Quarterback Comments

Other players that could make a fantasy impact this season including Tarvaris Jackson, Jason Campbell, Daunte Culpepper, Byron Leftwich, Derek Anderson, Kellen Clemens, Jeff Garcia, and Chris Simms. Those players have a chance at extended playing time if they can win a QB competition or could benefit because of injury.

Player Rankings are compiled by Barracuda Sports and given to you as an approximate representation of how we feel these players will finish the season in fantasy points scored. We adjust our rankings throughout the pre-season and encourage viewers to check for regular updates. Several factors including perceived injury risk and perceived improvements to team schedule, playing time, or player opportunity influence our rankings. Feel free to comment or post any questions you have in the Barracuda Forums.

Drew Brees – Simply put, you no longer can ignore Brees as a legit threat for the number one QB in all of fantasy football.  Without the injury to Brady we very likely would have placed him second, but with question marks surrounding his recovery it leaves us with Brees as a safe bet. Four seasons in a row with over 4400 passing yards and an ever increasing TD total toping out at 34 last season and also playing in dome while other QB’s struggle with weather conditions, makes this pick a no brainer in our opinion.

Tom Brady – We would not be shocked at all if Brady returned to his record setting ways of 2007, however we can not predict anywhere near that kind of production given his recovery from a season ending ACL injury and his head coach’s complete unpredictability also has us nervous. We don’t think a selection of Brady on draft day carries too much risk, but we just felt Brees had fewer question marks around his projected statistics.

Aaron Rodgers – After finally getting Brett Favre out of town, Rodgers did not disappoint with over 4000 yards passing and 28 TD in his first full season as a starting QB. He handled the pressure very well and fought through injuries to develop a nice fantasy connection with Greg Jennings. We expect further development from Rodgers this season, with little down side in the Mike McCarthy’s offensive system. Despite the ranking, buyer beware, of late season weather…always a factor in Green Bay.

Phillip Rivers – Another of the young QB’s that should be around the top five fantasy QB’s for the rest of their career. Rivers has a plethora of weapons in San Diego that most QB’s can only dream about and with an aging LaDainian Tomlinson no longer the center piece of the offense, you can expect big fantasy stats to come from the shoulder of Rivers.  In addition, the perpensity of this offense to work through the screen passing game gives Rivers a lot of low risk passing opportunities. He should be targeted on draft day.

Tony Romo – So many questions yet we still think he deserves to be ranked rather high! Despite what everyone thinks was a bad season, Romo posted 3400 yards and 26 TD’s while playing in just 13 games. If healthy, it seems like Romo is a sure bet for that plus some; making him perhaps a bit undervalued in your fantasy draft. Some owners will shy away from him without Terrell Owens and playing in the NFL’s best division, but that is just what you need in order to get value when drafting Romo this season.

Matt Schaub – The Texans were expected to be a big time fantasy offense last year and now the talk has died down somewhat. We are glad to see it die down because now you can take advantage of what we expect to be a break out season for Schaub. Dogged by continued injuries, many people have given up on Schaub and his “potential” and we think now is the time to grab him. Led by offensive minding Gary Kubiak, likely needing to win at all cost this season to save his job, and with key weapons in WR Andre Johnson, TE Daniel Owens, WR Kevin Walter, and RB Steve Slaton this offense has monster potential. At the center of it all Schaub hopefully stays healthy and rewards the lucky fantasy owners brave enough to take a chance on him in later rounds.

Kurt Warner – We just got done talking about how we think the oft injured Matt Schaub is going to stay healthy and have a fine season. Now, we have to tell you we can’t see the same from the veteran Warner. Playing a full 16 game schedule last season, the key for Warner is protection as he is one of the most immobile QB’s in the NFL and we expect that to catch up to Warner this season. Your fantasy team will be just fine with him at QB, but we suggest backing him up with a quality alternative if you invest in him on draft day 09’.

Carson Palmer – We wanted to rate Palmer much higher than this, but the fact is that he plays in a very tough division with two games a year against the Steelers and Ravens defensive units. Then we realized that he also is recovering from a season in which he had major elbow issues and elected not to have Tommy John surgery. As if that wasn’t enough Palmer favorite third down WR, T.J. Houshmandzadeh left for Seattle during the off season. In the end we decided that a, by all reports healthy, Palmer throwing to Coles, Ocho Cinco, and Henry still should end the season with a pretty solid stat line and he came out here in our rankings. He remains a long ways from a sure thing and carries great risk as a number one QB on draft day.

Kyle Orton – The off season trade of Jay Cutler to the Bears has reduced his value, but it sure didn’t hurt Orton’s fantasy chances. The Broncos new offense is not going to be too much unlike that of the Patriots over the last few seasons and you can expect Orton to benefit with some fairly useful fantasy stats. You can’t draft him as your starter, but if you’re one of those teams that like to wait on your QB, grabbing Orton as your second would be a great idea. We expect the accuracy of Orton to fit in very well with the slant heavy offense that new coach Josh McDaniels runs and fully expect Orton to develop into this years break out QB by reaching the 25 TD mark for the first time in his career.

Matt Ryan – We think he is the real deal, but just can’t justify drafting him as any more than a fantasy back-up this season. He has the potential and weapons around him to join Orton in the 25 TD range, but there is no need to draft him and expect that in just his sophomore season. Give him one more year before you trust him to be your every week fantasy starter.

Matt Hasselbeck – There are two issues destroying Matt’s fantasy appeal…health and a new head coach. We don’t think Jim Mora is going to change the offense all that much so we are not worried about that issue and like we mentioned earlier TJ Houshmandzadeh has been brought in to help with the passing attach. In addition, Nate Burleson is returning from injury and the team has a very talented young TE in John Carlson. If Hasselbeck can stay on the field a 3500 yard season with 25 scores seems likely.

Trent Edwards – Can the impact of TO allow Edwards a chance to post fantasy relevant statistics on weekly basis? The biggest issue with Edwards is his lack of TD’s. Last season in 14 games he managed to score only 14 TD’s, not a great rate for a QB. The TO factor should make him a nice back-up with up-side this season and we think he should be on a fantasy roster until we can be sure what that offense  and he are going to become.