It's a week of fantasy drafts, and I had my home league a couple of nights ago. This league awards 6 points for touchdown passes, but quarterbacks don't tend to go much earlier than in other leagues. There's good depth at the position, as shown by the fact that Mr. Irrelevant in this 16-round affair was Matt Ryan.
Ryan is 36 -- old, but we're certainly seeing some quarterbacks be effective even older. For a pocket passer who isn't throwing his body around the field and into piles of tacklers each week, no reason why he can't still be one of the league's better quarterbacks. Plenty of other elite passers have done it lately.
Over the last 10 years, 34 quarterbacks aged 35 or older have posted top-20 fantasy numbers. That includes Ryan himself, finishing as the 12th-best quarterback last season. Almost none of those guys did anything noteworthy as runners; they just stood in the pocket and slung it.
TOP 20 FANTASY QUARTERBACKS, 2011-2020 (35 OR OLDER) | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | Age | Pass | TD | Int | Run | TD | PPR | Rk |
2013 | Peyton Manning, Den. | 37 | 5477 | 55 | 10 | -31 | 1 | 498.8 | 1 |
2015 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 38 | 4770 | 36 | 7 | 53 | 3 | 410.4 | 2 |
2016 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 37 | 5208 | 37 | 15 | 20 | 2 | 422.4 | 2 |
2018 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 36 | 5129 | 34 | 16 | 98 | 3 | 429.2 | 2 |
2017 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 40 | 4577 | 32 | 8 | 28 | 0 | 363.7 | 3 |
2014 | Peyton Manning, Den. | 38 | 4727 | 39 | 15 | -24 | 0 | 394.0 | 3 |
2020 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 37 | 4299 | 48 | 5 | 149 | 3 | 440.2 | 3 |
2012 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 35 | 4827 | 34 | 8 | 32 | 4 | 404.6 | 3 |
2014 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 35 | 4952 | 33 | 17 | 68 | 1 | 393.5 | 4 |
2015 | Carson Palmer, Ariz. | 36 | 4671 | 35 | 11 | 24 | 1 | 382.0 | 5 |
2015 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 36 | 4870 | 32 | 11 | 14 | 1 | 378.9 | 6 |
2012 | Peyton Manning, Den. | 36 | 4659 | 37 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 383.6 | 6 |
2016 | Philip Rivers, S.D. | 35 | 4386 | 33 | 21 | 35 | 0 | 354.8 | 6 |
2020 | Tom Brady, T.B. | 43 | 4633 | 40 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 410.2 | 7 |
2017 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 36 | 4515 | 28 | 10 | -2 | 0 | 337.6 | 7 |
2018 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 35 | 4442 | 25 | 2 | 269 | 2 | 367.0 | 7 |
2018 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 39 | 3992 | 32 | 5 | 22 | 4 | 356.9 | 9 |
2017 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 35 | 4251 | 28 | 14 | 47 | 0 | 333.3 | 9 |
2018 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 37 | 4308 | 32 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 354.1 | 10 |
2017 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 38 | 4334 | 23 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 321.9 | 11 |
2014 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 37 | 4109 | 33 | 9 | 57 | 0 | 343.2 | 11 |
2013 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 36 | 4343 | 25 | 11 | 18 | 0 | 323.0 | 11 |
2019 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 36 | 4002 | 26 | 4 | 183 | 1 | 334.4 | 12 |
2020 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 35 | 4581 | 26 | 11 | 92 | 2 | 356.2 | 12 |
2018 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 41 | 4355 | 29 | 11 | 35 | 2 | 350.9 | 13 |
2019 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 38 | 4615 | 23 | 20 | 29 | 0 | 327.7 | 13 |
2020 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 38 | 3803 | 33 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 327.2 | 14 |
2019 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 42 | 4057 | 24 | 8 | 34 | 3 | 322.3 | 15 |
2016 | Carson Palmer, Ariz. | 37 | 4233 | 26 | 14 | 38 | 0 | 321.5 | 16 |
2018 | Eli Manning, NYG | 37 | 4299 | 21 | 11 | 20 | 1 | 313.0 | 16 |
2019 | Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mia. | 37 | 3529 | 20 | 13 | 243 | 4 | 306.8 | 18 |
2011 | Matt Hasselbeck, Ten. | 36 | 3571 | 18 | 14 | 52 | 0 | 255.8 | 18 |
2020 | Philip Rivers, Ind. | 39 | 4169 | 24 | 11 | -8 | 0 | 305.6 | 20 |
2016 | Eli Manning, NYG | 35 | 4027 | 26 | 16 | -9 | 0 | 304.5 | 20 |
I'm not saying anyone should be excited about drafting Ryan, but I think he makes a lot of sense as a No. 2 and spot starter. No Julio Jones, but everyone seems to be pretty high on Calvin Ridley and Kyle Pitts, with Russell Gage also around. Ryan could have some good games in him this year.
--Andy Richardson