NFL preseason football is here, which means that it’s time for fantasy football players to get their drafts underway.
Selecting quarterbacks in fantasy is tricky. Should you take a flyer in the second round to grab a top-five passer, or should you continue to draft skill position players and grab that sleeper in the fifth or sixth round?
No matter what the method to your madness is, fantasy football players don’t get far without a good quarterback. Let’s take a quick look into the top fantasy options at the quarterback position with the regular season just a few weeks away and digest some of the more clever fantasy football team names that are out there.
The following rankings are from ESPN.
2017 Fantasy QB Rankings
1. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
2. Tom Brady, New England Patriots
3. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
4. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
5. Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts
6. Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
7. Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
8. Kirk Cousins, Washington Redskins
9. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
10. Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders
11. Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
12. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
The first four signal-callers on this list can’t come as a surprise to anyone. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Matt Ryan are just flat-out better than any other fantasy quarterbacks in the NFL, and yes, that includes Cam Newton after a disappointing 2016 season.
Rodgers will continue to put up great numbers this season, especially now that wide receiver Jordy Nelson will have a full season under his belt after coming back from an ACL injury in 2015 as well as some fractured ribs suffered this past postseason.
But in addition to Nelson and Randall Cobb, Green Bay’s passing game got a lot stronger with the addition of tight end Martellus Bennett. Adding a dynamic tight end like Bennett will go a long way for Rodgers in fantasy.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is ranked No. 5 in this list, which might be too high considering the mystery surrounding his shoulder after offseason surgery.
It seems unlikely that he’ll play Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams, but beyond that? Too much is up in the air for any fantasy player to draft him within the first half of the draft. He could either be a great late draft pick or a bust, and that’s just too risky for my liking.
The aforementioned Newton could easily have a bounce-back year after learning from his mistakes a year ago. While the addition of rookie running back Christian McCaffrey might be overhyped, his presence in the backfield and at the slot position for the Panthers offense won’t hurt Newton’s production.
Along with McCaffrey, Newton still has Greg Olsen and Kelvin Benjamin to look to in the passing game, which could make Newton a must-play in fantasy once again.
The complete season projections for each of the top-12 fantasy quarterbacks above for the regular season are available at here.
Fantasy Team Names
The only thing better than drafting the best team in your league is also having the best team name. Whether it’s a team name that teases some of your friends in your league or one that has a great NFL pun in it, always remember to get creative when coming up with team names.
Here are some of the best fantasy team names out there this season
Dezpacito
You should draft Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant because he’s good, not because you can make his name into a terrible pun about an overplayed song (“Despacito” by Luis Fonsi) that won’t stop playing on the radio. Either way, well done.
Make AmariCarr Great Again
Regardless of your political beliefs, we can all laugh at this one, right? The combination of Amari Cooper and Derek Carr is funny as it is lethal on the field, but I’m not sure if it beats AC-DC, though.
And here are some usual suspects that we’ve all seen before but are still great for a laugh:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Bortles
- Corn on the Cobb
- Golden Tate Warriors
- Dak to the Future
- Remember the Titans
- Bend It Like Beckham Jr.
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