Fantasy Football Sleepers Experts Draft: Quarterbacks

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football sleepers below. And check out all of the fantasy football sleepers experts love in our consensus sleeper rankings.

Fantasy Football Sleepers Experts Draft: Quarterbacks

Here are fantasy football sleepers the experts love to target in drafts.

Who are Fantasy Football Sleepers?

Fantasy football sleepers are players who have a strong chance to exceed expectations and become surprise difference-makers for fantasy managers.

Fantasy Football Sleepers: Quarterbacks

Our QB sleepers are based on a poll of experts who selected their favorite QBs with high upside. Each QB has a consensus draft rank below #15.

Rank	Quarterbacks	Team	Bye	Num Experts	ECR	ADP
1	Drake Maye	NE	14	7	16	18
2	J.J. McCarthy	MIN	6	5	20	19
3	Bryce Young	CAR	14	3	23	26
4	Michael Penix Jr.	ATL	5	3	24	23
5	Tua Tagovailoa	MIA	12	2	22	20

Drake Maye might not have moved the needle for fantasy in his rookie season, but his performance over 12 starts was impressive considering how terrible his supporting cast was. From Week 6 of last season, when Maye made his first start, through Week 17, Maye averaged a respectable 16.8 fantasy points per game. The third overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft, Maye has immense potential as a passer, but it’s his rushing that should make him attractive to fantasy games. Maye had 421 rushing yards last season, and there’s potential for much more. As a sophomore at the University of North Carolina, Maye had 698 rushing yards in 14 games. Bear in mind that college quarterbacks’ sack yardage counts against their rushing yardage, and Maye lost about 200 yards from his rushing total that year. Maye should have it a little easier in the passing game this year, with New England beefing up its offensive line in the offseason and adding WRs Stefon Diggs and Kyle Williams. It’s possible we get a Drake Maye breakout in 2025.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Yes, I know we haven’t seen J.J. McCarthy play outside of an abbreviated preseason sample last year, but I’ll be targeting him everywhere this season. This should remain a pass-happy offense after ranking eighth in neutral passing rate and third in pass rate over expectation last year (per Fantasy Points Data). The Vikings remain loaded with skill players and added to the offensive line this offseason to give their new signal caller all the time in the world to dice up opposing pass defenses in 2025. Sam Darnold (yes, that Sam Darnold) finished as the QB9 in fantasy points per game last year, continuing a long history of Kevin O’Connel’s quarterbacks finishing as QB1s. I believe McCarthy will keep that streak alive. He was a stellar prospect who has been airdropped into the perfect situation. In his final collegiate season, McCarthy ranked inside the top 12 FBS quarterbacks in passing grade, adjusted completion rate, yards per attempt, adjusted completion rate with downfield throws, and against pressure (per PFF). It’s wheels up for McCarthy in 2025.
– Derek Brown

Michael Penix heads into the 2025 season as the Falcons’ unquestioned starting quarterback after sitting behind Kirk Cousins for most of the 2024 season. Penix did make three late-season starts, completing 58% of his throws in those games, averaging 245.7 passing yards per game and 7.4 yards per attempt, with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Penix is a pocket passer who doesn’t offer much rushing upside, but he has a powerful and accurate arm. He led FBS in passing yardage in each of his final two college seasons at Washington. Penix has the potential to return a small profit on his low-end QB2 price tag.
– Pat Fitzmaurice