We're so back. I watched so much terrible football this weekend. We've never been more back -- the FFT Newsletter will be hitting your inbox every weekday this week. Positional rankings updates, followed by Sleepers on Friday, coming your way. If you haven't already, you can sign up for free! Thanks for being here. It's draft season. Regular season action will be here in the blink of an eye!
QB strategy
Check out the Beyond the Boxscore QB strategy playlist: QB Advice BTB Playlist!
You can find my 2026 QB rankings here (and here are Superflex rankings, if you need those! I shift "safe" QBs up the board in superflex, while riskier picks like Malik Willis and Kyler Murray move down). You'll notice I'm well above consensus on several late-round quarterbacks -- Murray, Willis, Baker Mayfield, and Jared Goff, to name a few.
2026 Fantasy Football QB Strategy from Jacob Gibbs:
I've done a ton of drafts this summer, and by far, my favorites have been the ones where I waited as long as possible to select a QB. If you check out the 'QB Advice' playlist that I curated on the Beyond the Box Score YouTube page, you'll find a video titled 'Anatomy of a League-Winner' - the research detailed by Ryan Heath there illustrates clearly why waiting at the position is probably the winning approach in drafts.
Furthermore, this year specifically feels extremely deep at QB. There are legitimately 5-10 quarterbacks being selected outside of the top-six who I feel could be extremely productive for Fantasy purposes. Some of them are available in the final round of Fantasy Football drafts.
2026 Player Takes at QB from Jacob Gibbs:
Favorite Sleeper - Malik Willis
Why is a QB who might legitimately be the league's most potent rusher at the position available to us in the final round of drafts? We know QB rushing is a cheat code.
Willis is a free-upside no-lose lottery ticket. I don't buy lottery tickets. But if you handed me one for free, I'd scratch it.
Imagn Images Favorite Faller - Justin Herbert
I feel great any time that I land Herbert, Caleb Williams, or Trevor Lawrence in the later rounds. I'm targeting Rounds 9-11 as a range where picking a QB becomes palatable. I truly prefer to wait as long as possible. If one of those three fall to that range, I'm pumped. If not, I keep waiting. Brock Purdy is my next target. We can call him "Plan B." And even beyond that, I have plenty of "Plan C" picks.
Favorite Plan B - Baker Mayfield
'Quarterback' on Netflix was a pretty solid watch again, this year. Particularly, the Baker portion was a good reminder as to just how disadvantageous his circumstances were in 2025. His offensive line was in shambles from the get-go. His top-five receivers all dealt with injuries. So did his star running back. So did Baker. His offensive coordinator did not do enough to retain employment, to speak kindly about his work. Oh, and just for funsies, the universe threw a couple of monsoons Baker's way too.
Before sustaining multiple injuries, Mayfield was near the top of the MVP race. His torrid 2024 Fantasy Football pace appeared to be sustained through the first month-ish of the 2025 season. For the second-straight season, Mayfield was arguably the most effective scrambler in the entire NFL.
What can Zac Robinson do for the Bucs in 2026? We didn't get to see him work with a QB of Baker's caliber in Atlanta. Robinson says he talks to Liam Coen "almost every day," so could we see a return to something resembling the 2024 form for Tampa Bay? At this price point (free, basically), Mayfield feels like a great Plan B or Plan C or whatever you wanna call it.
Other backup plans at QB that I like include Bo Nix and Jared Goff. I'm even fine with Tyler Shough, if need be. He could score a lot of points this year if last year's red zone rushing role carries over to 2026. There's a lot to like at QB this year. So don't force it - in my opinion, that's the winning strategy this year - let it come to you.
There's a lot to like on the Beyond the Box Score feed, too, if you didn't know. It'll come to you just about every day from now until the September 9 season opener. You can also find player-specific deep dives on the likes of Shough, Cam Ward, Jaxson Dart, and many more! Go binge all of it! Let's win some leagues! Let's go.
Add CBS Sports on Google Join the Conversation comments
