3 Quarterbacks to Avoid (2026 Fantasy Football)

As the 2025-26 season comes to a close, it’s time to look ahead to the 2026-27 season and some quarterbacks fantasy football managers may want to consider avoiding.

Of course, this is as of February 2026, so a lot can happen between now and the start of the season, such as learning more about the new offensive systems, signing free agents, and drafting impact skill-position rookies.

Fantasy Football Quarterbacks to Avoid

Below, I’ll touch on three quarterbacks I recommend avoiding in 2026 fantasy football.

Patrick Mahomes (QB – KC)

We saw shades of Mahomes’ performance dipping in 2024 after throwing for fewer than 4,000 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.

Then, in 2025, he played 14 games, completing just 62.7% of his passes for 2,587 yards, 22 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and ran 64 times for 422 yards and five more scores.

Looking ahead to 2026, there’s an obvious elephant in the room: Mahomes tore his ACL toward the end of the season. While he should be back for Week 1, remember, he’ll be 31 around the start of the season, and right now his skill-position players are all the same, including another season of the aging Travis Kelce.

After going just 6-11, the Chiefs have a top 10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. One option that’s frequently mocked to them is Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. While there could be some trepidation around bringing in a running back with that high of a draft pick, Love has proven to be a dynamic running back who would provide an immediate upgrade over the current stable of backs.

Still, as Mahomes crosses into his 30s, coming off a torn ACL, and without knowing what additions or upgrades they’ll make to the skill position players, it’s a pass for now.

There is one silver lining, though: the Chiefs brought back Eric Bienemy as their offensive coordinator, a coach Mahomes is quite familiar with, as he was his offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2022, when Mahomes had some phenomenal seasons.

Baker Mayfield (QB – TB)

Heading into 2025, the concerning number for Mayfield was his 7.2% touchdown percentage in 2024, which was far higher than in any other season of his career. In 2023, that figure was just 4.9%, and in 2025, it came back down around there at 4.8%.

Mayfield dealt with injuries throughout the season, including an A/C joint sprain in his left shoulder.

He also saw Mike Evans get injured, saw Chris Godwin play in only nine games, and watchef his offensive line struggle.

New offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard was not quite what we saw with Liam Coen in 2024, and he was fired.

Now, the Buccaneers have brought in Zac Robinson as their new offensive coordinator. With Robinson coming in, this will now be the ninth offensive coordinator Mayfield has worked with in the NFL.

This team needs to address the offensive line, and we also need to see how Evans and Godwin are doing in terms of health and availability, alongside Egbuka, heading into the season.

C.J. Stroud (QB – HOU)

In his first season with Nick Caley as his offensive coordinator, Stroud completed 64.5% of his passes for 3,041 yards, 19 touchdowns, and eight interceptions across 14 games.

The offensive line struggled, allowing 227 pressures (11th in the NFL), and when Stroud was pressured, he completed just 46.4% of his passes for 940 yards (5.6 yards per attempt) with five touchdowns, eight interceptions, as well as 14 turnover-worthy plays.

These statistics don’t come from having a poor supporting cast. In fact, he had quite a nice roster of skill-position players, with Dalton Schultz, Nico Collins, Jayden Higgins, Jaylin Noel, and running back Woody Marks as a nice surprise.

This team needs to add some offensive line help, and Stroud needs to perform better under pressure.

For now, given what happened this season, Stroud is a hard pass for me.