Over my years in the dynasty space, I have come to think about rankings quite differently than others. I’ve always thought of rankings in three tiers in dynasty, which will go hand in hand in explaining my Top 10 Dynasty Startup Quarterbacks for the 2020 NFL Season.
- Startup Rankings – How to draft in your original startup
- Competing or Win Now Rankings – How to value players if your team can compete for a title.
- Rebuilding Rankings – How to value players if your team needs a reboot or simply cannot compete for a championship.
Top 10 Dynasty Startup Quarterbacks for 2020
Today, I start the first in a four-part series that will dive into my Top 10 rankings at each position for startup drafts. My general philosophy for dynasty startups is to trend with youth and let your opponents take the players at or beyond their positions age cliffs.
Having a team full of the high scoring players that are older is great for a year or two, but after that, you are left with depreciated assets scoring no points and likely left in a situation that can take years to recover from. Trending with young players that have shown they can produce is my preferred dynasty startup tactic.
Let’s get started by talking about my personal Top 10 Dynasty Startup Quarterbacks for the 2020 NFL Season.
1. Patrick Mahomes
Some might argue for Lamar Jackson over Patrick Mahomes, but they would be wrong, in my opinion. Mahomes is an elite level of talent as we have ever seen at the position and is surrounded by players that are at the top of their games. His adjusted yards per pass attempt in 2018 led the league, and in an injury-plagued 2019, he finished third in the NFL. Mahomes has just enough rushing capabilities added on to the immense arm talent he possesses to make him as my clear top quarterback in your dynasty startups.
2. Lamar Jackson
Lamar Jackson had an incredible 2019 season, but I truly think he has had the best fantasy season of his career. His touchdown percentage of nine percent is bound to come down, and I’d bet the under on him ever hitting 1200 rushing yards again for his career. The Baltimore Ravens would be very smart to keep him out of harm’s way as the years progress.
Related | 2020 Superflex and 1QB Dynasty Rankings
He is still my number two dynasty startup quarterback. However, just dial back your expectations moving forward just a tad as the 2019 season as a whole seems nearly unrepeatable in all facets.
3. Kyler Murray
Age matters in dynasty startups. Kyler Murray is four years younger than Dak Prescott, which really is the sole reason I have him one spot ahead of him here. Murray put up one of the best college seasons in history at quarterback in 2018, got drafted number one overall, and went on to have one of the better rookie seasons in history in the NFL.
He threw for 300+ yards five times and set a rookie record with 211 consecutive pass attempts without an interception. Now, he has an elite WR talent in DeAndre Hopkins to throw to for the next few years along with a number of other weapons.
4. Dak Prescott
Dak is eventually going to get the long-term deal in Dallas, and with perhaps the best WR corps in the league looks poised to be a Top 5 quarterback year after year for the foreseeable future. Add in 21 rushing touchdowns over the past four years, and you have a true fantasy force just entering his prime with a long career ahead of him.
5. Deshaun Watson
Watson was my number three dynasty startup QB heading into the 2019 season, but with the loss of DeAndre Hopkins and a Head Coach/GM/Supreme Leader that seems to make some non-ideal decisions, I have dropped him down to number five. Honestly, I wouldn’t argue if you put Russell Wilson ahead of him, either.
Watson has never had to play without Hopkins, who is one of the true alphas left at wide receiver. The loss of such a perennial player dings him just a little, but it’s hard to discount him much more with almost 1000 yards rushing and 12 rushing touchdowns over the past two years.
6. Russell Wilson
If the Seattle Seahawks had any sense, Russell Wilson could be in the mix for top fantasy QB every season. However, even with the sixth-highest team rushing rate in 2019, Wilson still finished as the QB4 with extreme efficiency and reasonable rushing production.
Related | Seahawks need to focus on Wilson more than the running game
He has thrown 66 touchdowns over the past two seasons to just 12 interceptions. Wilson looks like a very strong bet to produce yet again this season and beyond, with a pair of stud wide receivers and a defense that will allow him to be in some shootouts.
7. Carson Wentz
The Philadelphia Eagles selected Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft, which may have some people questioning Wentz’s future in Philadelphia. I am not one of those people. Wentz has been elite since entering the league and just dropped 4,000+ yards in 2019 with a bunch of jabronis at WR. Wentz will be 28 when the season ends, and while he has had his fair share of injuries, his production when healthy is simply too good to drop him any further than this in my eyes.
8. Josh Allen
Josh Allen is not one of better throwers in the league as a pure passer, but we are dealing in fantasy production, which means his rushing production trumps his accuracy. His role as the goal line back has seen him accumulate 17 rushing touchdowns over the past two years along with 1100+ yards on the ground in that span to go with it. Allen has a few big-play receivers on the outside this year before John Brown possibly becomes a cap casualty. He also has a good enough defense to keep the team in games to make up for his mistakes.
9. Daniel Jones
If Daniel Jones can solve his fumbling issues (he led the league with 18), he looks poised for a big season, which will only further cement him inside the Top 10 QB’s in dynasty startups moving forward.
Jones posted four games of over 28 fantasy points last season, while also dealing with a myriad of injuries to his skill position players throughout the year. If you can predict everyone getting injured again around him, I’ll tip my hat to you, but with an extremely good skill position crew around him and a defense that is likely to be in the bottom half of the league, I’m all in on Jones in dynasty right now.
10. Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow just put together what might go down as the greatest season by a quarterback in college football history. He’s going to start from day one while having a reasonably solid set of skill position players around him to help him turn into an NFL superstar.
The Cincinnati Bengals also get their first-round pick from 2019 back on the offensive line with Jonah Williams due back from a torn labrum that knocked him out all of last year. Williams was the first offensive lineman taken in the 2019 draft, and he will be a welcome addition to an offensive line that was below average across the board last year in a lost season. Burrow also has some rushing ability, which is something that all of my top 10 quarterbacks have, and it is becoming a staple to finding elite fantasy play at the position now.
There you have it! My Top 10 Dynasty Startup Quarterbacks for the 2020 NFL Season. Keep an eye out over the next few weeks as I go through the rest of the positions, as I generally have some stronger takes than most out there for rankings.
Brit Devine is a fantasy contributor at ProFootballNetwork. Follow him on Twitter @brit_devine as well as @PFN365 and @PFNDynasty for all the latest fantasy news.