--- title: 2026 Fantasy Football QB Rankings: Odds, Draft Values, and Players to Target description: See which quarterbacks offer the best value in 2026 fantasy football drafts, from Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson to breakout candidate Jaxson Dart. canonical: https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/fantasy-football-qb-rankings-when-to-pass/ author: Annie Nader article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-20T14:30:57.128Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-20T14:29:03.433Z og:title: 2026 Fantasy Football QB Rankings: Odds, Draft Values, and Players to Target og:description: See which quarterbacks offer the best value in 2026 fantasy football drafts, from Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson to breakout candidate Jaxson Dart. og:url: https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/fantasy-football-qb-rankings-when-to-pass/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt519e2e5c1edd2176/6a7fca4c2067058312413d13/GettyImages-2288322479.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2288322479.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2026 Fantasy Football QB Rankings: Odds, Draft Values, and Players to Target twitter:description: See which quarterbacks offer the best value in 2026 fantasy football drafts, from Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson to breakout candidate Jaxson Dart. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt519e2e5c1edd2176/6a7fca4c2067058312413d13/GettyImages-2288322479.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- The information presented here is created independently from the TIME editorial staff.  * [Prediction Market](/partner-content/prediction-markets/) # Fantasy Football QB Rankings: When to Pass by [Annie Nader](https://time.com/author/annie-nader/) Prediction Markets Analyst Aug 20, 2026 2:30 PM UTC  Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens practices on the first day of training camp at Under Armour Performance Center Baltimore Ravens in Owings Mills, Maryland on July 29, 2026. Lamar Jackson #8 of the Baltimore Ravens practices on the first day of training camp at Under Armour Performance Center Baltimore Ravens in Owings Mills, Maryland on July 29, 2026.Jamie Sabau—Getty Images by [Annie Nader](https://time.com/author/annie-nader/) Prediction Markets Analyst Aug 20, 2026 2:30 PM UTC Fantasy football has a reputation for turning perfectly reasonable adults into obsessives who work the waiver wire like it's a second job. The numbers tell a more wholesome story: [an estimated 53 million Americans](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/fantasy-sports-statistics/) played fantasy sports last year, [44%](https://www.forbes.com/sites/donyaeger/2025/08/12/how-fantasy-football-can-provide-real-workplace-benefits/) competed with coworkers, and [83%](https://www.forbes.com/sites/donyaeger/2025/08/12/how-fantasy-football-can-provide-real-workplace-benefits/) said the game helped them stay connected to people they might not otherwise keep up with. But for newcomers—those in office leagues who just realized they'll be on the clock in an hour—that camaraderie comes with a learning curve. So for anyone who missed training camp, we'll start at quarterback: the position everyone recognizes but few know when to draft. Industry consensus projections provide the conventional pecking order, while Kalshi's lightly traded market offers a more speculative look at who could finish as QB1\. Here's what both suggest about who could be the top performer in fantasy football this season and which quarterbacks are worth their draft-day price. ## **2026 Fantasy Football QB Rankings** Below are the [odds for who will finish as the top-scoring quarterback in fantasy football](https://kalshi.com/markets/kxranklistffqb/top-fantasy-football-qb/kxranklistffqb-27?op%5Fmarket%5Fticker=KXRANKLISTFFQB-27-JALLEN17) this season. The market is based on [ESPN's points per reception (PPR) scoring](https://fantasy.espn.com/football/leaders).  Quarterback is the most important position in the real world and one of the easiest to overvalue in fantasy. The scoring gap between an elite quarterback and a lower-end starter can be surprisingly modest. Last season, [162 fantasy points](https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/reports/leaders/rb.php) separated the RB1 from the RB10, compared with just [74 points](https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/reports/leaders/qb.php) between the QB1 and QB10\. Yet league-winning quarterbacks exist: Lamar Jackson appeared on 38% of [ESPN championship-round rosters](https://www.espn.com/fantasy/football/story/%5F/id/43142098/fantasy-football-championship-round-2024-most-common-players-rosters-jackson-barkley-chase) in 2024, the highest rate of any player. Preseason projections and Kalshi's market agree on the top two names for this season: Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. [FantasyPros' consensus projections](https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/projections/qb.php?max-yes=false&min-yes=&week=draft) rank Allen first with 372.3 points and Jackson second with 324.8 points, while Kalshi traders favor the same order. That status comes at a steep draft-day price. [Average draft position (ADP)](https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/adp/qb.php) measures where a player is typically selected across fantasy drafts. Allen is currently being drafted as the QB1 at pick 18 overall, while Jackson is going as the QB2 at pick 34 overall. They are the only quarterbacks with ADPs inside the first five rounds of a standard 10-team league. Allen's durability and dual-threat nature have earned him a top-two finish at the position in six straight seasons. He's rushed for 1,634 yards and 41 touchdowns across his past three campaigns—Derrick Henry is the only player with [more rushing scores](https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/football/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&match=player%5Fseason%5Fcombined&year%5Fmin=2023&year%5Fmax=2025&positions%5B%5D=qb&positions%5B%5D=rb&ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&cstat%5B1%5D=rush%5Ftd) in that span. Allen is the definition of high-floor, high-ceiling, though James Cook's growing workload could chip away at his value. Cook is one of the most talented running backs in the league, but the Buffalo Bills tamed him to just a [44.5% snap rate](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2024-snap-counts.htm) in 2024\. The Bills loosened the reins last season: Cook [played 56.5% of the snaps](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/buf/2025-snap-counts.htm), led the league with 1,621 rushing yards, and ranked second with 5.2 yards per carry. At 26, Cook could be in line for his highest-usage season yet, including a larger share of Buffalo's goal-line carries. That may not prevent Allen from finishing as QB1, but even a modest decline in rushing scores could leave him short of the value implied by his top-20 ADP. Jackson, meanwhile, comes at the kind of discount that often follows an injury-marred campaign. He [missed four games](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/%5F/id/47517672/ravens-players-back-qb-lamar-jackson-difficult-season) and, even on a points-per-game basis, ended the year as the QB16\. Fantasy managers have responded by pushing his overall ADP down ten spots from a year ago. Kalshi's low-volume market breaks from consensus with Jaxson Dart. The New York Giants quarterback is tied for fourth in the QB1 market despite an ADP of QB9 at pick 92 overall. The sparse trading limits how much weight to place on Kalshi's market, but Dart's placement fits a recent fantasy trend: three sophomore quarterbacks—Drake Maye, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix—[outperformed their ADPs](https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/adp/qb.php?year=2025) last season. Dart already flashed the part of a second-year leap that is hardest to manufacture: rushing production. He ran for 487 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie, leaving room for his fantasy value to grow as his passing develops and [Malik Nabers returns](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7467014/2026/07/23/ny-giants-malik-nabers-training-camp-pup/). The Big Blue optimism extends beyond Kalshi: FantasyPros' [projections](https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/projections/qb.php?max-yes=false&min-yes=&week=draft) rank Dart seventh among quarterbacks. Dart does not need to outscore Allen or Jackson to offer better draft value. That is the call at quarterback: everyone in the office league will recognize the names, but the edge belongs to the manager who knows when to pass. --- ## Read more from Prediction Markets [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/) [Open article: The Rumor That Repriced the Bond Market](https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/the-rumor-that-repriced-the-bond-market/)  ### The Rumor That Repriced the Bond Market [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/the-rumor-that-repriced-the-bond-market/) [Open article: Can the Market Scoop Marvel?](https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/can-the-market-scoop-marvel/)  ### Can the Market Scoop Marvel? [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/can-the-market-scoop-marvel/) [Open article: NFL MVP Starts (and Ends) Under Center](https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/the-nfl-mvp-race-starts-and-ends-under-center/)  ### NFL MVP Starts (and Ends) Under Center [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/the-nfl-mvp-race-starts-and-ends-under-center/) --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/fantasy-football-qb-rankings-when-to-pass/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/fantasy-football-qb-rankings-when-to-pass/"},"headline":"Fantasy Football QB Rankings: When to Pass","datePublished":"2026-08-20T14:30:57.128Z","dateModified":"2026-08-20T14:29:03.433Z","description":"Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson lead the QB1 race, but costly ADPs—and Jaxson Dart's breakout potential—could make patience the winning strategy.","url":"https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/fantasy-football-qb-rankings-when-to-pass/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt519e2e5c1edd2176/6a7fca4c2067058312413d13/GettyImages-2288322479.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Annie Nader","jobTitle":"Prediction Markets Analyst","url":"https://time.com/author/annie-nader/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt519e2e5c1edd2176/6a7fca4c2067058312413d13/GettyImages-2288322479.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-2288322479.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Jamie Sabau—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/prediction-markets/fantasy-football-qb-rankings-when-to-pass/","name":"Fantasy Football QB Rankings: When to Pass"}}]}] ```