Week 16 of the fantasy football season has arrived, and it’s more important than ever to know which players deserve a place in your starting lineup. Considering player talent, recent form, and matchups, we’ve put together our PFSN consensus Week 16 QB rankings.
These rankings were last updated at 7:00 AM ET on Sunday, December 21, 2025.
Week 16 Fantasy QB Rankings
1) Josh Allen | Buffalo Bills (at CLE)
2) Jalen Hurts | Philadelphia Eagles (at WAS)
3) Drake Maye | New England Patriots (at BAL)
4) Joe Burrow | Cincinnati Bengals (at MIA)
5) Matthew Stafford | Los Angeles Rams (at SEA)
6) Dak Prescott | Dallas Cowboys (vs. LAC)
7) Brock Purdy | San Francisco 49ers (at IND)
8) Jared Goff | Detroit Lions (vs. PIT)
9) Jacoby Brissett | Arizona Cardinals (vs. ATL)
10) Lamar Jackson | Baltimore Ravens (vs. NE)
11) Bo Nix | Denver Broncos (vs. JAX)
12) Jordan Love | Green Bay Packers (at CHI)
13) Trevor Lawrence | Jacksonville Jaguars (at DEN)
14) Justin Herbert | Los Angeles Chargers (at DAL)
15) Jaxson Dart | New York Giants (vs. MIN)
16) C.J. Stroud | Houston Texans (vs. LV)
17) Baker Mayfield | Tampa Bay Buccaneers (at CAR)
18) J.J. McCarthy | Minnesota Vikings (at NYG)
19) Caleb Williams | Chicago Bears (vs. GB)
20) Tyler Shough | New Orleans Saints (vs. NYJ)
21) Bryce Young | Carolina Panthers (vs. TB)
22) Kirk Cousins | Atlanta Falcons (at ARI)
23) Gardner Minshew | Kansas City Chiefs (at TEN)
24) Sam Darnold | Seattle Seahawks (vs. LAR)
25) Aaron Rodgers | Pittsburgh Steelers (at DET)
26) Marcus Mariota | Washington Commanders (vs. PHI)
27) Quinn Ewers | Miami Dolphins (vs. CIN)
28) Shedeur Sanders | Cleveland Browns (vs. BUF)
29) Cam Ward | Tennessee Titans (vs. KC)
30) Brady Cook | New York Jets (at NO)
31) Geno Smith | Las Vegas Raiders (at HOU)
J.J. McCarthy, QB, Minnesota Vikings (at NYG)
Can you imagine actually trusting “Nine” in the fantasy semi-finals? I can…because I am. Such is my plight after losing Patrick Mahomes last week (not that Mahomes was anything to write home about anyway).
Ever since head coach Kevin O’Connell told J.J. McCarthy to just go out there and play, he’s been a changed man. McCarthy has now posted back-to-back games of 20+ fantasy points since missing one game with a concussion. The volume hasn’t quite been there, but as long as McCarthy is finding the end zone, it doesn’t matter.
MORE:Â Free Fantasy Start/Sit Optimizer
This week’s game features two teams playing out a lost season. There’s really no reason for either team to play conservatively, which could lead to some fun, fast-paced offense.
The Giants allow the fourth-most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. McCarthy has accounted for six touchdowns over his last two games. The odds that the Vikings continue scoring all of their touchdowns through the air are low, but if McCarthy can merely get two, that would make him worth putting in lineups.
Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers (at DAL)
It takes a lot of stones to put Justin Herbert in your Week 16 lineup. He hasn’t even come close to posting a usable fantasy week since Week 9. Herbert’s best performance over that span was 14.7 fantasy points.
Fortunately, the Dallas Cowboys are the gift that keeps on giving. The gap between them and the team allowing the second most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks continues to grow.
Herbert hasn’t had soft matchup in over a month. Granted he’s flopped in favorable spots before, but it quite literally does not get better than this. And for all his struggles, Herbert does have at least one touchdown pass in all but one game this season. My guess is he throws at least two against Dallas.
Bo Nix | DEN (vs JAX)
In watching this game on Sunday, it felt like Bo Nix was maturing before our eyes.
Maybe not a full-blown transformation, that’ll take more than a single data point, but more like when a 13-year-old boy has his voice crack for the first time.
He’s rotated between reckless and cautious, savvy and stupid, gutless and gutty at points this season. But over the weekend against the Packers, I thought he was stable. He was grounded. He was confident in his reads, and his stats reflected as much.
Yeah, his four-touchdown, zero-interception looks good, but it was more than that. He completed six-of-10 deep passes (Weeks 1-14: 35.2% deep completion percentage) and was putting his talented teammates in a position to win. Three of his touchdowns were on balls thrown past the sticks (two more than he had in his previous four games combined), and he completed six of eight third-down passes.
Nix needs to lean into his athleticism a little more before labeling him as a lineup lock (five straight games under 20 rushing yards), but the foundation is being laid. If you have him, you’re playing him: this Jags defense has looked solid for two months now, but the level of competition hasn’t exactly been high.
A bet on Nix this weekend, with your season on the line, is a bet on Sean Payton maximizing what a talented QB can do with a deep core of playmakers around him. If I lose my matchup because that profile fails, I can live with it.
Brock Purdy | SF (at IND)
Brock Purdy handled his business against the undermanned Titans (23-of-30 for 295 yards and three touchdowns), funneling three-quarters of his looks to three players, routinely taking advantage of mismatches.
He did everything he was asked to and even added 44 rushing yards for good measure (43 rush yards in his first five starts this season). Purdy has completed over 70% of his passes in three of his past four games, and this was the second time he proved capable of taking advantage of a great matchup.
This Colts defense isn’t one to fea,r and with his primary playmakers healthy, Purdy is to be viewed as a high-floor play that can help a strong team that just lost Patrick Mahomes. Or maybe on a competitive team that isn’t loving the idea of playing Lamar Jackson against the Patriots.
Asking him to break the slate with a huge game isn’t wise, but 18-22 fantasy points on Monday night with your matchup in the balance can hold value.
Lamar Jackson | BAL (vs NE)
Let’s start with the good: a matchup against the AFC’s top seed is probably going to require Lamar Jackson to throw more than the 12 passes he did last week in the shutout victory over the Bengals.
It obviously wasn’t a high-volume game through the air, but Jackson looked sharp, something I haven’t written in a while. He hit three different players for 28+ yard gains and the interception that he threw should have been another chunk gain, but Zay Flowers butchered a pretty pass, and Cincy was there to snag the deflection.
The deep patterns to Flowers were largely a success, and you’ll take a 32-yard catch from DeAndre Hopkins whenever you can, but the simplistic nature of the Rasheen Ali touchdown pass is why I’m leaving the light on for Jackson to post one more big fantasy performance before we tie a bow on 2025.
It wasn’t complicated. Jackson faded back, allowed the pressure to get past the versatile running back, and delivered the ball on time, in space to allow him to sprint for the end zone. The play itself wasn’t special, but the timing and anticipation of both Jackson and Todd Monken was what we like to see.
He opened the season with three straight top-5 finishes at the position, but he has only had two top-12s since. If this Ravens team is going to make any noise, the first step comes in this spot, at home, against a pass defense that just allowed Josh Allen to pick them apart for three TDs in a very Baltimore-like way (two to a backup TE and one to a running back).
Jackson had two carries last weekend, and they both gained at least a dozen yards. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I’m willing to be early to the party: Jackson is my QB6 this week, a result that would be his best weekly finish since September.
