In most cases, you only need one. That doesn’t mean it’s not a big decision, though. When you decide to draft your quarterback could create large, downstream impacts on your 2026 fantasy football roster construction. This is the part of the process where there’s more to drafting than strictly off your overall rankings. Of course, this applies more to the larger overall picture, than just at the quarterback position, but following tiers here should guide you to making a better decision for your roster.
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Quarterback Tiers for 2026 Fantasy Football
Tier One
- Josh Allen
Yes, Allen is truly in a class by himself. If everything breaks correctly, Allen can be a league winner if he performs as expected. To be clear, other than injury, there’s no reason to expect that not to happen, so we can proceed accordingly. The problem though, is balancing opportunity cost at running back and wide receiver.
Tier Two
- Drake Maye
- Lamar Jackson
- Joe Burrow
- Caleb Williams
- Jayden Daniels
Welcome to the tier of opportunity cost. Even if you don’t agree with my order, these are the next best quarterbacks after Allen. The issue, though, is what you are missing at running back and wide receiver should you pull the trigger on one of these options at their ADP (around rounds five to seven). The upside is largest here, but the floor is pretty good as well. For me to work in this tier, the value needs to come to me. This isn’t the time or place to get caught up in a run as there are still a lot of good things left to be found.
Tier Three
- Jalen Hurts
- Trevor Lawrence
- Justin Herbert
- Jaxson Dart
- Dak Prescott
This takes us through the top-11 quarterbacks. In most leagues, the majority of teams (10 of 10 or 11 of 12) should have secured their starting quarterbacks. Unless you are in a league that allows you to start more than one quarterback, there’s no world in which I support drafting a backup quarterback at this point. In fact, at least to begin the season, I’m not sure that I’m even rostering a backup quarterback.
While I stand by my rankings, we know that there are going to be quarterbacks ranked after this point that outperform one of my top-11 options. The key, of course, is to find which one. Again, if this is how you choose to build your roster, I have no issues continuing to wait and take who you feel most comfortable with.
You know what you are getting with Hurts, Herbert, and Prescott, and both Dart and Lawrence offer some real upside. Just don’t go chasing it.
Tier Four
- Brock Purdy
- Matthew Stafford
- Baker Mayfield
- Patrick Mahomes
The upside might not be here, but the track record of production certainly is. These players will all be rostered for most of the season, and are fine consolation prizes for those who miss out on the above option. However, this is when I start to think about rostering a backup quarterback as well.
Tier Five
- Bo Nix
- Jared Goff
- Tyler Shough
- Jordan Love
- Malik Willis
- CJ Stroud
- Bryce Young
- Cam Ward
Yes, the quarterback position is deep. Sure, there are some real questions, especially as we get to the end of this tier, but there’s real upside as well. If you want to chase some real upside or draft a solid backup, this is a fine place to be.
Shough could truly be ready to take the next steps, and the same can be said about Young. There’s less optimism, but perhaps more talent, with Ward. It’s unclear, likely a lot, how much Willis will run, and that could move him up these ranks as well.
I feel like it’s easy, at times, to forget about Love and Goff, but in the right matchups, they’ll create very happy fantasy football managers. And let’s see how a healthy Nix looks with another year of Sean Payton.
Tier Six
- Sam Darnold
- Kyler Murray
- Daniel Jones
There’s more risk, and less upside, here than with others. I’m not truly fond of any, but there’s a chance a healthy Murray (paired with Justin Jefferson) proves me wrong. At least keep these guys on your radar.
Tier Seven
- Jacoby Brissett
- Fernando Mendoza
- Geno Smith
- Aaron Rodgers
- Tua Tagovalioa
- Deshaun Watson
There are going to be leagues, super flex, and maybe 16-plus, where each of the above is rostered. Maybe you catch them on a good week, based on bye weeks and matchups, but that’s about it. In most leagues, none of these options should be on your radar, though.
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