Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Quarterbacks (2026)

Underdog best ball drafts for the 2026 fantasy football season opened earlier this month, and I already have 24 drafts under my belt. I’ve maxed The Little Board, a 20-max contest with a $3 entry. I’ve also picked four teams in The Big Board, a $10 contest with a max of 150 entries. The following players are on 17% or more of my rosters.

Most-Rostered Best Ball Players: Feb 2026 (Fantasy Football)

Quarterbacks

Josh Allen finished as the QB1 in fantasy points per game (24.2) in 2023, the QB2 in fantasy points per game (22.6) in 2024 and the QB1 in fantasy points per game (22) in 2025. If you eliminate Week 18 in 2024 and 2025, when Allen took the game’s opening snaps to extend his start streak before watching the rest of those games from the sideline, he scored 24.1 points per game in 2024 and 23.4 points per game in 2025.

Allen’s dual-threat ability gives him a high floor and high ceiling, and it doesn’t appear the tush push will go anywhere.

More about NFL competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay saying Sunday that he is not anticipating an attempt to ban the tush push this year, one year after debate over the short-yardage play roiled the NFL, via @MikeReiss and @SeifertESPN:https://t.co/Z8z6lcZxzH

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 23, 2026

I don’t love the players around Allen’s average draft position (ADP), and I’m admittedly a Bills fan, making him an easy click. However, there are also non-fandom reasons for picking Allen around his ADP. His top incumbent stacking options have an ADP outside of the top 100, and gamers who speculate on some of the free agent wideouts, incoming rookies or possible trade candidates could end up with unique stacks with Allen if those speculative players end up in Buffalo.

My preferred roster construction features three quarterbacks, six to eight running backs, six to eight wide receivers and three tight ends. However, drafting Allen makes picking only one more quarterback, namely if they’re picked significantly earlier than their ADPs, easier to stomach.

J.J. McCarthy can’t be trusted as a QB2 on two-quarterback rosters. He’ll almost certainly face veteran competition for Minnesota’s starting quarterback gig. Nonetheless, last season was his first getting game action after missing his entire rookie season with a knee injury, and he played his best football at the end of the campaign.

McCarthy earned his two highest Pro Football Focus (PFF) passing grades in his final four games. Moreover, among 34 quarterbacks with at least 60 dropbacks from Week 14 through Week 18, McCarthy was 18th in PFF’s passing grade (72.3), second in big-time throw rate (8.9% BTT%) and tied for 13th in turnover-worthy play rate (2.8% TWP%).

McCarthy was also a contributor on the ground. According to Pro-Football-Reference, McCarthy averaged 18.1 rushing yards per game and scored four rushing touchdowns. He must clean up his sacks to stay healthy and avoid riding the pine, but McCarthy’s an intriguing QB3 in best ball and has a dirt-cheap ADP.

Trevor Lawrence flourished in his first season in Liam Coen’s offense. He scored over 20 fantasy points only twice before Jacksonville’s Week 8 bye. However, Lawrence was the QB1 in fantasy points per game (23.3) from Week 9 through Week 18, clearing 20 fantasy points per game in seven out of 10 contests. Lawrence also has a variety of stacking options with him.

Justin Herbert lost one of his starting tackles, Rashawn Slater, before the season even began. His other starting tackle, Joe Alt, had a snap share above 90% in only four games last season. According to the Fantasy Points data suite, Herbert recorded the following stats in the four games — Week 1 through Week 3 and Week 8 —that Alt was healthy enough to surpass a 90% snap share:

160 dropbacks
133 pass attempts
90 completions
67.7% completion rate
76.2% adjusted completion rate
1,087 passing yards (271.8 per game)
8.17 yards per pass attempt
7.67 adjusted net yards per pass attempt
9.2-yard average depth of target (aDOT)
9 passing touchdowns
2 interceptions
12 sacks (7.5% sack rate)
25 rush attempts (6.3 per game)
131 rushing yards (32.8 per game)
22.4 fantasy points per game

If Herbert averaged 22.4 fantasy points per game for the entire 2025 season, he would have finished as the QB1. Getting Slater and Alt back should do wonders for Herbert’s fantasy value. I intend to increase my exposure to him as I draft more pre-NFL Draft best ball squads.

Joe Burrow‘s exposure is largely tied to my exposure to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. He’s an excellent selection near his ADP with either or both of his superstar wide receivers.