Lineup Fantasy Football Show - Top 12 Quarterbacks Rankings & Tiers 2026 Fantasy Football

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

We rank our Top 12 Quarterbacks for the 2026 Fantasy Football Season! Analysis and thoughts on the 2026 Fantasy Football season's biggest sleepers, breakouts, and busts for quarterbacks. 0:26 - Josh Allen 4:10 - Lamar Jackson 6:28 - Drake Maye 9:19 - Joe Burrow 11:13 - Jayden Daniels 14:10 - Jalen Hurts 17:20 - Justin Herbert 22:16 - Jaxson Dart 28:07 - Caleb Williams 31:29 - Patrick Mahomes 35:42 - Trevor Lawrence 38:06 - Dak Prescott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are ranking and tiering our top 12 quarterbacks for the 26 fantasy football season. Welcome into the lineup football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mellow. And before we jump into things, make sure to drop a like, hit that subscribe button and comment your own picks down below for quarterbacks. Let's jump in with a big, big shock at number one. Let's talk Josh Allen. I'll let you start. I know you are the king of the Josh Allen stats. Thank you. I appreciate that. I have to get my... rant here. Not that people need to be convinced to take Josh Allen as the first quarterback off the board. Change my mind. That's sort of common sense. But I feel like a broken record saying this. I've said it so many times

this offseason already and on this podcast. But I feel like I say it every year too. And it just falls upon death years. Josh Allen is the best bet you can make in fantasy football every single year. The last six years, he's been the quarterback one four times. The two years he wasn't, he was the quarterback two. And in those years, he was a sign. significant bump over anyone below him. He is truly the best lock in fantasy football to give you a tremendous positional advantage. To me, he is what Rob Dronkowski and Travis Kelsey

were in their primes at tight end for fantasy. That's a great comparison. Like, but where do we take them? Oh my God, we're taking Gronk at fourth overall? Yeah, like, I'm not saying we necessarily should be doing that for Josh Allen, but I'm kind of saying like, yeah, if you want to take him with your late first, do it. He gives you that much of a positional advantage.

I mean, look at last year, for example, like a lot of people in the late first were taking, I mean, I took freaking Justin Jefferson, I also took Derek Henry. And, you know, you're taking guys like Belique neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. And it's like, you're getting boat raised by the guy who took Josh out on a full like 15 picks after that.

And sure, in that range, guys were taking Pukukkah and Amunra St. Brown. but when you take a running back or receiver there's so many busts and sure you could hit big at a more important position in fantasy but you also could just get the safety of knowing Josh Allen is going to win you the position hell battle

every single week and feel so safe about it he's not only my number one quarterback I think he's the most undervalued player in fantasy every single year yeah it's very hard to argue against Josh Allen's also I think the guy that you can pick and guarantee yourself you're going to get that one

absolutely nuclear week. Yeah? I was on the wrong end of it this year, got absolutely wrecked, so that wasn't fun. But, man, I don't think there's much to say outside of the obvious,

which is that we look for dual threat quarterbacks. That's kind of the name of the game now in fantasy football. And he has been by far the most productive in the league from a fantasy perspective, and there's no reason systemically or like specifically with Josh Allen

why that would change in Buffalo. So this is like, full steam ahead. Alan, number one, I actually have to agree with you if you want to take him at the back end of your first round, early second round, just because you want to lock in that quarterback. Yeah, do it. I think in best ball this year, I'm going to be attacking the elite quarterbacks. Last year, I made my money going after those late guys.

I was big on Drake May. Unfortunately, I was also big on Justin Fields. So a lot of those lineups didn't go as well. But the Drake May stuff went well, I think this is the year that. everyone's going to be hunting for the Drake Mays, and maybe it's just Josh Allen right in front of your face. Yeah, I think that's a really good argument for a more holistic approach

for how you attack the quarterback position, which is something I agree with. Take Josh Allen as high as you think you'll need to to get them, and if you don't, maybe you do wait a little bit because I kind of view Josh Allen as a tier of his own at this point. I kind of want to just put him in the tier by himself. Well, let's put a little star. Let's animate a star on right now.

Because Josh Allen's like, these guys are in the S tier, but Josh Allen's in a league of zone. Yeah, definitely. Let's jump to our second quarterback in this tier, though. Number two for both of us, we're pretty aligned before we completely fork off in the back half. But that's Lamar Jackson. I am getting infamous for saying this about so many players, add it to the list with Brock Bowers and Bucky Irving. But I think Lamar Jackson is just one of those guys who wasn't healthy last year. And I don't.

I don't want people to panic or overreact. The pieces coming out about was Lamar Jackson ever really that talented? Listen to actual NFL players talk about Lamar Jackson. He is so incredibly not only talented, but his play style is so unique in something that the game of football has never seen before. I just think that last year he rushed himself back because it was a team that needed him and they were trying to get into the playoffs. and a full seat off season of rest and recovery, I think we're going to see Lamar Jackson like MVP caliber performance again. We're super aligned here.

I emotionally want to be anti-Limar Jackson because the league were both in. I got burned. I've drafted him twice in that league and they were both years. He missed significant time with injury. So it sucks. But I'm right back in because you're right. It was injuries. Even when he came back, he was not healthy.

If he can go into next year healthy, he's still only 29. mobility should still be there. It's not like he's like 34 years old and it's like, all right, well, his legs are going to be gone. No, he's still going to be the same Lamar. New offensive play caller, largely unproven and Declan Doyle, but he comes from the bears, from Ben Johnson. So hopefully he can bring some of that magic over with him, some of that offensive genius. I'm right back in on Lamar Jackson.

If you're worried about the injury, sure, I guess that's like maybe somewhat fair. But I'm really not all that concerned. and when he does stay healthy, he is, I talked about Josh Allen, like how safe of a bet he is. If it weren't for injuries throughout his career, Lamar Jackson would be the same thing, like such a lock to be a top three quarterback.

I mean, just two years ago, he was the quarterback one, even over Josh Allen. So he's easily the quarterback too for me. Yeah. No, I think we're completely on the same page. No debates. Let's move on to number three.

I'll make this the last, guy in tier one, just because I think there's like an obvious shift from this guy to the next. And that's Drake May, who is both of our favorite quarterbacks personally. But I think both of us feel that the QB2 price tag for Drake May is maybe a little high. Admittedly, the move from the easiest strength of schedule to sixth in 2026 scares me a little bit from the POV of what Drake's ceiling is statistically. I think the benefit for Drake May is he's got an incredible coaching staff and I think the downside is he's also got an incredible coaching staff that wants to win

and is going to do what they need to to win. And like, I don't know if that's going to be relying on Drake May to make every single play. What I will say, though, is he did go from quarterback 15 ADP last year to the quarterback to finish. And so he's done it before. He could do it again. but I think that the price for me, I would rather hit on Josh Allen

or wait to try to hit and do the Drake May thing from last year not just kind of buy him at his ceiling of QB2. My heart hurts, but I agree with it. Like, yeah, he's my hair player in the NFL. And he was, emotion aside, he was my favorite player to draft last year. At his quarterback 15 price tag, I was all over him.

I love the ceiling, those year two mobile quarterbacks. Those are the guys I target late in drafts. he was my fantasy darling last year. But yeah, this year, I can't, I can't do it. Like you mentioned right now he's getting ranked ahead of Lamar. I personally don't love that. I can't see that. I personally like the upside of Lamar Moore.

And it's not a knock on Drake May at all. I think he's actually being overhated for how poor his performance was in the playoffs. I still think he's going to be great. There's no true major weaknesses to his game. He's mobile. He's just a phenomenal power. the downfield ball, so exciting. I just, like right now he's getting drafted closer to Josh Allen

than pretty much any of the guys below him. And that to me feels wrong because we've seen it every year with Josh Allen. We know the safety of Josh Allen. I hate to keep talking up Josh Allen and like inflating these bills fans' egos, especially when I talk about putting Drake May down. I take Drake May or Josh Allen in real life as a biased Patriots fan. But in fantasy, Drake May isn't the same. level of safe bet. And I think right now, because of how good he was last year, we're pumping

them up so high that I'm probably just, if I'm not getting like Josh Allen in the second round, I'm probably just waiting and not spending super high draft capital on Drake May. Yeah, I'm with you. I think I'm probably going to be enjoying Drake May as a Patriots fan a whole lot more than I'm enjoying him as a fantasy quarterback next year. Yeah, agreed, absolutely. Let's jump into a guy in our next tier that everyone was. super thrilled with last season. And that's Joe Burrow. I had him at number four.

You had him at number five. We actually tied because we flip-flopped at the next guy. But let's talk Joe first because he is fantasy pros consensus number four. Joe Burrow's back. I'm really excited. We talked about this last episode with Jamar Chase. The situation's pretty identical to how it was going into last season. So like doesn't it kind of make sense that we just draft him around where we were drafting him last year?

Since he returned in week 13, he was the QB3 in points per game. And as someone who had a Bengals double stack and redraft last year and got burned, I don't know if I can do the all my eggs in one basket thing again, but in underdog, you can bet your bottom dollar. I'm going to be having a whole lot of Cincinnati Bengals stacks. Yeah, he's the exception to the rule for me. The rule being draft mobile quarterbacks. I usually in fantasy give me a guy who runs.

It's actually a really big floor raiser. Yeah, the floor is so much safer with mobile quarterbacks, but it also elevates the ceiling as well because you get those rushing touchdowns and those plays in the red zone. Joe Burrow is the exception to the rule, and it's because even though the rushing isn't there, quite literally everything else is.

Like literally everything. He is an elite, elite, elite passer in an offense with elite elite elite elite weapons with the worst defense imaginable. That is such a recipe for fantasy success. So I do have in one spot lower mostly because of the lack of mobility But I wouldn't blame me for making him

The fourth quarterback off the board He is the fifth highest yards per passing game of all time Like that's that's crazy Yeah That's the kind of player we're talking about here I we're both super bullish on Jamar Chase Which we've talked about So it makes sense that we're bullish on his quarterback as well

100% Let's jump to the guy That you have at number four I have at number five and that's Jaden Daniels. I'll let you go because you have him higher. Yeah, I have him one spot higher because of the mobility that we talked about. Joe Burrow doesn't have.

And you've talked about it with a lot of players, like with Brock Bowers and with Bucky Irving, throughout the tape. That's how I feel about Jaden Daniels sophomore year. He was so injured, missed so much time. It kind of felt like they were rushing him back to try to salvage the season multiple times throughout the season when they really shouldn't have. And he didn't look good when he came back. It's almost like Lamar, who we've already talked about, playing hurt.

I know I was kind of like, this is paralleling Lamar a lot. Yeah, it really is paralleling Lamar a lot. And his play style parallels Lamar a lot, and that's why I like it. He's super mobile. He's a good pass or two. I want to throw it last year, going into next year, if he can be healthy. I think the commanders will have a bounce back kind of season, especially Jaden Daniels.

I think Terry McLaurin was hurt too. We saw the report they had, how good Terry was for them a couple years ago. That could help. And I think, like a lot of players we've talked about too, he burned someone in your league last year because he was getting drafted so high. And whoever drafted him is not going to be drafting him again in a likelihood. That's a pretty substantial dip. Like he's still getting drafted as the fourth or fifth quarterback off the board,

but it's later than last year. So that's something I'd like to buy. Yeah, I think he to me is the quarterback that matches the Josh Allen and Lamar archetype without having to pay that price tag. Although I will say this, and we talked about this earlier, like, this is kind of the range of quarterback I'm trying to avoid. I don't know if I want to be going after these like middle of the pack QBs, but it's a quarterback five price tag for a guy that could potentially be the quarterback one. and this feels blasphemic to say out loud. But there is a little part of me that kind of likes him more than Drake May

for fantasy next year. A little part of me that's caught up in the rookie year. I hate you for saying that because how dare you disrespect Drake May like that? But I agree. Yeah. I mean, there's a reason we took Jade and Daniels

so much higher last year. Not that saying we should again this year. Got in my head right now I'm taking Drake May in fantasy. For sure. But the value of Jaden Daniels multiple rounds later, that's pretty enticing. If we're talking value straight up, I don't even think it's close. I would way rather have Jaden Daniels.

Yes. I'm thinking if ADP didn't exist and we're back in the days where all you're learning about fantasy from is a magazine at CVS, they're closer for me than I would like to admit. I think that's completely fair. Sadly, but it is fair. Let's jump to a guy who I love his floor, but I'm much less excited about his upside. That's Jalen Hertz. We talked about it.

The tush push potentially being banned, I think, is like a bigger deal than people realize because of how many rushing touchdown. Like six points is a lot. And when you like extrapolate that out into like what five or six touchdowns, like that's 30 to 40 points that he could be potentially losing in a season. Plus, you know, whatever. I know it's only two yards at a time. those are yards that are going to Sequin in like between the 20s.

And so I'm not like super bearish on him, but he's like absolutely a guy that this range just doesn't excite me to pick him. But he does have the floor because they're rushing. Yeah, we're kind of in that mucky mid-quarterback tier that I probably won't be drafting a lot of guys from, including Jalen Hertz, maybe if he falls in draft. But yeah, the tush push. He was a tush-push merchant, not anymore.

Something else that scares me. I don't know what these weapons are going to look like. AJ Brown likely traded. Dallas Goddard likely leaving in free agency. That's a little bit concerning. If there is a glimmer of hope, though, the offensive play calling, which we have trashed about on this show,

I think everyone, everywhere has trashed on, is going to get better. It cannot be worse than it was last year. So the offense as a whole should hopefully take a step forward. Yeah, I agree. And Hertz was a guy I was really excited about last year, and that's kind of why this, like,

pains me to do. But you make a great point there. Like in so many ways we don't even know what this offense is going to look like. And like, hopefully this offense has to be better without Petula. But that doesn't mean it's going to be like back to 2024. No. And I wouldn't expect it to be probably somewhere in between. To give Jalen Hurst just a little bit of credit though, because we talked about like how disappointing he was last year and, you know, push-murchant. He was the quarterback eight last year. Disappointing compared to the draft capital. last year, but that's respectable. So if we're expecting this offense to be a little bit better,

I think a quarterback six price tag is fair. I think it's, yeah, and that's a great way of putting it. I think it's fair, but it's also not a button I'm going to click a lot. No, I, yeah, I do agree with that. Does Jalen Hertz picking him as your quarterback make you feel like that's going to help you win a championship? And I don't think so, because you can make the argument with the later quarterbacks that, like, the opportunity costs that allow.

you would get another wide receiver or a higher end, tight end, or a running back. Jalen Hertz just falls in that range of like, I'm still paying a decent price tag for a guy that doesn't have, like, to me, top two quarterback potential. Like, why am I doing it? Yeah, and that's my draft philosophy as well. It's not even necessarily a negative reflection on Hertz versus some of the other quarterbacks around him. It's just, yeah, I would rather wait and get a much cheaper quarterback that I think

has a similar ceiling, even if a lower floor, and instead spend those middle round picks on receiver, running back depth or something like that. For sure. Let's move on. I think this is a tear break right here for us, from number six into number seven. You had about seven.

I had them at nine, so I'll let you start first on Justin Herbert. Yeah, I didn't leave last season, like, feeling great about Justin Herbert's 2026 fantasy outlook. But the more I thought about it, the more I dug in to the numbers, did some research, I kind of realized I'm all on Justin Herbert next year. I mentioned I don't like these middle round quarterbacks.

Justin Herbert is someone I could see me drafting a lot of, if he actually goes where I think he'll end up going, which is probably around where you have him, like the quarterback nine. 2021, Justin Herbert was the quarterback too. Do you remember that? I feel like nobody remembers that. I saw you write that in the dock, and I remembered it once you said it,

but that certainly was not in my brain before. By the way, just for reference, he is the QB8. So you're a little higher, I'm a little lower. Yeah, and I think that's probably relatively fair, but there was a time we were talking about him as an elite, elite asset. He was the quarterback two in 2021.

We were drafting him as the quarterback two or three that next year. I remember in a Dynasty League I'm in that offseason, he got traded straight up for the second overall pick in a Dynasty League. like people were so in on Justin Herbert and we still respect him a lot as a quarterback in real life, but in fantasy, I feel like that perception has gone down. Like we're much more bearish on him.

Yeah, he's if man. He still doesn't want to playoff game. We clown on him for all that. And last year, sure wasn't the greatest thing ever. But he was still last season, the quarterback 10 with freaking Dingle McRingleberry and DeVoines shower handle at offensive tackle. like literally the Key and Peel skit, you might as well put me out there.

Like, I would have had a better chance of protecting Justin Herbert than the guys they were throwing out there. And he still made it work. They still made the playoffs. He still was the quarterback 10. And it's not just like, oh, well, it should get better

because it can't get worse. No, it will get significantly better. If for Sean Slater and Joe Alt come back healthy, which they should, you go from the worst offensive tackles in the league to literally two elite offensive tackles, like premier offensive tackles. That is a significant.

They're going to jump from like 30 second in pass protection to like top three. So I feel really good about that. And I feel good about the Russian too. Like sometimes I feel like we don't think of Justin Herbert as an elite running quarterback. He's done it in his whole career. Last year he had the second most Russian yards of all quarterbacks. Like literally the second most. 498.

498 second most among all quarterbacks. And to top it off, and this is something I really like, bye bye Greg. Roman, hello Mike McDaniel. This offense is going to be humming. Mike McDaniel's going to get this offense going. I mean, he made it work with Tua. He's going to make it work with Justin Herbert, who ironically, the dolphin should have drafted over Tua. So he's going to be a guy. I end up targeting a ton. I think in drafts, especially if he falls a little bit. I'll really like the value. I'm not saying he'll be the quarterback too like he was in 2021, but I think his ceiling is up there. Yeah, I think I get it. I think.

think I'm just a little bit lower than you. Honestly, this whole argument just made Amarian Hampton fly up my rankings. So thank you. No, but I completely understand the argument. I think it goes back to kind of what I was saying with Jalen Hertz. And I mean, I guess you just busted my myth there with like he did end up as the QB2 once in his career. So it is in the realm of possibilities.

But it's not really a bet I'm like excited to make. So I think I don't have. a ton of strong opinions on Justin Herbert. I can see it, but I'm probably not making the bet a lot. One thing that is appealing to me, though, is if you do feel like you can like zero in on who those guys are going to be that he's going to be targeting, stacking partners are not going to be that expensive. So if you're feeling really good about Justin Herbert in the best ball season, like, load up some Ladd McConkey and Gadsden and Herbert stacks. And like, it's going to be pretty cheap. It can probably be like your secondary stack. I love that.

quick shout out to Quentin Johnson. This doesn't feel real. And QJ, sorry, that was disrespectful. QJ has outperformed his ADP every year. I know that sounds crazy. I know that doesn't feel like even possible because he seems like such a freaking bust and he is kind of a bust in real life.

He outperforms his ADP every year. Sacking him with Herbert is a winning strategy in my book. I was about to call him Amin Ra Light and then I remembered Amin Ra had 10 drops last year. They were literally separated up birth. He'd be down. Except Quentin Johnson instead of the wire receiver 3 every year. it's like the wire super 30.

But he has like two really sick games. Yeah. And you're like, no, I'm actually all in. I'm all in. You know what? I'm back.

Justin Herbert. Move him up to number seven. Hell yeah. Just so I can get some QJ's stacks. All right. You had your guy you were so excited to talk about. I'm so excited to talk about number eight, Jackson Dart,

seven on my list, 10 on yours, which I was surprised by. He was the guy you brought to the table in one of our first episodes. Yeah. He is my favorite. I missed the elites pick. I missed the

Lamar, Josh Allen, if you want to get Burrow and May in there, sure, but like I miss those big guys who I want to go grab later, and it's Jackson Dart. We already talked about Malik Neighbors being such an exciting wide receiver pick. You can pair those two up.

Justin Herbert was second in rushing for quarterbacks, but Dart was third in only 14 games. At a quarterback seven price tag, though, I will say he's not like the best kept secret. Like I feel like last year, people were super excited about, you know, some of these, like, later guys. Like, we talk about Drake May at quarterback 15. But from week four on, when Dart first started, he scored the eighth most points per game

at quarterback. And that included, I don't know if you remember, week 16 against Minnesota, was like a disaster. And he completely imploded. He had, like, less than a point, right? Yeah. So you keep that game in there, and he was still eighth in points per game. So I think it's one of the most appealing, really fun, high upside stacks you can get. and maybe if you're not feeling as risky,

this is more of a best ball play. So that's like if it fails, whatever. But Neighbors and Dart and Wondale ends up there. Like, neighbors is going to be expensive. None of these guys, other guys will be. And I think they have a very legitimate chance of being like a productive offense this year. It is in the realm of possibilities.

Absolutely. I hear you. I talked, you actually mentioned on a previous episode. I kind of talked up Jackson Dart as someone to keep your eye on because these second-year mobile quarterbacks, rookies who had over 400 rushing yards, always outperform their ADP in year two.

So Jackson Dart is someone I thought I'd be all over, but then you also mentioned that price tag. I know. That is what scares me. I think it's a fair shot to take at quarterback 10, which is where I have him. Quarterback 7, all of a sudden I'm like, are we doing the second-year receiver thing again now with mobile,

second-year mobile quarterbacks? It's not bad take. There's a long time we were taking these second year receivers too low, then we pushed them up too high. I'm a little worried, and if I may, I have quite the rank on Jackson Dart here. And I think what this boils down to is we are taking him closer to his ceiling that is floor by far.

Because you look at someone like Drake May went as the quarterback 15, and you think Jackson Dart could be the same thing. but now we're taking him at quarterback seven, eight spots higher than we were taking Drake May last year. And it's like, what if he isn't Drake May? What if he's Anthony Richardson? First of all, how dare you?

I know, how dare? That sounds blasphemous. And I will preface this by saying, I don't think he's Anthony Richardson. I think he's much better player than Anthony Richardson. But let's rewind here for a bit to 2023. Anthony Richardson was a second year quarterback. he was, or I'm sorry, he was a rookie in 2023.

In 2024, he was going into his second year. He was a first round NFL draft pick who flashed incredible athleticism and incredible upside in a limited rookie year where he took a lot of hits, generated some mild injury concern, but we overlooked it. We love the upside. We love the mobility. And in 2024, Anthony Richardson was getting drafted as the fifth quarterback off the board, which was really his ceiling, especially in hindsight.

We were taking an unproven guy at his ceiling. And we didn't consider the floor, which obviously ended up being super low for Anthony Richardson. Again, I don't think Jackson Dart will be that same thing where the floor is super low. But don't we have to at least consider that and bake that into the ADP a little bit? It feels like taking a guy who,

I know the points per game last year were good, and I know the mobility's good. We still just don't know. The full breakout has not happened. So to take him at quarterback seven where you are making a bet that he is going to be my guy, it is going to work,

and I'm taking him over other good, talented receivers or running backs or tight ends, that's what I don't like. If you can take him as the 11th quarterback off the board and not have to rely on that to hit and take another safe pocket passer to pair with him, I like it. But right now it's a little too high.

Yeah, I think that's completely fair. That what makes him so exciting is also it makes him so risky, which is all the unknown and the small sample size. And hopefully it's not an Anthony Richardson situation, but I think more realistically is what if he's just not what Drake May did?

And what if he is just like the quarterback 14? Yes. And you feel like you burned a pick. For me, even at 7, that feels worth it. Because, I don't know, at least in redraft, like, after I get outside of those first like five quarterbacks, I'm not feeling all that confident that this guy that I picked is going to be my QB in week 14. So I think I'm more willing to take that risk at 7 because the upside is higher than a lot of these guys.

But it's also fair to say that you probably shouldn't be drafting him being like, hell yeah, I just got the guy that's going to be the next Drake Bay. Yeah. And it's a fine shot to take because the upside is there. And I will not deny that. There is so much upside here. I fully understand that. and can see why people would want to take the shot.

For me, it's just the price is a little too high to take that risk. Yeah. All right, let's move on to number nine. I don't like talking about this because as I was taking notes, I think I convinced myself that I have him too low. That's the Iceman, Caleb Williams.

You had him at nine. I had him at 11. I was also making a social video last week, and it was like best plays of the season or whatever. And I was like, man, Caleb Williams has been a part of like, maybe like four of the best 10 plays of the 2025 season. Like, he's like so electric. And I think he's right there with Dart as like the guy that I maybe want to be grabbing as my I miss the elites guy. We were getting comments on that video, like, obvious bears fans.

Like, no, I know. I was like, you should have seen our content from the past month, pal. It's been all patriots. But you're right, he's electric. He's the ice man. He's the ice man. What I will say too, though, is the receiving group makes me, like, maybe a little bit nervous, which I'm as high as you can get on Colson Loveland.

But the receiver is, like, I left uninspired at the end of the year. I had high hopes for Roma Dunesay. I just never saw the breakout the way I wanted it to be. I think I'm just, at this point in his career, I'm never going to, like, get out of bed and get excited for DJ Moore. And so I think that's like maybe my hesitancy, as well as Ben Johnson being a guy who loves to establish the run and like the possibility on any game that you could have like a seven point performance from Caleb. But if you look at the whole season as the sample size and like this is best ball speak, but like he's going to give you better than a QB9 performance next year, I think. I think so too.

He's someone else I'm starting to really talk myself into. those concerns you have are super legitimate, like the receiving weapons, and Ben Johnson likes to run the ball. But those were all there last year, and he was the quarterback six. He was the quarterback six in 2025. And I think we saw a huge leap with Ben Johnson

and just one year of them together. Imagine two years under Ben Johnson. Yeah. Caleb was considered a generational prospect. I mean, the arm talent is incredible. It's super inconsistent. He has major accuracy and issues. But yes, it's getting better. He's working on it. And he can make throws that maybe only one or two other guys in the entire world can make. So elite talent, he can run the ball too. He had 388 yards and three touchdowns on the ground last year. I think there is a lot of upside there, especially season long like you mentioned. It may not come week to week. But, He's someone else I think I could see myself drafting a lot of, you know, as, you know, the 10th, 11th quarterback off the board and feeling pretty good about it. He's valued a QB12 right now.

I think that shifts. I have a really hard time imagining that he's still getting drafted as the QB12 come like August. But for the rest of you sickos, they're going to be drafting best ball teams in like April. Like, dig in. Let's go. Let's get that Caleb Williams exposure up. Yeah. Well, I think we're both on the same page there.

Absolutely. I'm trying to be freezing all summer long with the ice man. All right, let's move on. Number 10, this is our biggest discrepancy, I think, on any of these episodes. I actually ended up moving him up a spot because I was like, Jesus, maybe I was a little too harsh. Patrick Mahomes, number eight for you, number 12 for me. You had a note in the dock that you wanted to hear my argument, so I'll start. I would not be shocked if Mahomes rushes himself back and he is just simply not ready at the beginning.

of the season. And here's why I think that's such an issue. We've been talking so much from best ball, but like let's talk redraft. Although he's not known for being like a rushing QB, he is. A lot of his points last year came from his rushing ability and part of that was like the weapons just weren't there. But also like his mobility in the pocket is another huge part of extending plays and like making something out of nothing. And like that's kind of the Mahomes magic. And my worry is you draft Patrick Mahomes here at what like the QB8 and all a sudden by like week four you've gotten nothing and it's all duds and you're trading mahomes away for whatever the name value will get you where i think you have a better shot at some of these other

guys of like seeing if they can pop off and i honestly think you could go and try to grab mahomes from the disappointed manager in like week four or five and of course patrick mahomes if there's anybody in the league who has the access to the resources that would allow him to be healthy by week one it's probably in the homes. But I think I have Jaden Daniels in my head. I think I have Lamar Jackson in my head. And these guys are like, yeah, yeah, I'm good. Let me get back out there. And they don't look anything like themselves. So I had him at 13 and I moved him up one because I was like, that's a little crazy for him to be Patrick Mahomes and be outside of the top 12. But he's just, he's right at the end for me. I think your one major concern is the one concern I have as well,

which is how healthy will he be with that torn ACL? I feel a little bit better about it than you, I think. He's got a full off season to heal from it. He's obviously super motivated. Hopefully that doesn't bite him in the ass because he rushes himself back too quickly. But I think he'll be good to go for week one. And I think he'll be feeling like himself,

hopefully within the first month or two of this season. But overall, I think there's a lot of promise there. The one thing I looked at that kind of blew my mind, but made me feel really good, is despite how much the Chiefs struggled last year, and they were outside of the playoff picture, like literally the whole year, and the offense seemed broken. Patrick Mahomes was the quarterback two overall through week 15. Weeks one through 15. That is pretty nuts. I'll admit that's pretty nuts. He was the quarterback two. Didn't feel like it, but he was.

So that makes me feel a lot better. He does have good mobility. It has been part of his game, like you mentioned, just moving around in the pocket. He was actually fifth and rushing last season among quarterbacks. That's something I do see dropping because potentially the ACL. But hopefully he can still move around a little bit, get some rushing yards, rushing touchdowns.

And another thing, and I know you may not be super aligned with me here. But he's got Rishi for a full season. He didn't have Rishie the first half of last year. and you know I love Rishi right. Rishi is the key to this whole offense, I think. I mean, obviously, Patrick Bohms is the real key, but in terms of a weapon, it's Rishi. So I think that all helps Patrick Mahomes.

I think if he's good to go, I'm not like super hot and bothered, excited to hit that button as like the eighth quarterback off the board, but I think it's a fair price to pay. One of us is going to get, if we're feeling the same way in August, one of us is going to get burned so bad by the chiefs. Either you're going to go all in

in and they're going to be like awful, and you get burned, or I'm going to be completely out, and every team is losing because I didn't have a piece of the chief's offense. You know, we call that an emotional hedge. As a non-Chiefs fan, which means I hate the Chiefs, similar to how non-Patriots fans hate the Patriots. If they miss the playoffs, I take joy in that, but if they make it, I at least want my fantasy teams to have success because of it.

Meanwhile, I have all my chips on the table. I'm either happy or I'm so pissed off. Dangerous game to play. All right, let's move on to number 11. Talked about him earlier this offseason. Number 10 for me, number 11 for Mello, Trevor Lawrence. I'm buying in hard here. There's no shot he replicates the rushing upside and touchdowns from last season,

but I don't think he necessarily has to at what you're paying for him. I think he's going to have another great season with Liam Cohen. QB9 price tag, but the QB4 last year. And from week 10 on was the QB1. I believe, and hopefully I don't butcher this stat, that in the fantasy playoffs, it was the most points ever scored in the modern era. We just got the news.

Travis Hunter is supposed to be playing full-time corner, part-time wide receiver. I'm interested what that means for Brian Thomas Jr. Not that I'm going after Brian Thomas Jr., trust me, but like it's not like it's a bad thing for Trevor Lawrence to have him as a piece. And then obviously I've been very vocal about, Parker Washington and how excited I am for him.

Yeah, I'm kind of lukewarm on Lawrence. Like, I think it's fine where he's going. I have him just one spot lower than you. So I think he is a relatively safe pick with a good ceiling. You're right. I don't think the nine rushing touchdowns can happen again. Yeah. That was just an absurd amount of rushing touchdowns.

He was 10th in rushing yards among quarterbacks last year and still had nine rushing yards, which is truly crazy. Admittedly, part of that is because they decided to just start using him like Josh Allen in the red zone where it's like any side, anytime they're inside Dubai, if it's a Trevor Lawrence run.

There still is touching upside. I don't, I'm not fully convinced. Part of me has like that 2023 season still in my head where 2022, the back half of the year, he was incredible. That was his second year in the league. It seemed like a breakout.

He was getting drafted super high in fantasy in 2023. And then he just sucked. And it's like, what if that happens again? I'm not too worried. Liam Cohen, I trust. The price tag isn't out of hand going into 2026. So I think it's a fine pick to make. I just, I'm kind of lukewarm.

I think that's fair. And that's kind of what's going to happen at this range. We're getting out of where you might be taking like a quarterback one. Like if you're in a 10-team league and even if you're in a 12, like at this point, you might wait if you want, you know, it's just a weird range of quarterback. So let's move on to our last guy, number 12, maybe the epitome of the weird range of quarterbacks. Mr. Dak Prescott, I haven't met 13, you haven't met 15.

So much of this, like Bengals Light, you know, good quarterback, great weapons, awful defense, exactly what you want. He was quietly the quarterback five last year. He was originally the one I had over Mahomes, but Dak Prescott over Patrick Mahomes on any list just felt so disrespect. So if you have great offensive weapons and dog shit defenses, Dak Prescott is your man. Yeah, he's, I mean, those two teams you talk about, like,

the Bengals and the Cowboys, those are the only two true pocket passers on our list. And it's because of exactly what you mentioned. It's, they're good passers with great receivers and horrible defenses. It's just a great formula. I have him at 15, so I have him lower. That is fully baking in, me thinking George Biggins won't be there. If George Pickens is there, Dak Prescott moves up,

without a question for me. Who do you... Who would you put here? Who would we put here if George Pickens goes? Because I'd probably move him down too. This is probably where we start talking like Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford type of guys. How about Matt Stafford?

You mentioned Dak was sneaky quarterback five. Stafford was the quarterback three last year and we had on outside of our top 12. And none of us like care? It was... So I saw that and when we were working on our lists, I had Stafford in at like quarterback nine originally. Because I was just like, I just think this is where he's going to be.

And then I just kept looking at guys and being like, I think I want to move him above and above and above. And all of a sudden, like, Stafford had been pushed down and like the quarterback 15. But like, oh my God, honorable mention, you could be getting another crazy value with Matthew Stafford. The problem is he runs less than any quarterback in the league, obviously. Yeah, that's big.

And it's just hard to bet on guys repeat. passing touchdowns. It's like the least sticky stat. Like Baker Mayfield was the perfect example in 2025 where he led the league the prior year. Especially when the Rams threw it from the one yard line, like every freaking play. It was like a fade to the font. That's a great point. That's not going to happen again. He's not going to have that many touchdowns. You're not going to make up for it on the ground. So it's, I mean, Stafford's been in the league forever. Do we actually think he got significantly better in 2025? Or was it just the touchdowns came and the offense was clicking and, and, he'll still be good.

You can still take him. I actually like, what I would do personally is if you take, if you punt on quarterback and you wait on a guy like Dak Prescott or Matt Stafford, pair him with like your last round pick, a guy who's otherwise going on drafted, who's mobile and at least has more upside, like a Malik Willis if he's starting somewhere next year or a Kyler Murray if he gets traded.

Like, you can cut him out for two weeks. I've talked about Kyler Murray already. Yeah. Like, and they're dirt cheap. I wouldn't want to take Camry. him and only him, like a Kyler or Malik, and only them or another risky quarterback, I would like to pair them with like a Stafford or a DAC,

so you have a really good safety net. Yeah, a couple of guys that you can grab. In your redraft, these guys are 1,000% undrafted, Baker Mayfield, Daniel Jones is probably not going to be healthy. Sam Darnold, let's see where Kyler Murray ends up, but in best ball, like, you can also grab these guys for dirt cheap, last pick.

type of thing. That's what I love to do. That's what I typically do. Baker would be not. No. Yeah. But I mean, Baker, good example of these pocket passers like being hard to predicts. Because last year we were taking him what is like the quarterback six? Yeah, I want to say he was the quarterback six.

And I would like to say he was probably the fantasy community's biggest, like, don't pick him there. And they were right. Sometimes group think works. Yeah, 100%. On that note, that is it for our top 12. quarterbacks. If you enjoyed the video, drop a like and hit that subscribe button and comment some of your opinions on our picks. And then next episode, we'll be hitting our top 12 tight ends. Mello, we miss anything?

I think we got it all, brother. All right. We'll catch you guys next time.