4 Dynasty Rookie Draft Sleepers: Quarterbacks (Fantasy Football)

Let’s dive into a few of Derek Brown’s favorite dynasty rookie draft sleepers at the quarterback position. And you can check out DBro’s full Dynasty Rookie Draft Primer for Quarterbacks for his analysis of the entire 2026 NFL Draft class at QB.

Dynasty Rookie Draft Sleepers: Quarterbacks

Cole Payton (QB – North Dakota State)

Stats:

2025 (Minimum 150 Dropbacks Among FBS/FCS Quarterbacks)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 18th
aDOT: 6th
Yards Per Attempt: 1st
Big-Time Throw Rate: 1st

2025 Deep Passing (Minimum 20 Deep Passing Attempts)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 1st
Deep Throw Rate: 9th

Pressured Passing (Minimum 50 Pressured Dropbacks)

Pressure-Adjusted Completion Rate: 6th
Clean Pocket Adjusted Completion Rate: 59th
Clean Pocket Passer Rating: 4th

Scouting Report:

Cole Payton’s dual-threat ability jumps off the film immediately. Payton has 4.6 speed and the ability to make defenders miss. Payton is built like an athletic tight end, and he’s a load to bring down in the open field. He’s not the twitchiest rusher, but he can plant his foot and avoid tacklers when needed. His size/speed combo is extremely interesting. In his final collegiate season, he had 120 rushing attempts, 894 rushing yards and 13 rushing scores.
The North Dakota State passing offense was built around Payton’s mobility with plenty of run-pass option (RPO) plays and bootlegs. Payton will have a sizable learning curve with an NFL offense, but there are also moments in his collegiate offense that offer hope that the transition won’t be as hard as it seems. He wasn’t asked to regularly make full field reads, but there are moments where he did and quickly moved to his third and fourth option in a progression. Payton is a “see it, throw it” quarterback, but he also has some anticipatory passing moments. The passing offense was also shotgun-based, so under-center work will be a hurdle, but that’s also the case for many college quarterbacks these days.
Payton has a cannon for an arm. He has easy flip of the wrist velocity and the strength to drive the ball downfield. He exhibits touch when layering second-level throws and precision when ripping deep outs. He can place the ball accurately at all three levels. Payton has an NFL arm in terms of strength and touch.
Payton will have an adjustment with the speed of the NFL game and the throwing lanes. There are plenty of examples of him hanging on his first read and waiting for them to uncover and break wide open. He’ll have to pull the trigger earlier in the NFL or find comfort with more tight windows. Payton has a gunslinger mentality, which can work in his favor, but with the sizable jump in competition, the early days in the NFL for him could be rocky as he adjusts. There are some plays where he flees a clean pocket to make a play with his legs. His margin for error and the ability to pull a rabbit out of his hat in the NFL will be decreased. He’ll have to recalibrate some.

Player Comp: Steve McNair Upside (Ceiling)/Jake Locker Downside (Floor)

Garrett Nussmeier (QB – LSU)

Stats:

2025 (Minimum 150 Dropbacks)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 19th
aDOT: 145th
Yards Per Attempt: 109th
Big-Time Throw Rate: 65th

2025 Deep Passing (Minimum 20 Deep Passing Attempts)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 35th
Deep Throw Rate: 135th

Pressured Passing (Minimum 50 Pressured Dropbacks)

Pressure-Adjusted Completion Rate: 42nd
Clean Pocket Adjusted Completion Rate: 22nd
Clean Pocket Passer Rating: 89th

2024 (Minimum 150 Dropbacks)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 72nd
aDOT: 63rd
Yards Per Attempt: 46th
Big-Time Throw Rate: 50th

2025 Deep Passing (Minimum 20 Deep Passing Attempts)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 78th
Deep Throw Rate: 51st

Pressured passing (minimum 50 pressured dropbacks)

- Pressure-Adjusted Completion Rate: 28th
- Clean Pocket Adjusted Completion Rate: 99th
- Clean Pocket Passer Rating: 59th

2024 Scouting Report:

Garrett Nussmeier has easy velocity and arm strength. He can make every NFL throw. Nussmeier can layer second-level throws and has plenty of tight-window dots littering his film. His deep ball accuracy can be variable, but when he was locked in, his highlight throws were impressive. His accuracy on the move can be spotty, but when he has a clean pocket, he can also be surgical. He can throw from multiple arm angles depending upon the play and route depth.
Nussmeier moves through progressions quickly. It’s nothing to see him get to his second and third reads. He throws with anticipation and will routinely get the ball out before a wide receiver is out of their break.
His pocket awareness overall was solid, but there are times when he was late to feel the rush and adjust to the pressure by climbing the pocket or escaping.

2025 Scouting Report:

Nussmeier suffered an abdominal injury in the preseason practices, which seemed to impact his ability to torque his midsection. There are too many instances where he looks like a stiff statue in the pocket and is throwing with all his arm, while not following through on throws or driving the ball. It impacted his accuracy and the zip on the ball.
Nussmeier also dealt with patellar tendonitis and an ankle sprain. The patellar tendonitis was related to Osgood-Schlatter disease, and it could lead to chronic knee issues. This can’t be ruled out with his 2025 passing struggles, as he looked like a shell of the quarterback I saw on film in 2024.
Nussmeier retained easy and repeatable arm mechanics with a quick release. His accuracy was spotty, and his ball placement suffered.
A consistent problem in 2025 was his red-zone field vision. He would simply miss defenders trailing or sitting on routes in the middle of the field in zone coverage, which led to easy interceptions for defenses.
From 2024 to 2025, the worries also showed up in his analytics. His deep ball rate dropped from 16.4% to 10.4%. His screen rate increased from 12.3% to 20% as the offense relied upon more quick hitters and screens, with his arm strength becoming variable. His play-action rate also dipped from 27.1% to 22.6%.
If Nussmeier can recapture his 2024 form, he could develop into a solid NFL starter, but I worry that his medical issues might make that impossible.

Player Comp: Andy Dalton

Cade Klubnik (QB – Clemson)

Stats:

2025 (Minimum 150 Dropbacks)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 16th
aDOT: 97th
Yards Per Attempt: 58th
Big-Time Throw Rate: 86th

2025 Deep Passing (Minimum 20 Deep Passing Attempts)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 46th
Deep Throw Rate: 111th

Pressured Passing (Minimum 50 Pressured Dropbacks)

Pressure-Adjusted Completion Rate: 34th
Clean Pocket Adjusted Completion Rate: 12th
Clean Pocket Passer Rating: 69th

2024 (Minimum 150 Dropbacks)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 41st
aDOT: 67th
Yards Per Attempt: 64th
Big-Time Throw Rate: 31st

2025 Deep Passing (Minimum 20 Deep Passing Attempts)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 12th
Deep Throw Rate: 57th

Pressured Passing (Minimum 50 Pressured Dropbacks)

Pressure-Adjusted Completion Rate: 54th
Clean Pocket Adjusted Completion Rate: 44th
Clean Pocket Passer Rating: 23rd

Scouting Report:

Cade Klubnik can make plays with his legs. The speed and rushing ability show up immediately. Klubnik has a good feel for setting up defenders in the open field and following his blocks. If he can secure a starting job in the NFL, I wouldn’t be shocked if he churns out 400-500 rushing yards yearly.
He has an easy delivery with compact mechanics, a quick release, the ability to throw from multiple arm angles and the arm strength to make every NFL throw. When Klubnik is dialed in, he can put some pretty throws on film. He can layer the ball nicely to the second-level. His deep ball is quite good, but at times, he needs to put some more air under it to allow his receivers to adjust and run under these deep targets. Klubnik has plenty of reps as an anticipatory passer, especially with sideline comeback routes.
Klubnik will attempt some ill-advised throws at times with multiple defenders in the vicinity of his target, but he has the arm talent to pull them off. Yes, the results could be disastrous, but he has the arm talent to pull it out with nice touch, layering and sick ball placement. This could easily burn him in the NFL until he has a good grasp on the aggressiveness knob.
From 2024 to 2025, Clemson put more on his plate. In 2024, Klubnik operated with a heavy diet of first read, checkdown or designed run plays. In 2025, he was tasked with half and full field reads, and the results were uneven. At times, Klubnik would operate with good pace and move from his first to second read and so forth. There were also plenty of plays where he would lock on his first read for too long or move off it too quickly. His trigger is inconsistent.
His field vision can be erratic at times, where he’s simply not seeing options running wide open. There are plenty of plays in 2025 where he operated at a high level to think that he can eventually even this all out, but it’s a projection. There’s uncertainty with this part of his game, especially when transitioning to the NFL, where things will be faster and more complex on a number of levels.
Klubnik has solid pocket presence. He’ll stand tall versus the rush and deliver accurate passes. Klubnik can be cool and collected, delivering accurate passes from collapsing pockets. There are also several times where he’ll hold the ball for too long as he’s big-play hunting or locked onto one option, but he also has some nice off-script moments. His accuracy doesn’t suffer much from throwing on the move.
If Klubnik can put it all together, he has the raw talent to develop into a league-average or above-average starter.

Player Comp: Daniel Jones

Haynes King (QB – Georgia Tech)

Stats:

2025 (Minimum 150 Dropbacks)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 8th
aDOT: 136th
Yards Per Attempt: 35th
Big-Time Throw Rate: 78th

2025 Deep Passing (Minimum 20 Deep Passing Attempts)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 39th
Deep Throw Rate: 88th

Pressured Passing (Minimum 50 Pressured Dropbacks)

Pressure-Adjusted Completion Rate: 42nd
Clean Pocket Adjusted Completion Rate: 3rd
Clean Pocket Passer Rating: 29th

2024 (Minimum 150 Dropbacks)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 2nd
aDOT: 144th
Yards Per Attempt: 39th
Big-Time Throw Rate: 125th

2025 Deep Passing (Minimum 20 Deep Passing Attempts)

Adjusted Completion Rate: 11th
Deep Throw Rate: 140th

Pressured Passing (Minimum 50 Pressured Dropbacks)

Pressure-Adjusted Completion Rate: 46th
Clean Pocket Adjusted Completion Rate: 4th
Clean Pocket Passer Rating: 10th

Scouting Report:

Haynes King has the speed to continue to be a rushing threat in the NFL. His dual-threat ability is enticing. With his 4.46 40-yard dash speed, he averaged 143.3 carries and 759 rushing yards over his last three collegiate seasons. King isn’t a twitchy runner in the open field or a tackle-breaking monster, but he has good patience and vision that mesh well with his raw speed.
King doesn’t have a cannon for an arm, but he has enough arm strength to make every necessary throw. He plays point guard well, peppering the short and intermediate with accurate and layered throws. His ball placement can waver at times, but overall, he has solid accuracy. King has a quick release and a compact delivery. He has the raw arm strength to get the ball downfield when necessary. His deep ball is elevated by his strong ball placement.
King operated in a Georgia Tech offense that utilized RPOs, screens and quick hitters a ton. He was tasked with some half-field reads, but not a ton. Adjusting to an NFL playbook will take a second, but luckily for King, more of the collegiate concepts are being utilized in the NFL these days.
King doesn’t play with a ton of aggression, opting to take what the defense gives him on many plays. The moments when he does reach into the off-script bag, he can make some nice plays, buying time with his legs and lacing some nice throws into tight windows. I’d love to see him ramp up the playmaking aggression just a tad, but I won’t be mad at a quarterback that takes care of the ball. King had only a 1% turnover-worthy play rate in each of the last two seasons, with only eight interceptions total.
He can be late to feel the pass rush/pressure at times, but his mobility can help him out of some jams. Overall, King has solid pocket presence, and he’ll get to his checkdown quickly and keep the offense on schedule without churning negative plays. King isn’t someone that you’ll see crafting 5-7 plays a game with off-script wizardry.
King profiles as a game managing backup with the upside to possibly develop into a league average starter with dual threat ability if everything goes right.

Player Comp: Easton Stick Downside (Floor)/Turbo Brock Purdy Upside (Ceiling)