Quarterback is as deep as ever, but that doesn’t mean you can treat the position as an afterthought. Josh Allen holds down the QB1 spot, with Drake Maye, Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels right behind him thanks to the rushing upside that can separate the elite fantasy options from the rest of the position.
The bigger decisions come after that top tier. How high should Caleb Williams climb? Can Justin Herbert push his way back into the elite group? And how long can you wait on proven names like Patrick Mahomes II, Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff? You can see where every quarterback stacks up against the rest of the player pool in PFN’s overall PPR rankings, then test out different draft-day approaches with the PFN fantasy mock draft simulator.
Note: These rankings are a combination of both our fantasy experts, Kyle Soppe and Jason Katz.
Preseason Fantasy Football QB Rankings
1) Josh Allen | BUF
2) Drake Maye | NE
3) Lamar Jackson | BAL
4) Jayden Daniels | WAS
5) Joe Burrow | CIN
6) Jalen Hurts | PHI
7) Caleb Williams | CHI
8) Justin Herbert | LAC
9) Jaxson Dart | NYG
10) Trevor Lawrence | JAX
11) Dak Prescott | DAL
12) Bo Nix | DEN
13) Brock Purdy | SF
14) Patrick Mahomes II | KC
15) Matthew Stafford | LAR
16) Kyler Murray | MIN
17) Jared Goff | DET
18) Jordan Love | GB
19) Tyler Shough | NO
20) Malik Willis | MIA
21) Baker Mayfield | TB
22) Daniel Jones | IND
23) C.J. Stroud | HOU
24) Sam Darnold | SEA
25) Bryce Young | CAR
26) Cam Ward | TEN
27) Jacoby Brissett | ARI
28) Aaron Rodgers | PIT
29) Geno Smith | NYJ
30) Tua Tagovailoa | ATL
Should I Draft Michael Penix Jr. in Fantasy Football?
Even before the injury, his 2025 production left fantasy managers wanting more. In nine starts, Penix managed just 1,982 passing yards and nine touchdowns: two multi-pass TD games and just one 300-yard effort. There’s no rushing to speak of in this profile, and that puts too much pressure on his left shoulder for what he appears capable of handling right now.
While he aggressively pushed the ball downfield, his 60.1% completion percentage ranked 30th in the league, highlighting major struggles connecting on deep attempts. It’s great to have talented teammates, and that’s certainly the case here, but that’s been the case in the past two, and we’ve yet to see anything close to a proof of concept.
Atlanta’s offseason moves reflect a lack of confidence in his immediate availability. The team brought in Tua Tagovailoa, pushing Penix into a direct competition for the starting job whenever he is finally cleared to face live bullets.
While new head coach Kevin Stefanski inherits an elite trio of playmakers in Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts, Penix has an uphill battle just to get on the field, never mind produce stats at a rate that we’ve yet to see from the former eighth overall pick.
Given the lengthy recovery timeline, the presence of Tagovailoa, and his minimal rushing output, Penix should be completely ignored in all formats. A successful 2026 season for Penix consists of simply getting fully healthy and eventually reclaiming the starting job, but you shouldn’t draft him expecting anything that you can realistically use.
Should I Draft Shedeur Sanders in Fantasy Football?
The drumbeat during the preseason has been leaning in favor of Deshaun Watson to break camp as the starting quarterback in Cleveland, further removing Sanders from fantasy radars. Every QB that has a chance to start is worth holding in Superflex leagues, but in anything else, this is pretty clearly a no-fly zone, regardless of who takes the first snap.
FANTASY RANKINGS: PFN’s FREE Fantasy PPR, Half-PPR, and Non-PPR Rankings
This is a Browns team with an underwhelming WR1 in Jerry Jeudy and rookies fighting for WR targets beyond that. Harold Fannin looked like the real deal in 2025 (his numbers spiked with Sanders for those looking to invest in the promising tight end), but we saw last season in Vegas that simply having a strong pass catching TE isn’t nearly enough to make the QB viable in our game.
We don’t know that Sanders can play at this level, and we don’t know that growth for him would even matter in a unit as limited as this one. Sanders is a very much a player you can track, but it’s going to near unprecedented growth for him to even factor in as a bye week filler in one-QB leagues.
