Each weekend I’m posting updated rankings for dynasty leagues at one of the marque positions. With three possible Hall of Fame quarterbacks dropping out of starting lineups this week, it seems like that a good position to look at this time.
Patrick Mahomes is the tap-in No. 1 among quarterbacks. With his talent, age and supporting cast, I don’t think you can even make a case for anyone else to be ranked ahead of him.
It’s pretty wide open, though, I think at No. 2. Deshaun Watson and Carson Wentz are both capable of big numbers, but neither looks like they can be counted on to start 16 games year after year. Three other young quarterbacks in my top dozen fit the same profile – Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Kyler Murray. Just two weeks into the 2019 season, those guys aren’t proven, but they seem to be trending in the right direction (just hope they can avoid getting shelved by an injury).
A few weeks back, Baker Mayfield would have gotten some consideration as the No. 2 quarterback, but they haven’t been able to get things rolling yet in Cleveland. They’ve got a new system and a problematic offensive line. I imagine they’ll get things figured out, but if I were drafting quarterbacks today, I would rather have Watson or Wentz.
The Giants benched Eli Manning, and I think that’s a permanent, overdue move. I don’t think Manning is coming back (he’s not even in my top 50). Daniel Jones looked very good in the preseason. In both August and at Duke, I’ve seen him make some really impressive throws in the red zone. For a dynasty league, I think it makes sense to roll the dice on him about 20 quarterbacks in.
Ben Roethlisberger is out for the year, making him a tough quarterback to grade. He’s 38. I ended up slotting him behind Mason Rudolph. I’ve got a feeling Rudolph might play well over the final 15 weeks of this season, with the switch underway for the Steelers.
With the Saints, however, I’m leaving Drew Brees as their top guy. I imagine he’ll be back in about six weeks, and I think he could return to putting up top-10 numbers for the remainder of 2019 and again in 2020. I am not sold on Teddy Bridgewater. We’ll all know more after the game at Seattle tomorrow, of course, but it would not surprise me if he plays poorly enough that the Saints end up plugging Taysom Hill into the starting lineup before Brees returns. Hill was better than Bridgewater in the preseason.
There are three other teams where I’m ranking the current starter lower than somebody else on his own team. I don’t have confidence in Joe Flacco and Marcus Mariota, so I would rather have Drew Lock and Ryan Tannehill on those teams. And I expect Washington will switch from Case Keenum to Dwayne Haskins at some point.
Gardner Minshew, I think, is one of the harder guys to grade. He’s played well in all three games for Jacksonville. They drafted him in the sixth round, but I think it’s pretty clear he should have gone a lot earlier, with his accuracy and feel for making plays. I considered ranking him ahead of guys like Mitchell Trubisky, Jameis Winston and Dwayne Haskins.
| DYNASTY LEAGUE QUARTERBACKS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Tm | Player | Age |
| 1. | KC | Patrick Mahomes | 24 |
| 2. | HOU | Deshaun Watson | 24 |
| 3. | PHI | Carson Wentz | 26 |
| 4. | ATL | Matt Ryan | 34 |
| 5. | SEA | Russell Wilson | 30 |
| 6. | GB | Aaron Rodgers | 35 |
| 7. | CLE | Baker Mayfield | 24 |
| 8. | BAL | Lamar Jackson | 22 |
| 9. | DAL | Dak Prescott | 26 |
| 10. | LAR | Jared Goff | 24 |
| 11. | BUF | Josh Allen | 23 |
| 12. | ARI | • Kyler Murray | 22 |
| 13. | NE | Tom Brady | 42 |
| 14. | NYJ | Sam Darnold | 22 |
| 15. | SF | Jimmy Garoppolo | 27 |
| 16. | IND | Jacoby Brissett | 26 |
| 17. | CIN | Andy Dalton | 31 |
| 18. | CAR | Cam Newton | 30 |
| 19. | LAC | Philip Rivers | 37 |
| 20. | MIN | Kirk Cousins | 31 |
| 21. | OAK | Derek Carr | 28 |
| 22. | DET | Matthew Stafford | 31 |
| 23. | NYG | • Daniel Jones | 22 |
| 24. | CHI | Mitchell Trubisky | 25 |
| 25. | TB | Jameis Winston | 25 |
| 26. | WAS | • Dwayne Haskins | 22 |
| 27. | NO | Drew Brees | 40 |
| 28. | PIT | Mason Rudolph | 24 |
| 29. | JAC | • Gardner Minshew | 24 |
| 30. | TEN | Ryan Tannehill | 31 |
| 31. | NO | Teddy Bridgewater | 26 |
| 32. | DEN | • Drew Lock | 22 |
| 33. | JAC | Nick Foles | 30 |
| 34. | TEN | Marcus Mariota | 25 |
| 35. | PIT | Ben Roethlisberger | 37 |
| 36. | DEN | Joe Flacco | 34 |
| 37. | WAS | Case Keenum | 31 |
| 38. | SF | Nick Mullens | 24 |
| 39. | NE | • Jarrett Stidham | 23 |
| 40. | NO | Taysom Hill | 29 |
| 41. | MIA | Josh Rosen | 22 |
| 42. | CIN | • Ryan Finley | 24 |
| 43. | MIA | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 36 |
| 44. | LAC | Tyrod Taylor | 30 |
| 45. | CHI | Chase Daniel | 32 |
| 46. | HOU | AJ McCarron | 29 |
| 47. | PHI | Josh McCown | 40 |
| 48. | LAR | Blake Bortles | 27 |
| 49. | IND | Brian Hoyer | 33 |
| 50. | ARI | Brett Hundley | 26 |
—Ian Allan