What should we make of the state of quarterback after Week 1 of the Fantasy Football season? Well, for one thing, any concerns about QB production slowing down after a historic 2020 may have been overblown: The top three quarterbacks topped 39 points in six-point-per-pass-TD scoring, nine topped 30, and 13 had at least 25. That’s pretty incredible stuff.
And that didn’t include consensus top options like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, or Aaron Rodgers, all of whom finished 20th or worse at the position. I’m not overreacting to those results in my Week 2 rankings, which you can see below, along with my thoughts on a handful of players as I was compiling the rankings.
These will be updated throughout the week, with notes being added for more players, so keep this bookmarked, and check out my running back, wide receiver, and tight end rankings as well.
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Week 2 QB Rankings
- Patrick Mahomes vs. Ravens
- Russell Wilson vs. Titans — The Seahawks offense didn’t look much different in Week 1, by which I mean Wilson still looked like one of the best QB in Fantasy. Expectations should be very high against this Titans defense.
- Josh Allen vs. Dolphins — It was just one bad game against a very, very good Steelers defense. Allen should fare much better against the Dolphins, but if he doesn’t … well, the skeptics are going to come back out.
- Lamar Jackson vs. Chiefs
- Tom Brady vs. Falcons
- Kyler Murray vs. Vikings — His upside is comparable to anyone’s especially if he’s throwing it like he was last week. The Vikings may not be quite as good a matchup as the Titans were, but they had their own trouble slowing down the pass last week.
- Dak Prescott vs. Chargers
- Aaron Rodgers vs. Lions — Rodgers just looked bad in Week 1. There’s no way around it. There also isn’t much to say — his track record is long enough that you can easily dismiss one bad game against a tough matchup. Now, if he struggles against Detroit … maybe you start to hover over the panic button.
- Jalen Hurts vs. 49ers — This is going to be a much tougher test of the gains Hurts and the Eagles offense have made since last season, though the 49ers are dealing with injuries in the secondary, so I’m still willing to trust Hurts.
- Justin Herbert vs. Cowboys — Herbert played better than his line in Week 1, and this one has the potential to become a shootout, so I like his chances this week. Especially with how good Keenan Allen and Mike Williams looked in this offense.
- Matthew Stafford vs. Colts — Stafford looked about as good as we could have possibly hoped in his Rams debut, solidifying him as a top-12 QB moving forward.
- Ryan Tannehill vs. Seahawks — Hopefully the Titans can protect Tannehill a little better than they did in Week 1, because Chandler Jones was living in the backfield. The offense just didn’t look right, but with a new coordinator and so much turnover among the receiving options, it’s not totally surprising. Let’s hope they figure things out this week.
- Kirk Cousins vs. Cardinals — One thing to note about the rankings is, the gap between, say, 13 and 21 is pretty slim. We’re talking about maybe a difference of a few points in mean expectations.
- Joe Burrow vs. Bears — Burrow was holding his shoulder after taking a hit in the second half of Sunday’s game and the Bengals really didn’t ask him to throw the ball much in the fourth quarter or overtime, so hopefully that’s nothing to be concerned about.
- Derek Carr vs. Steelers
- Jameis Winston vs. Panthers — Well, I certainly didn’t expect a five-touchdown game from Winston, especially on only 21 attempts. I think he can continue to be quite efficient in this offense, but I remain somewhat skeptical for Fantasy purposes until I see them lean on him more as a passer.
- Tua Tagovailoa vs. Bills
- Taylor Heinicke vs. Giants — Heinicke actually isn’t a total nothing for Fantasy thanks to his rushing ability, and he should be added in all two-QB or SuperFlex leagues. But that’s probably it.
- Baker Mayfield vs. Texans
- Tyrod Taylor vs. Browns
- Teddy Bridgewater vs. Jaguars
- Matt Ryan vs. Bucs — I had Ryan as a top-12 QB last week, and that sure didn’t work out. I have faith this offense will figure it out, but Ryan really struggled without Julio Jones last season, and I can’t say that isn’t a concern until he proves it shouldn’t be.
- Mac Jones vs. Jets
- Sam Darnold vs. Saints — Darnold did look better in his first game with the Panthers, but he’ll get a much tougher test against the Saints. Skepticism is still very much warranted.
- Jimmy Garoppolo vs. Eagles
- Andy Dalton vs. Bengals
- Trevor Lawrence vs. Broncos
- Carson Wentz vs. Rams
- Jared Goff vs. Packers
- Ben Roethlisberger vs. Raiders — Roethlisberger looked about the same as he did in 2020 — which is to say, not very good. It was all short stuff, with only one pass attempt traveling 20-plus yards downfield. Maybe they’ll open things up against an easier matchup, but I can’t view Roethlisberger as a starting option right now.
- Zach Wilson vs. Patriots– I like what I saw from Wilson in his NFL debut, but he was running for his life for most of the game. There’s a promising future here, but it’s going to be tough to stand out without much help.
- Daniel Jones vs. Washington
So who should you start and sit this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 2 rankings for every position, plus see which QB is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that has out-performed experts big-time.
