Every year, there is a batch of late-round quarterbacks that defy expectations and have much better fantasy seasons than their earlier drafted counterparts. For example, Matt Ryan, who was widely ranked as the No. 16 overall quarterback coming into 2016, finished the season as the No. 2 overall quarterback, just behind Aaron Rodgers. In 2015, a similar case can be seen as Cam Newton finished on top after being drafted behind several other quarterbacks.
Moral of the story? Wait to draft a quarterback and look for these three names.
Jameis Winston
Last season, Winston finished as the No. 16 overall quarterback in Fantasy Football. That was with freak wide receiver, Mike Evans, hauling in virtually everything. This offseason, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have signed wide receiver DeSean Jackson and drafted rookie tight end O.J. Howard. Even with these additions, Winston’s biggest issue will still be his interceptions. In fact, he threw 18 interceptions in 2016, which was second highest in the league.
Although O.J. Howard has yet to play a single down in the NFL and DeSean Jackson is injury prone and in his 30’s, Winston really has nowhere to go but up.
Tyrod Taylor
Surprisingly, Taylor finished as the No. 8 overall quarterback in fantasy football last season. What makes that so impressive is that he did it with fantasy irrelevant players (for the most part) such as Marquise Goodwin and Robert Woods. Also, keep in mind that stud wide receiver, Sammy Watkins, was injured for more than half of the season.
Luckily, Watkins has had plenty of rest and is hopefully set to finally play all 16 games again after being injured for the past two seasons. The Buffalo Bills also drafted wide receiver, Zay Jones, in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Ultimately, with the addition of Jones and the hopeful return of Watkins, you should be looking to draft Taylor.
Philip Rivers
Behold, king of the late-round quarterbacks.
Year after year, Rivers is always available in the late-rounds as an escape route for anyone who hasn’t quite pulled the trigger on a quarterback yet. With this said, why should anything be different this year?
In 2016, Rivers finished as the No. 14 overall quarterback in fantasy football. Rivers also, however, threw an underwhelming 21 total interceptions, which was both a league high and career high. Thankfully, the Los Angeles Chargers drafted wide receiver, Mike Williams, with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Also, wide receiver, Keenan Allen, should be fully healthy by the start of the season after tearing his ACL in each of the past two seasons. Knowing this, Rivers should be fully reloaded when week one rolls around.