Fantasy Football Quarterback Preview: QB’s to Avoid

Industry professionals will continue to tell you to wait on quarterbacks when drafting each and every year. And while that strategy has gained traction in most leagues, quarterback is still the position that scores you the most points in fantasy football. With that in mind, while quarterback is a pretty deep position, you don’t want to miss when picking your fantasy team’s signal caller. There are many factors that come into play when deciding who to pick, whether it be how early you have to draft a guy, how good the weapons he has on his team, or the general trajectory of their career. Below are the quarterbacks that you should likely avoid in your 2020 fantasy football drafts.

 

Lamar Jackson , Baltimore Ravens 

 

What? The record breaking MVP? This one has nothing to do with production, or a huge expected decline this season. Jackson is amazing, and likely will terrorize opposing defenses again in 2020. However, as of now his average draft position is in the second round and that is too rich to take a quarterback. I don’t expect a huge loss in production of his running, but I do wonder that he can repeat his 36 passing touchdowns from 2019 again. Mark Andrews is a very reliable tight end, but Marquise Brown was inconsistent in his rookie season and he only has “superstar” Willie Snead as his second receiver. Baltimore is hoping for more consistency from Brown and a big improvement from Miles Boykin , however, Jackson’s weapons are less than ideal. He certainly was incredible last season, but defenses have an entire season of tape to try to corral him some, and his ADP is just too rich to trust him. 
 

 

This is another guy that I love for his talent. However, when the team traded away DeAndre Hopkins , it became hard to trust Watson. He does get you extra points with his legs which is a plus, but his weapons are really questionable. The trade for Brandin Cooks certainly helped some, but the guy has a history of concussions to the point where the Rams kept him off the field for multiple weeks and barely used him even when he was cleared to play. Will Fuller can’t stay healthy, and Kenny Stills has proven that he isn’t an impact receiver. He has three tight ends, but none of them are really anything to get excited about. Watson is an incredibly talented quarterback, but at some point he needs someone reliable to throw to. He has three receivers that are all basically the same guy. They are big play threats who have often been injured. His new running back, David Johnson , is getting close to 30 and has been significantly injured in two of the last three seasons, including a wrist injury. His offensive line, unless they draft someone, is porous at best and he is often running for his life. Unless the Texans do more to help in the skill positions, Watson needs to be avoided this season. 

 

 

He will walk into the Hall of Fame on a red carpet, but there is no doubt that Rodgers’ production is on the decline. He hasn’t thrown 30 touchdowns since 2016, and if you watch him you can see that he isn’t the same guy he used to be. It isn’t all his fault, the Packers have given him one good receiver in Davante Adams , and that’s about it. It certainly isn’t going to get any better this season considering their big free agent acquisition was Devin Funchess . Rodgers also holds on to the ball too long, and his mobility isn’t what it used to be. If it wasn’t for two great pass catchers out of the backfield, Rodgers would be in trouble. If Green Bay isn’t going to furnish him with great receivers, they at least need to beef up the offensive line, which they also haven’t done. Rodgers did throw 26 touchdowns last season, but 12 of those came in three great games he had, meaning he had just 14 scores in the other 13 games which is maddening if you he was on your fantasy team. Rodgers has all of the name recognition, but he won’t be lighting up the scoreboard for you on Sundays in 2020.

 

 

It is going to take a while getting used to writing Tampa next to Brady’s name, however, the change in scenery isn’t going to help much. He does have great weapons in Tampa with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin , but if you watched Brady especially towards the end of last season, you would see that his arm strength wasn’t nearly what it used to be. It isn’t his fault, the guy is 43 years old. Not many players in the history of the sport have been able to play for as long as he has, especially at that elite level. But when he lost a game to the Dolphins in New England to secure a first round bye, and then a playoff game at home to the Titans, I started to throw dirt on Tom Brady ’s fantasy grave. Brady supporters claim it was because he had no weapons around him. Outside of the couple of years he had Randy Moss, you tell me who the big names Brady played with in his career. Julian Edelman was nothing before he came to New England, Brady made him better. The time of Brady making players better is over. He will likely throw 22-24 touchdowns, but he has zero mobility so there will not be extra points for running the ball, and he should not be used as your starting fantasy quarterback which, based on his ADP is where he is falling now. Father Time gets everyone eventually, and it appears that he is finally making the call on Brady. 

 

 

This one is more for you two quarterback and superflex players. Cousins stats look pretty decent from 2019, but if you look closely at them, or even watch him play, you would know that it was far from an impressive season. He did have 26 touchdowns, but like Aaron Rodgers above, 14 of them came in four games, leaving 12 touchdowns for the other 12 games. You want consistency from your fantasy quarterback, not a few great games and eight games with one or zero passing touchdowns. The Vikings also traded away Stefon Diggs and “replaced” him by bringing in Tajae Sharpe from the Titans. If you don’t know Sharpe it is because he has 92 catches in three seasons, not exactly a good replacement for a perennial 1,000 yard receiver in Diggs. The Vikings are hoping for a surge in production from Bisi Johnson as well, but you have to figure the Vikings pass game is going to suffer from these moves. This offense completely revolves around Dalvin Cook and the running game, and you shouldn’t be the least bit surprised if you see Cousins pass stats drop in 2020, and even as a second quarterback he isn’t a great option.