Monday
My Top 10 Quarterbacks in 2016
Without a doubt in this fantasy gamer's mind, the number one fantasy quarterback heading into the 2016 season is Aaron Rodgers. The Packers quarterback had a down year in 2015, but still passed for over 3,800 yards and 31 touchdowns. Rodgers has been a top tier passer for the past 8 seasons and with one of his favorite targets (Jordy Nelson) returning in 2016, he should once again find himself at the top of the passing charts.
While Rodgers could lead the way in 2016, the Panthers quarterback Cam Newton won't be far behind. Newton exploded in 2015 with huge fantasy numbers passing for 3,837 yards and tossing 35 touchdowns. The versatile quarterback also added 10 rushing scores to go with 636 yards rushing.
My Top 10
1. Aaron Rodgers (GB) Best in the game.
2. Cam Newton (CAR) Another solid year for Cam.
3. Andrew Luck (IND) Bounce back season for Luck.
4. Drew Brees (NO) New weapons, another big season.
5. Carson Palmer (ARI) Plenty of big weapons to choose from.
6. Russell Wilson (SEA) He finds a way to make plays.
7. Ben Roethlisberger (PIT) A big arm with lots of weapons.
8. Tom Brady (NE) His suspension knocks him down a few slots.
9. Eli Manning (NYG) Coming off a nice 2015 campaign.
10.Blake Bortles (JAX) Has a nice compliment of weapons.
While the top 10 are the normal cast of fantasy characters, a couple of passers that could fill the spot in the later rounds of your draft are Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford. Both are falling well outside the top 10 ADP for quarterbacks and could offer near top 10 production in 2016.
The Falcons quarterback will benefit from having one of the leagues very best (Julio Jones) to throw to this season, so fantasy owners can expect another 4,000 yard-plus season from Ryan and better than the 21 touchdown passes a year ago.
Over in Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford has lost a big weapon in wide receiver (Megatron) Calvin Johnson, but with a weak running game (ranked last in 2015) fantasy owners can expect the former Georgia Bull Dog to put up another 600 passes this season. Stafford just missed the magic number of 600 by 8 passes in 2015 and over his past five seasons (with four of those seasons well over 600 attempts) Stafford has averaged more than 640 passing attempts per season.
Like Ryan, Stafford has not missed a start in his past five seasons (Ryan actually dates back through 2010) through the 2011 season. These two are reliable performers that you can count on week-in and week-out.
That's my take
~David G Ortega
