I will be interested to see where Justin Fields and Anthony Richardson go in drafts. They’ve tended to struggle as passers, but they’ve excelled as runners, and sometimes that’s enough.
Typical fantasy leagues, of course, are tilted in favor of running quarterbacks, with a 20-yard run worth as much as a 40-yard pass. And 2 TD runs typically are worth the same as 3 TD passes. (Why we do this, I have no idea – but it’s how most leagues are run.)
Given those dynamics, it’s possible for a quarterback to finish with good numbers even if he’s not doing much as a passer. That would be the goal with Richardson or Fields. They’ll be lesser passers, but maybe they can run for 8-plus touchdowns, finishing with viable overall numbers.
In this arena, consider the following list of quarterbacks. It shows all quarterbacks in the 32-team era (since 2002) who finished with bottom-10 passing numbers but top-5 rushing numbers. We can then look at how those guys fared overall.
For all stats, I looked at per-game production. Each year there are about 32 quarterbacks who start at least half of their team’s games. We take all those quarterbacks for all those years, then parse out all of those who were both bottom-10 passers and top-5 runners, using traditional fantasy scoring.
There are 49 such quarterbacks (about 2 per year), and as a group, these guys didn’t have quite as much success as I expected. Only 11 averaged top-10 numbers. (Those guys are tagged with a single dot.)
There are almost twice as many (21) who ranked between 11th and 20th in overall per-game production.
More surprisingly (to me, anyway), there were 17 who finished outside the top 20 in per-game production – guys who were bottom-10 type quarterbacks. (I’ve got those guys flagged with double dots).
I am not a big fan of Fields or Richardson myself. (I have neither ranked among my top 20 at the position.)
STRUGGLING PASSERS WHO WERE GOOD RUNNERS | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Player | St | Pass | TDP | Run | TDR | Pts/G | Rk |
2017 | • Cam Newton | 16 | 206 | 1.38 | 47 | .38 | 22.9 | 4 |
2024 | • Jalen Hurts | 15 | 194 | 1.20 | 42 | .93 | 24.3 | 5 |
2022 | • Lamar Jackson | 12 | 187 | 1.42 | 64 | .25 | 23.0 | 5 |
2002 | • Michael Vick | 15 | 196 | 1.07 | 52 | .53 | 22.4 | 5 |
2022 | • Justin Fields | 15 | 149 | 1.13 | 76 | .53 | 23.0 | 6 |
2006 | • Michael Vick | 16 | 155 | 1.25 | 65 | .13 | 20.0 | 6 |
2005 | • Michael Vick | 15 | 161 | 1.00 | 40 | .40 | 18.6 | 7 |
2020 | • Lamar Jackson | 15 | 184 | 1.73 | 67 | .47 | 25.8 | 8 |
2023 | • Justin Fields | 13 | 197 | 1.23 | 51 | .31 | 21.7 | 9 |
2006 | • Vince Young | 13 | 159 | .85 | 41 | .54 | 18.8 | 9 |
2021 | • Jalen Hurts | 15 | 210 | 1.07 | 52 | .67 | 24.0 | 10 |
2011 | Tim Tebow | 11 | 150 | 1.00 | 57 | .45 | 20.3 | 12 |
2018 | Josh Allen | 11 | 182 | .91 | 55 | .73 | 22.8 | 13 |
2019 | Kyler Murray | 16 | 233 | 1.25 | 34 | .25 | 21.9 | 13 |
2016 | Colin Kaepernick | 11 | 204 | 1.45 | 43 | .18 | 21.5 | 13 |
2022 | Daniel Jones | 16 | 200 | .94 | 44 | .44 | 21.1 | 13 |
2015 | Tyrod Taylor | 14 | 217 | 1.43 | 41 | .29 | 22.5 | 14 |
2020 | Carson Wentz | 12 | 218 | 1.33 | 23 | .42 | 21.9 | 14 |
2019 | Josh Allen | 16 | 193 | 1.25 | 32 | .56 | 21.6 | 14 |
2016 | Cam Newton | 15 | 234 | 1.27 | 24 | .33 | 21.4 | 16 |
2004 | Michael Vick | 15 | 154 | .93 | 60 | .20 | 18.7 | 16 |
2016 | Dak Prescott | 16 | 229 | 1.44 | 18 | .38 | 21.2 | 17 |
2013 | Terrelle Pryor | 9 | 196 | .78 | 61 | .22 | 20.4 | 17 |
2017 | Brett Hundley | 9 | 204 | 1.00 | 30 | .22 | 18.8 | 17 |
2016 | Tyrod Taylor | 15 | 202 | 1.13 | 39 | .40 | 21.1 | 18 |
2021 | Sam Darnold | 11 | 212 | .82 | 19 | .45 | 18.5 | 18 |
2014 | Colin Kaepernick | 16 | 211 | 1.19 | 40 | .06 | 19.6 | 19 |
2024 | Anthony Richardson | 11 | 165 | .73 | 45 | .55 | 19.1 | 19 |
2023 | Joshua Dobbs | 12 | 192 | .92 | 30 | .42 | 19.1 | 19 |
2009 | Vince Young | 10 | 188 | 1.00 | 28 | .20 | 17.4 | 19 |
2006 | Charlie Frye | 13 | 189 | .77 | 17 | .23 | 15.6 | 20 |
2007 | Tarvaris Jackson | 12 | 159 | .75 | 22 | .25 | 15.0 | 20 |
2013 | •• Colin Kaepernick | 16 | 200 | 1.31 | 33 | .25 | 20.0 | 21 |
2017 | •• DeShone Kizer | 15 | 193 | .73 | 28 | .33 | 17.4 | 21 |
2020 | •• Cam Newton | 15 | 177 | .53 | 39 | .87 | 20.3 | 22 |
2007 | •• Vince Young | 15 | 170 | .60 | 26 | .20 | 14.7 | 22 |
2006 | •• David Garrard | 10 | 174 | 1.00 | 25 | .00 | 15.2 | 23 |
2015 | •• Alex Smith | 16 | 218 | 1.25 | 31 | .13 | 20.0 | 24 |
2004 | •• Jeff Garcia | 10 | 173 | 1.00 | 17 | .20 | 15.5 | 25 |
2007 | •• Kellen Clemens | 8 | 178 | .63 | 14 | .13 | 13.6 | 25 |
2013 | •• Geno Smith | 16 | 190 | .75 | 23 | .38 | 17.1 | 27 |
2014 | •• Blake Bortles | 13 | 207 | .69 | 30 | .00 | 16.2 | 27 |
2010 | •• Colt McCoy | 8 | 197 | .75 | 17 | .13 | 15.3 | 27 |
2009 | •• Ryan Fitzpatrick | 8 | 163 | 1.00 | 15 | .13 | 14.4 | 27 |
2015 | •• Colin Kaepernick | 8 | 202 | .75 | 32 | .13 | 17.3 | 28 |
2008 | •• Ryan Fitzpatrick | 12 | 159 | .67 | 25 | .17 | 14.1 | 28 |
2005 | •• David Carr | 16 | 156 | .88 | 19 | .06 | 13.7 | 28 |
2005 | •• J.P. Losman | 8 | 150 | .75 | 19 | .00 | 12.4 | 30 |
2013 | •• Christian Ponder | 9 | 142 | .56 | 17 | .44 | 13.7 | 32 |
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—Ian Allan