Fantasy Football: QBs 13-24
This is the second half of my QB rankings. QBs 1-12 can be found here.
13. Matt Ryan- With Tony Gonzalez finally starting to show his age, I’m not sure Ryan will take the step forward some might expect of him. He’ll be better though, and he has a bright future. You could do worse.
14. Donovan McNabb- His receiving core is a definite step back from Philly’s explosive core. He won’t be phased by the abundance of young receivers, but his days of being a #1 fantasy QB could be over.
15. Chad Henne- Henne is just a solid guy, but the addition of Brandon Marshall gives him a legitimate #1 receiver to throw to. Davone Bess and Greg Camarillo are respectable NFL players, but if anything happens to Marshall, Henne’s value is gone.
16. Carson Palmer- Ochocinco and TO is nice, but the Bengals turned into a conservative, run-first team. Maybe Palmer will regain some of his old magic, but you shouldn’t count on it.
17. Vince Young- Put Chris Johnson behind any of these guys, and their job will get a lot easier. Kenny Britt anchors a receiver core that, while only average, is probably the best group Young has ever had to work with. It’s now or never.
18. Alex Smith- Smith has some big weapons to throw to in Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree, and while he did show strides of becoming a solid starter last season, he just doesn’t profile as someone who will ever become much more than that.
19. Matt Stafford- He’s got a few interesting talents to work with on offense, including stud Calvin Johnson. They’ll be throwing a lot, so there is some upside here, but expect some growing pains from the Lions sophomore signal caller.
20. Ben Roethlisberger- One of the riskiest picks in the draft. He’ll miss the first four games, and possibly two more. And even if you are confident enough in your team to take a guy who could miss half of the fantasy season, he still has some brutal matchups down the stretch, including the Bengals, Jets and Panthers, three of 2009’s best pass defenses, in the fantasy playoffs. He’s still a top NFL QB, but there’s too many reasons not to make .
21. David Garrard- Garrard is not a bad guy to have as your backup, as he has shown the ability to be a borderline fantasy starter in the recent past. Maurice Jones-Drew and Mike Sims-Walker are two hyphenated weapons that Garrard can use to his advantage, but he’s more of a game manager; a bye-week filler without much upside.
22. Matt Leinart- The fact that he has maybe the NFLs best WR to throw to, and he’s still ranked this low shows how far his stock has dropped. He could still live up to his considerable hype, but its more likely that he’s just not a very good NFL QB.
23. Mark Sanchez- The Sanchize had a solid playoff run, but that doesn’t mean he’s certain to take a big step forward. Speaking of run, that’s what the Jets offense will be doing most of the time. He has some weapons, though, and there is some upside.
24. Jason Campbell- Call me crazy, but I don’t hate the Raiders this year. Campbell’s always been slightly above average, and the Raiders have a couple of young, talented targets, including Zach Miller, Louis Murphy, and maybe even Darrius Heyward-Bey. He’ll never be a fantasy starter, but for a bye-week filler, you could do worse.
Well that’s it for QBs. Check back soon for RBs, WRs and TEs!
