At the quarterback position, Patrick Mahomes and Andrew Luck were the key guys in 2018. They both tended to be drafted outside the top 10, and they’re the guys who most dramatically outperformed their draft position, combining for 89 touchdown passes.
So in our Experts Poll, those who did the best job of pushing those guys up the draft board fairly did the best. Those who tried to play it safe by leaving Luck’s injured shoulder out of their top 20 instead sabotaged their own draft board.
Justin Eleff of the Fantasy Index Podcast had the lowest combined rankings on those players – 8th for Luck and 12th for Mahomes – and was able to ride it to a landside victory, outscoring everyone else by almost 2,000 points.
Bob Henry had the best Mahomes ranking (8th) but undermined that selection by leaving Luck off his board. He finished a modest 15th.
Mike Clay had the 2nd-lowest rankings on the two key quarterbacks (7th for Luck, 14th for Mahomes) but hurt his top 20 by ranking Jared Goff way lower (20th) than everyone else. That backfired, and he finished only 8th.
Sam Hendricks (Extra Point Press) finished 2nd in this category, and did so without standout selections on Luck (20th) or Mahomes (14th). Hendricks instead built his top 20 around ranking Philip Rivers higher than anyone else (7th), and being higher than most on a number of other quarterbacks who played well, including Drew Brees (5th), Matt Ryan (13th) and Ben Roethlisberger (6th).
Jeff Ratcliffe of Pro Football Focus finished 3rd at the quarterback position. He had the 3rd-best combined ranking of the two key quarterbacks, slotting Luck 11th and Mahomes 14th.
| EXPERTS POLL, QUARTERBACKS (standard scoring) | |
|---|---|
| Analyst | Points |
| Justin Eleff | 107,003 |
| Sam Hendricks | 105,216 |
| Jeff Ratcliffe | 105,213 |
| Paul Charchian | 104,803 |
| Cory Bonini | 104,712 |
| Lenny Pappano | 104,694 |
| Alan Satterlee | 104,559 |
| Mike Clay | 104,373 |
| Jesse Pantuosco | 104,213 |
| Patrick Chance | 103,578 |
| Harold Simons | 103,487 |
| Jody Smith | 103,422 |
| Michael Nazarek | 103,112 |
| Tony Holm | 103,003 |
| Bob Henry | 102,918 |
| Scott Pianowski | 102,383 |
| Chris Liss | 101,372 |
| Michael Nease | 101,339 |
| David Dorey | 100,822 |
| Aaron Bland | 100,108 |
Injuries typically play a big role at this position. When a quarterback ranked in the top 10 in the preseason misses most of the season, he tends to destroy a lot of entries. But there were fewer injuries at this position this year. Jimmy Garoppolo was really the only coveted quarterback who missed most of the season. That was a gut punch to those who had him slotted for a breakout-type year, including Aaron Bland (7th), David Dorey (8th) and Chris Liss (8th).
To smooth the rankings to account for injuries, we also offer more of a Value Based Drafting system, looking only at quarterbacks who ended up with starting numbers – top 12 – and not worrying about the rest. Such a scoring system is intended to reward those who can find good production, while not giving much weight to the lesser picks and busts.
In that scoring system, Eleff was still the decisive winner, followed by Ratcliffe and Clay.
| EXPERTS POLL, QUARTERBACKS (VBD scoring) | |
|---|---|
| Analyst | Points |
| Justin Eleff | 7,459 |
| Jeff Ratcliffe | 6,827 |
| Mike Clay | 6,800 |
| Sam Hendricks | 6,789 |
| Jesse Pantuosco | 6,777 |
| Bob Henry | 6,675 |
| Alan Satterlee | 6,653 |
| Patrick Chance | 6,528 |
| Cory Bonini | 6,508 |
| Lenny Pappano | 6,502 |
| Paul Charchian | 6,411 |
| Harold Simons | 6,297 |
| David Dorey | 5,746 |
| Scott Pianowski | 5,624 |
| Aaron Bland | 5,435 |
| Michael Nazarek | 5,375 |
| Tony Holm | 5,210 |
| Jody Smith | 5,141 |
| Chris Liss | 4,716 |
| Michael Nease | 4,027 |