The 2025 season is just around the corner. Well, not actually, but fantasy football drafts are starting to ramp up, and quarterback rankings can be the difference between reaching on a low-end streamer and winning your leagues later in drafts. This list has tiers, draft strategy, and explanations to help you in 1QB leagues for 2025.
* Indicates a value at their current ADP.
2025 Fantasy Football Quarterback Rankings – Tiers and Draft Strategy
Worth Their Early Price
Josh Allen
Lamar Jackson
Jayden Daniels
Jalen Hurts
Late-round quarterback has been a strategy for a while now, but these four are showing why going early may be beneficial. Their rushing floor, combined with their abilities as passers, gives them the safety and the ceiling that can be difference-making.
Pricy or Undervalued
Joe Burrow
Kyler Murray
Justin Fields*
Bo Nix
Dak Prescott*
Joe Burrow is the only pocket passer with an early ADP that drafters should be confident in on their fantasy football quarterback rankings. The Cincinnati Bengals defense hasn’t improved at all. Both of his receivers are back, and the team looks ready to try to win shootouts every week. Murray, Fields, and Nix each provide a valuable rushing floor. They might not have the same passing ceiling as the early options, but their rushing ability should move them ahead of quarterbacks currently going earlier in drafts like Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield. Dak Prescott has been a value every season he’s stayed healthy, and the addition of George Pickens can help him return to his 2023 form.
Safe Pocket Passers and Mystery Box Youngsters
Patrick Mahomes
Caleb Williams
Baker Mayfield
Trevor Lawrence*
J.J. McCarthy*
Justin Herbert
Drake Maye
Brock Purdy
Jared Goff
Anthony Richardson*
Matthew Stafford
Jordan Love
C.J. Stroud
This is a giant tier. The main takeaway from this group is that if you don’t get one of the top guys, punting on quarterback can be a valid strategy again in 2025. Lawrence gets the addition of Travis Hunter, Maye has a rushing floor, but a rough ecosystem around him, and Caleb Williams may be in the best ecosystem in the league heading into year two. The younger quarterbacks here have a chance to vault up into the top eight this season, while guys like Patrick Mahomes and Jared Goff will provide steady output but without the huge, week-winning performances. When looking at the quarterbacks that Justin Jefferson has played with, J.J. McCarthy looks like a favorite to outperform his ADP in 2025.
Year in and year out, fantasy football managers push pocket passers into that QB7 through QB13 range in quarterback rankings, but predicting which ones will return value isn’t something the market does well. Drafters are currently copying and pasting Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff’s performances from last year, but both have had significant shakeups at offensive coordinator.
Anthony Richardson is the perfect target in a 1QB league late. If he improves to the point that he keeps the job, he is one of the best running quarterbacks in the league and has a deep ball that will bring a tear to your eye. If he doesn’t keep the job, there are normally plenty of options on the waiver wire to replace him, or you can double-tap quarterback with another player from this tier. He’s the highest risk, highest reward quarterback this season, and is basically free in fantasy drafts.
Streaming Options
Michael Penix Jr.
Tua Tagovailoa
Geno Smith
Cam Ward
Bryce Young
Sam Darnold
Each of these quarterbacks will have weeks they can be used, and for bye weeks or injuries to your starter, they will have some appeal. If Bryce Young continues on his pace at the end of last season, he can move up multiple tiers, but it was a small sample size with extremely positive game situations for fantasy.
Fantasy Football Quarterback Rankings – The Graveyard
Giants Quarterback
Saints Quarterback
Steelers Quarterback
Browns Quarterback
If you could draft an entire team’s quarterback room and have it take one roster spot, these teams would be more appealing. But between Jaxson Dart, Russell Wilson, Tyler Shough, Mason Rudolph, Joe Flacco, and Kenny Pickett, there are too many unknowns here to rely on in a 1QB league. Each will have their weeks, but they also have limited reliability on a week-by-week basis.
Main Photo Credit: Syndication: Arizona Republic