Fantasy Football 2016: Quarterback Rankings, Sleepers and Risks to Avoid

Wait. That’s the counsel you’ll often hear when it comes to drafting quarterbacks in fantasy football.

We’ve witnessed an interesting shift in the disparity between the real and fantasy football markets over the past several seasons. As one of the rarest commodities in the league, starting quarterbacks are more important and precious than ever in the real NFL, but in fantasy football, the position has been devalued. In the NFL, the franchise tag for quarterbacks is nearly 30 percent higher than the next-closest position, per ESPN.com. 

It’s just the application of basic economic principles. The majority of fantasy football leagues are comprised of either 10 or 12 teams, lessening the burden on the market to supply starting-caliber talent at the position. Simply put, the quarterback position has been devalued due to the fact that the vast majority of fantasy leagues ask managers to start one signal-caller per week, as opposed to the 32 the NFL demands. 

This isn’t to say quarterbacks aren’t important in fantasy football; they are. Last season saw the Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newtown deliver MVP-worthy production in both real and imaginary football, as his 23.3 fantasy points per game in ESPN standard leagues were tops for the year and stand as the sixth-best season at the position since 2001.

The reason Newton’s season was so beneficial to his fantasy investors was the massive profit margin his production provided in 2015, as he was drafted …

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