Four of the six quarterbacks selected in the first round of the draft last April have had impressive rookie seasons. Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix have had the most immediate success, while Caleb Williams and Drake Maye have shown flashes of maybe eventually developing into top-10 players at the position. But let’s not forget about the other two heralded first-year quarterbacks.
Neither Michael Penix nor J.J. McCarthy has started a game yet, but their time will come. Maybe sooner rather than later for Penix, and I expect McCarthy will be starting in Week 1 next year.
The Falcons have Kirk Cousins, but they wouldn’t have used the eighth pick of the draft on Penix unless they thought he might turn into something special. Now that he’s been practicing with them for almost five months, I imagine they’re probably getting closer to putting him on the field. Cousins was pretty dreadful on Sunday, throwing 4 ugly interceptions. His arm looked woefully weak on some of them.
With McCarthy, I like that he’s with the Vikings, with Kevin O’Connell having shown the ability to construct a quarterback-friendly offense. He’s shown that with Cousins, Sam Darnold and even Nick Mullens. But while Darnold has exceeded expectations, there’s also a ceiling to his game. I expect Minnesota will be looking to transition to McCarthy as its Week 1 starter next.
With those thoughts in mind, I’m thinking both McCarthy and Penix would be selected as second quarterbacks right now in a typical dynasty league draft – not starting right now, but look like guys who’ll develop into something. Both have good supporting casts (both players and coaches) around them.
My overall top 40 quarterbacks (for dynasty leagues) appears below. turn my attention to dynasty leagues every Saturday during the regular season, rotating between the four notable positions. Standard scoring for this one, and I’ve got rookies tagged with black dots.
To see previous installments, use the navigation tools on this page.
Last week: Wide receivers
Next week: Running backs
DYNASTY QUARTERBACKS | |||
---|---|---|---|
Rk | Tm | Player | Age |
1. | KC | Patrick Mahomes | 29.2 |
2. | CIN | Joe Burrow | 28.0 |
3. | BAL | Lamar Jackson | 27.9 |
4. | BUF | Josh Allen | 28.5 |
5. | WAS | • Jayden Daniels | 24.0 |
6. | PHI | Jalen Hurts | 26.3 |
7. | GB | Jordan Love | 26.1 |
8. | HOU | C.J. Stroud | 23.2 |
9. | CHI | • Caleb Williams | 23.1 |
10. | DEN | • Bo Nix | 24.8 |
11. | LAC | Justin Herbert | 26.7 |
12. | NE | • Drake Maye | 22.3 |
13. | TB | Baker Mayfield | 29.6 |
14. | SF | Brock Purdy | 24.9 |
15. | ARI | Kyler Murray | 27.3 |
16. | DET | Jared Goff | 30.1 |
17. | IND | Anthony Richardson | 22.5 |
18. | MIN | • J.J. McCarthy | 21.9 |
19. | JAC | Trevor Lawrence | 25.2 |
20. | DAL | Dak Prescott | 31.4 |
21. | ATL | • Michael Penix | 24.6 |
22. | SEA | Geno Smith | 34.2 |
23. | MIA | Tua Tagovailoa | 26.8 |
24. | LAR | Matthew Stafford | 36.8 |
25. | CAR | Bryce Young | 23.4 |
26. | ATL | Kirk Cousins | 36.3 |
27. | CLE | Jameis Winston | 30.9 |
28. | MIN | Sam Darnold | 27.5 |
29. | PIT | Russell Wilson | 36.0 |
30. | NO | Derek Carr | 33.7 |
31. | TEN | Will Levis | 25.4 |
32. | NYJ | Aaron Rodgers | 41.0 |
33. | LV | Aidan O'Connell | 26.3 |
34. | PIT | Justin Fields | 25.8 |
35. | JAC | Mac Jones | 26.3 |
36. | NO | • Spencer Rattler | 24.2 |
37. | CIN | Jake Browning | 28.7 |
38. | NYG | Drew Lock | 28.1 |
39. | SEA | Sam Howell | 24.2 |
40. | GB | Malik Willis | 25.5 |
—Ian Allan