2017 Fantasy Football Rankings AFC South: Quarterbacks
Heading into the 2017 fantasy football season, we take a look at each AFC South quarterback and build out our 2017 fantasy football rankings!
This is part three of an ongoing eight part Fantasy Football Rankings series for each division’s quarterback and their 2017 Fantasy Football outlook. This is one of the more interesting set of signal callers in the league. It has everything from an injured Pro Bowl fantasy star, to an intriguing rookie coming off a National Championship, to well……. Blake Bortles. There are gambles aplenty in this group. Bet right and daddy gets the “Rain Man Suite”. Bet wrong and your season could come up Snake Eyes by November. Let’s roll the dice and see what happens.
2017 Fantasy Football Rankings: Bet the House
For the first three years of Luck’s career, he showed steady improvement and viability as a Fantasy commodity. His ascension to Fantasy Football royalty came in 2014 when he threw for 4,761 yards 40 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Having to deal with the smugness of owners who held his rights in Dynasty Leagues was almost too much to bare. However, In the last two years, those smug looks have given way to concern and incredulity as injuries and an inept front office have conspired to derail one of the more promising Fantasy careers in recent memory.
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Former Colts GM Ryan Grigson’s failure to ever seriously address the protection upfront for Luck is well documented. The results of ignoring the offensive line left Luck dealing with a slew of injuries the last two seasons. The laundry list includes an abdomen tear, a lacerated kidney and the coup de grace, a shoulder injury suffered in 2015 that the former number one pick finally had surgery for this past offseason.
The Colts continue to state that Luck will be ready for the start of the season but no firm timetable has been set for his return. If healthy, Luck should find himself in an upright position much more often in 2017. New GM Chris Ballard has made the development of a cohesive offensive line his top priority and will lean on the interior trio of Anthony Castonzo, Jack Mewhort and Ryan Kelly to bring stability to the unit.
The Colts have plenty of weapons at the skill positions for Luck to target. T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief and Phillip Dorsett will provide adequate targets for Luck on the outside and 4th round rookie running back Marlon Mack (South Florida) will give the offense another option coming out of the backfield.
Get ready for those smug looks to return to your friends faces as Luck returns to his rightful place as one of the top QB1 in Fantasy Football this year.
2017 Fantasy Football Rankings: Rolling a Hard 8
Mariota is one of the most intriguing 2017 fantasy football quarterbacks in the league. He is also one of the biggest gambles out there. He brings a rare playmaking ability that few at the position possess, evident by his 330 points scored in standard formats last year. Mariota has shown an ability to be better then the pieces around him as he has put up very good numbers despite a receiving core that has been just ordinary.
Mariota also brings the added dimension of being able to use his legs, a quality that has seen him rush for just over 600 yards and 4 touchdowns in his two years in the league. However, like with many gifts, there can also be a curse. For Mariota, that curse is his seeming susceptibility to injury.
Despite playing behind one of the most stout and talented offensive lines in the league and having one of the most potent rushing attacks behind him, Mariota has missed 5 games due to injury in two seasons.
Last season saw him suffer a broken fibula in week 16, an injury that required surgery and a long rehab. The good news is that Mariota has made a full recovery and was a full participant at last weeks OTA’s.
However, until he proves otherwise, you have to operate under the assumption that you are not going to get a full season from him. Mariota is a mid level QB1 with tremendous upside and is a cornerstone in a dynasty league, but if you commit to having him as your starter it would be wise to invest in a quality backup in case the injury bug bites yet again.
Although there is some risk, rolling the dice on Mariota is a gamble worth taking.
2017 Slow Playing Your Hand
Last season The Houston Texans were a Super Bowl caliber team in every regard. Well every regard except at the one position that really mattered. Quarterback. It seems like Head Coach Bill O’Brien and GM Rick Smith have been looking for this piece of the puzzle forever. Last seasons Brock Osweiler experiment was expensive and short lived as he was jettisoned to the Browns prior to the draft.
With Tom Savage being the only quarterback of note on the roster, the Texans made the move up in the draft to acquire the National Champion from Clemson at number 12 overall. While Watson might already be the best quarterback on the Texans roster, he doesn’t come without significant risk. He was not the consensus number 1 quarterback in this draft and scouting reports on him were all over the place. His tendency to turn the ball over and his overall accuracy were two concerns that had many teams questioning his ability to succeed at the next level.
While I definitely would not recommend using an early selection on Watson in traditional leagues he could be worth a late round flyer as a QB2. He makes much more sense for owners in a Dynasty league, especially if you already have an established QB1 and don’t have to start him right away
Watson is definitely going to get his opportunities in Houston and he is going to be surrounded by some of the best talent in the league when he does.
DeAndre Hopkins is one of the most dangerous receivers in the game and Will Fuller, while dropping a few too many passes, is also a viable deep threat. The running game is solid with Lamar Miller and rookie D’Onta Foreman rolling behind a solid line. Add to the mix the number one defense from a year ago and Watson should be in a position to post solid if not spectacular numbers in his rookie year.
While that may not lead to a 2017 fantasy football title for you this year, drafting and stashing Watson may have a big payoff in the future.
2017 Fantasy Football: A Suckers Bet
Bortles was nothing more then fools gold for 2017 fantasy football owners last season. After a 2015 campaign that saw him throw for 4,500 yards and 35 touchdowns, many were ready to rank him as the best QB to come out of the 2014 class. However, a deeper dive into those numbers revealed some serious flaws in his gem of a season. Most of Bortles fantasy points in 2015 accumulated during the 4th quarters of games in which the Jags were being blown out and defenses were playing soft.
A look at Bortles career numbers show this to be the norm and not the anomaly. He has routinely struggled to put up decent numbers in the first three quarters of the game, only to miraculously fill up the stat sheet in the final frame.
Most people probably think, in fantasy football points are points, who cares when you get them. However as 2016 proved, this is just not a model that is built for 2017 fantasy football success. Many owners bought into the hype last year and as a result Bortles went way too early in a lot of drafts.
Even the Jags are beginning to question whether or not the former third overall pick is their longterm starter. There was a lot of chatter in regards to Jacksonville not picking up Bortles 5th year option and there has also been the annual “Fix Blake’s Throwing Motion”talk.
The really frustrating thing about Bortles is the abundance of weapons he has that he fails to make use of on a consistent basis. The receiving core of Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns, Marquise Lee and rookie speedster Dede Westbrook is talented and deep. The running back position also has a ton of potential with rookie Leonard Fournette and Chris Ivory.
I’m not saying Bortles is the worst QB in the league. He will make a perfectly good QB2, bye week pickup or short term injury replacement, but he is not the up and coming fantasy star that many thought he was going to be last year. Draft him late or not at all.
Next: Fantasy Football 2017 Top 10 Rookie Wide Receivers
Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your fantasy football rankings as we head towards the start of the NFL season!