The 2025 NFL Season gets a step closer in the next week with the beginning of the NFL Draft and whether you’re making selections in a dynasty startup draft or drafting in early best ball contests, there are clearly players that we want to draft and some that are better off left to your opponents to deal with. These are four quarterbacks that you may want to avoid in 2025.
Quarterbacks to Avoid
CJ Stroud
It’s hard to look at anything the Texans have done this offseason and look positively at CJ Stroud’s outlook for 2025. The Texans have thus far lost Stefon Diggs to the Patriots, after losing Tank Dell for the vast majority of 2025 due to a brutal knee injury, then traded Laremy Tunsil to the Commanders, which could prove to be the biggest loss of all. Reports suggest Tunsil was moved on due to his fit within in the building above all else, and while it’s a coach’s prerogative to build a culture and team as they see fit, Tunsil has been a Pro Bowl player in five of the last six seasons and remained one of the best pass-blocking offensive linemen in the NFL last year with his 88.6 PFF pass-blocking grade ranked fifth among offensive tackles in 2024. The Texans have added Christian Kirk at the minor expense of a seventh-round pick but still lack pass-catching options and drastically need to improve their offensive line, which ranked 29th in PFF grades in 2024, and now doesn’t have their Pro Bowl LT. We saw how skittish Stroud could become last year without a good offensive line, and this feels primed to be repeated in 2025.
If you wondered why CJ Stroud's numbers declined from his rookie year to his second year, here's a good reason why pic.twitter.com/yybhRIUsOi
— Football Analysis (@FBallAnalysisYT) April 2, 2025
Sam Darnold
A theme will emerge in this article, and while it’s repetitive, it’s a vital one. Average quarterbacks struggle when playing before poor offensive lines. Seattle’s line ranked 31st according to PFF last year, and they’ve done little to turn that around so far, with much of their offseason dedicated to replacing Geno Smith with Sam Darnold. It was a poor end to 2024 for Darnold, who crumbled when it mattered most, but it’s fair to say he played above expectations for most of last year. Unfortunately for Darnold, he’s moving from a team that had a plethora of options for him to throw the ball to, highlighted by the excellent Justin Jefferson. Meanwhile, in Seattle, Darnold finds himself on a Seahawks offense freshly removed from having DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett on the field and potentially about to pivot to a more run-heavy offense. Ryan Grubb was fired as the Seahawks offensive coordinator after Mike Macdonald felt that the offense wasn’t what he envisioned, with them running the ball at the fifth-lowest rate in 2024 (36.8%). If this offense is going to be run-heavy and deprioritize pass-catchers, then Darnold is unlikely to have much fantasy value.
Tua Tagovailoa
The Miami Dolphins could barely afford for their offensive line to have any losses, but that’s exactly what they’re left with after Terron Armstead retired. Armstead hasn’t been the healthiest player, but the All-Pro tackle’s retirement leaves a big gap to fill in the draft, not to mention Tyreek Hill‘s future continues to be murky at best. Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t looked worth the GBP212m investment the Dolphins poured into him in July, finishing as QB15 in fantasy points per game last year, after finishing as QB19 in 2023. Tagovailoa is simply an extension of the ground game in Miami, handing the ball off or relying on massive amounts of yards after the catch for him to have relevancy. Tagovailoa has never thrown for 30 touchdowns in a year, has only surpassed 3600 yards once, and simply isn’t the kind of QB you should rely upon for fantasy football. In a world where the ceiling matters plenty, why settle for so much mediocrity?
This throw is so bad I thought it was Russell Wilson throwing left-handed. Then I realized it was just Tua Tagovailoa, who is left-handed, throwing a wobbly ????. pic.twitter.com/aAk6Pt2jTs
— Zachary Krueger (@ZK_FFB) April 10, 2023
Aaron Rodgers
It’s quite embarrassing to see what the Steelers have lowered themselves to at this point. Multiple starting caliber quarterbacks have signed with teams since February, but the Steelers’ last remaining hope is Aaron Rodgers, or that a rookie falls into their lap and shows out better than Kenny Pickett did. The parallels to the Pickett situation are ample, with him the best of a bad bunch in a poor QB class, and much like this one, the Steelers felt obliged to take him, and it worked out miserably. If the Steelers aren’t able to take Rodgers, they’ll be left throwing darts at the likes of Shedeur Sanders or Jaxson Dart, when in reality, it might just be time to accept that having a winning record every year is meaningless if it keeps you away from the top QBs in the draft. Rodgers, for his part, has looked poor over the last three seasons, and while Tom Brady cut an inspiring figure for playing into his forties, nobody else, including Rodgers, is coming close. Rodgers would be playing in the AFC North division with two of the best quarterbacks in football in Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow, whilst also contending with bad weather, good defenses in Cleveland and Baltimore and a Steelers offensive line that is average at best, not to mention, a chalk and cheese coordinator in Arthur Smith. What are the positives for Rodgers? The idea of him is far beyond the reality at this stage.
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