Our analysts are here to share a few of the quarterbacks they are targeting this fantasy football draft season. And be sure to check out their full list of players to avoid as part of our 2022 Fantasy Football Draft Kit.
- Matthew Freedman’s Players to Target
- Derek Brown’s Players to Target
- Andrew Erickson’s Players to Target
- Pat Fitzmaurice’s Players to Target
- Joe Pisapia’s Players to Target
Rankings noted using FantasyPros half-PPR Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) and Consensus ADP.
5 Fantasy Football Quarterbacks to Target
Joe Burrow (CIN)
ECR QB7 | ADP QB6
Yards per attempt (YPA) isn’t a perfect passing statistic, but it’s a good one. With starting QBs throwing so many passes throughout a season, YPA isn’t as volatile a stat as, say, TD passes. Burrow led the NFL with 8.9 yards per attempt last season. That’s a freakishly good number. Only two other quarterbacks (Jimmy Garoppolo and Matthew Stafford) finished the 2021 season with YPAs above 7.9. Aaron Rodgers‘ career YPA is 7.8. Tom Brady‘s is 7.5
I contend that Burrow’s obscene 2021 YPA is not a fluke but rather a symptom of greatness.
It doesn’t hurt that Burrow has arguably the league’s best WR tandem in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Rostering Burrow is a great way to leverage the extraordinary talents of those two receivers. There will be games where Chase goes off, and Higgins is relatively quiet. There will be games where Chase takes a backseat to Higgins. We’ll probably get one or two big games out of Tyler Boyd as well. Those are all going to be Joe Burrow games.
Oh, by the way, it’s possible we’ll see Burrow run more now that he’s more than a year removed from the ACL tear he sustained in November 2020. Burrow had more rushing yards and TD runs in 10 games in 2020 than in 16 games last year. He ran for 12 touchdowns in his final two college seasons at LSU. So a little more rushing goodness would just be gravy on the chicken-fried steak.
– Pat Fitzmaurice
Matthew Stafford (LAR)
ECR QB11 | ADP QB12
When the previous season’s QB6 is being drafted at QB11, you need to take advantage of that value. In Stafford’s first year in Sean McVay’s offense, he threw for 41 TDs and 4,886 yards. There’s a chance Stafford could be even better in 2022. In single QB leagues, Stafford isn’t a consolation prize. He’s a draft target.
– Joe Pisapia
Tua Tagovailoa (MIA)
ECR QB17 | ADP QB17
With a stocked skill position depth chart and remade offensive line, Tua Tagovailoa is set to prove all the haters wrong. The Tagovailoa shade has been an interesting subject to dissect because it has little merit from a numbers standpoint. Last year Tagovailoa was an efficiency machine, ranking 12th in under-pressure accuracy, fifth in clean pocket accuracy and sixth in deep-ball accuracy per Playerprofiler.com.
Yes, he rarely went deep last year, ranking 33rd out of 35 qualifying quarterbacks in deep passing rate, but problems along the offensive line and a lack of receiving weapons are also part of the equation. Tagovailoa suffered behind a line that was 14th in adjusted sack rate while throwing to a depth chart that consisted of a banged-up DeVante Parker, Jaylen Waddle, Mike Gesicki and replacement-level players. The additions of Tyreek Hill, Cedrick Wilson, Terron Armstead and Connor Williams will help immensely. The Dolphins will run the ball a good bit this year, but that doesn’t mean Tagovailoa can’t continue his highly efficient ways and outproduce his ADP.
– Derek Brown
Justin Fields (CHI)
ECR QB16 | ADP QB18
Justin Fields has plummeted to QB18 in early best ball ADP. Everyone is afraid of the situation in Chicago. But don’t forget that a washed-up Cam Newton went from irrelevant to a top-12 ranked QB in one week last year because of rushing production.
Fields finished as a top-12 fantasy quarterback in his last four full games in 2021, averaging 21.7 fantasy points per game. He also averaged 56 rushing yards per game over his last six. All in all, Fields averaged 35 rushing yards per game during his rookie season. The last three rookie QBs to do so? Newton, Josh Allen, and Robert Griffin III. They all finished as top-12 fantasy quarterbacks in their second seasons, with the two former QBs finishing top six.
It won’t take long for the narrative to spin on the talented Fields after he starts the season hot out of the gates. Five of the Bears’ first six matchups are against secondaries that are the weak part of their respective defense, lost talent in free agency, and/or are unproven. In Week 1, Fields takes on the 49ers. He rushed for over 100 yards against them last season.
– Andrew Erickson
Trey Lance (SF)
ECR QB13 | ADP QB16
The ability some people have to misinterpret tweets or incorrectly extrapolate from them is extraordinary.
Each day Jimmy Garoppolo remains with the 49ers, the likelier it is he starts for them in Week 1.
— Matthew Freedman (@MattFtheOracle) May 10, 2022
The closer we get to the season with Garoppolo still on the roster, the likelier he will be to enter the season as the starter because of his familiarity with the offense and his polish relative to Lance, who was unquestionably raw last year. But the likeliest outcome is that Lance will start in Week 1 – and if that happens, he could dominate. In 10 quarters of action as a rookie, he was 598-4-2 passing and 31-161-0 rushing.
– Matthew Freedman
FantasyPros Staff Consensus 2022 Redraft Fantasy Football Rankings
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.
