing instead just on the 12 highest-scoring quarterbacks) than Holm would move up into the top spot.

In a balanced year for quarterbacks, plenty of good ones didn’t make it into anyone’s top 20, including Alex Smith (6th), Jared Goff (13th) and Case Keenum (15th). In the Waiver Wire Scoring format, Goff was used as the placeholder quarterback – we looked only at production above 313.3 points in that system.

QUARTERBACK RANKINGS (Standard Scoring)
AnalystCompanyPoints
Bob HenryFootballGuys89,838
Jeff RatcliffePro Football Focus89,711
Tony HolmFantasy Sharks89,661
Lenny PappanoDraft Sharks88,592
Mike ClayESPN88,420
Ryan McDowellDynasty League Football88,134
Sam HendricksExtra Point Press87,858
Michael NazarekFantasy Football Mastermind87,625
Ken ValisGaithersburg, Md.87,245
Cory BoniniUSA Today Fantasy Sports87,178
Jody SmithGridiron Experts86,944
David DoreyThe Huddle86,771
Alan SatterleeCharlotte Observer86,581
Chris LissRotoWire86,366
Justin EleffFantasy Index Podcast86,363
Scott PianowskiYahoo Sports86,189
L.A. HaleFantasy Gives85,293
Ryan MurphyEast Berlin, Pa.85,287
Scott SachsPerfect Season FF84,356
Paul CharchianLeagueSafe83,786

In the Waiver Wire Scoring method, Henry was the biggest faller, dropping from 1st down to 9th.

QUARTERBACK RANKINGS (Waiver Wire Scoring)
AnalystPointsStd rk
Tony Holm6,8163
Jeff Ratcliffe6,6602
Mike Clay6,6365
Ken Valis6,6019
Ryan McDowell6,5676
Lenny Pappano6,5504
Jody Smith6,52511
Bob Henry6,4641
Chris Liss6,45214
Sam Hendricks6,3937
Cory Bonini6,34910
Scott Pianowski6,34616
Michael Nazarek6,3368
Justin Eleff6,30915
L.A. Hale6,22017
Alan Satterlee6,10013
Ryan Murphy5,95218
Scott Sachs5,86019
David Dorey5,75812
Paul Charchian5,27420

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index