Fantasy Football 2017 Quarterback Rankings

Here are the fantasy football quarterback rankings for the 2017 NFL season. These rankings are based on team projections, which rely on history (how teams who have performed similarly have done a year later), the quarterback’s past production and trends, age, and adjustments for personnel changes/injuries.

[Note: these rankings have been updated on 8/23, heading into week 3 with quarterback battle and injury info.]

Aaron Rodgers holds down the top spot. If he stays healthy, he is the closest thing to a lock for 30+ TDs (he’s thrown for 31+ in 5 of the last 6 and missed 7 games in the other). Relative to some of the other top quarterbacks, he’s still closer to his prime. And he was ridiculous over the second half of last year after a slow start.

Tom Brady is the consensus #2 pick, but further down in my rankings. This is because of concerns over his age (you might have heard he turned 40). Brady looks to be on top of his game still, and the team has surrounded him with weapons. He should be productive if healthy. But we’ve seen plenty of top quarterbacks in their late 30’s look like MVP’s one year and then get hurt or drop off dramatically within a calendar year (Favre, Manning, Young). I don’t drop him too far but that’s why he is a tad below others in my rankings.

These rankings will be updated throughout the preseason. We await injury updates on some starters to know whether they will be ready to go (Luck, Flacco) and there are five situations where the starter is not solidified yet (HOU, DEN, CLE, CHI, NYJ). Here are the rankings:

#1 Aaron Rodgers, GB

#2 Matt Ryan, ATL

#3 Drew Brees, NO

#4 Russell Wilson, SEA

#5 Tom Brady, NE

#6 Cam Newton, CAR

#7 Jameis Winston, TB

#8 Marcus Mariota, TEN

#9 Ben Roethlisberger, PIT

#10 Andrew Luck, IND (dropped over risk of being out to start season recovering from shoulder surgery)

#11 Derek Carr, OAK

#12 Kirk Cousins, WAS