How to Draft a Quarterback: Expert Advice (2026 Fantasy Football)

Fantasy football expert Pat Fitzmaurice details his approach for the quarterback position in 2026 drafts. You can find all of his advice around quarterbacks in his quarterback primer and specifically his approach for 1QB and Superflex leagues.

Fantasy Football Draft Strategy, Targets & Avoids: Quarterbacks

Talent assessment is central to fantasy football. Which players are good, less good, or bad? We study it. We debate it. Talent assessment is the crux of the annual preparation for our drafts.

Assessing the talent of quarterbacks is relatively easy. The number of passes attempted by a starting quarterback over the course of a season far outnumbers the number of rushing attempts by any running back or the number of targets drawn by any wide receiver or tight end. We get big sample sizes at quarterback.

It’s also fairly obvious who’s good, less good, or bad.

Josh Allen is the Bills’ lead actor each week. He often has terrific games and rarely has bad ones.

The Panthers’ Bryce Young has never lived up to expectations as the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, and nothing about his 2025 performance suggested that a breakthrough is imminent.

With talent assessment a relatively easy task at quarterback, it should be easy to pick the good ones and avoid the bad ones, right?

Well, yes. But it’s structural drafting, not talent assessment, that typically determines the price point at which we acquire a quarterback.

By “structural drafting,” I mean the way in which we choose to allot our draft picks. Every pick has an opportunity cost. Picking a player at one position means bypassing players at other positions.

Structural drafting is about trying to get the most bang for our buck.

And generally, you can get the most bang for your buck by cutting corners at quarterback.

Why Spend Down at QB

Let’s start by dispelling the notion that we should spend up at quarterback in 1QB leagues because quarterbacks score more points than players at other positions.

It’s not the point total that matters. It’s the point totals of the top quarterbacks relative to those of second- and third-tier quarterbacks.

In 2025 fantasy drafts, the first quarterback was taken 23rd overall, according to FantasyPros ADP. The 12th quarterback drafted had an average draft position of 102nd overall. Last year’s QB1 in fantasy points per game (eight games minimum) averaged 22.0 FPPG. Last year’s QB12 in fantasy points per game averaged 18.0 FPPG – a 4.0-point gap.

Our ADP data from 2025 says the first running back chosen immediately after the QB1 was RB12 in draft position. The first running back chosen immediately after the QB12 was RB37 in draft position. Last year’s RB12 in fantasy points per game (0.5 PPR, eight games minimum) averaged 14.1 FPPG. Last year’s RB37 averaged 8.0 FPPG – a 6.1-point gap.

This isn’t to say that it’s always best to spend down at quarterback. There are years when the value gap between the upper-class QBs and the middle-class QBs is substantial.

But 2026 doesn’t appear to be one of those years.

Some of the upper-class QBs have lost a bit of luster. Lamar Jackson is coming off a substandard, injury-marred year. Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels both missed more than half of their teams’ games last season. Drake Maye took advantage of a weak 2025 schedule by feasting on bad opponents, then struggled against good defenses in the playoffs. Even consensus QB1 Josh Allen hit six-year lows in passing yardage and TD passes last year.

Quarterbacks who put up impressive fantasy numbers for all or part of the 2025 season – Trevor Lawrence, Jaxson Dart, Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford – can be had in the late seventh round or beyond.

The Right Time to Spend Up

There is a caveat to the cost-conscious approach to the QB position: In leagues where nearly everyone spends down at the position, spending up might make sense.

This is a phenomenon often seen in leagues full of fantasy analysts. Most of them believe spending down at quarterback is the right thing to do. But that sometimes creates bargains.

Jayden Daniels might be a fourth-round pick in a lot of home leagues. In a league full of fantasy analysts, Daniels might last until the seventh round and could be a value because of the lower opportunity cost.

This is a generalization, but as someone who plays in leagues against all levels of competitors, I’ve found it to be true:

The sharper the competition, the later quarterbacks generally go in drafts, and the greater the benefit to being among the first to draft one.

Sometimes it makes sense to zag when everyone else is zigging.

The Importance of QB Rushing

Most fantasy managers understand how valuable it can be to have a quarterback who posts significant rushing stats.

Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Jalen Hurts have been the elite QBs in recent years, largely because they’ve produced gaudy rushing numbers. Allen and Hurts have both scored double-digit rushing touchdowns in three of the last four years. Jackson is the all-time leader in QB rushing yardage and hasn’t turned 30 yet.

The importance of QB rushing value is magnified in years where passing numbers are down, and they were way down last year.

Passing yardage hit a 20-year low in 2025. Teams averaged 209.7 passing yards and 1.5 TD passes per game, according to Pro Football Reference. Those were the most anemic per-game passing numbers since 2006, when teams averaged 204.8 passing yards and 1.3 TD passes per game.

Passing numbers aren’t likely to increase this year, now that the NFL seems to be entering the Tight End Era.

The usage of 12 personnel, with two tight ends on the field, has risen for four consecutive years, reaching 22% last year.

The Rams, who have one of the best offenses in the league, used 13 personnel, with three tight ends on the field, on 30.5% of their offensive snaps last season.

This year’s NFL Draft was a TE-palooza, with 17 tight ends drafted in the first five rounds.

More tight ends on the field generally means more running and less throwing. Less throwing means rushing will account for a greater percentage of total QB production.

Now more than ever, it’s good to have a fantasy quarterback who runs effectively.