Playoff fantasy football leagues are similar to traditional season-long formats but with some major twists to take into account. The elimination factor of the player pool is probably the most significant of all of them. After a fantasy team is drafted and the NFL Playoffs begin, players are removed from a roster as NFL teams are eliminated from the postseason.
This huge factor plays an absolutely crucial role on draft day for playoff fantasy football leagues. Managers will want to target not only the players that they believe are the most productive fantasy assets but also those who are playing on teams that they think can make a deep playoff run. They also must take into account the bye weeks, as the Wild Card round only includes 12 teams instead of the 14 playoff teams.
Quarterbacks are among the most important players in fantasy football but are even more valuable in playoff formats. This is because only 14 starters are available, coming from the 14 playoff teams. Managers would be wise to target at least one of them that they believe has a chance of making the Super Bowl, where only two starting quarterbacks exist.
Creating even more of a challenge is that the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers have a first-round bye, so Brock Purdy and Lamar Jackson will be unavailable for the first week. Managers who draft them must also make sure they grab another quarterback for their rosters to avoid having a blank space in their starting lineups.
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Balancing all of this greatly impacts the positional rankings for quarterbacks entering a playoff fantasy football league. Josh Allen and Dak Prescott top the list due to having strong fantasy seasons this year, but also playing on teams with the best shot at playing four playoff games this year. The Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys are among the Super Bowl favorites but are also playing in Wild Card weekend.
Jalen Hurts represents the opposite end of the spectrum, as he is always considered to be a top-three fantasy football quarterback. With the Philadelphia Eagles severely struggling right now and in danger of being one-and-done, his ranking suffers a bit. Taking all of these situations into careful consideration, here's how all of the 14 starters stack up.
QB rankings for playoff fantasy football
- Josh Allen
- Dak Prescott
- Lamar Jackson
- Brock Purdy
- Patrick Mahomes
- Jalen Hurts
- Matthew Stafford
- Tua Tagovailoa
- Jared Goff
- Joe Flacco
- CJ Stroud
- Baker Mayfield
- Jordan Love
- Mason Rudolph
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