Fantasy football rankings: Quarterbacks for 2014

The SB Nation Fantasy staff determines how to size up fantasy football’s top quarterbacks for 2014.

Aug 11, 2014, 2:39 PM UTC

Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports

Few things are more satisfying for fantasy owners than plugging in a reliable option at quarterback and watching the points pile up. And as the league becomes more pass-happy by the minute, there will be no shortage of signal callers to fill that slot.

The question is -- how do they stack up? There’s a top-three consensus among the SB Nation fantasy staff, with Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, but then things get polarizing. Cam Newton has been ranked as high as No. 4, but as low as No. 10, and Tom Brady placed between No. 4 and No. 13 overall.

Although it would be nice to find a quarterback who will beat down the competition, what’s important is just finding one who won’t let you lose weekly matchups. With quarterbacks, there just isn’t as big of a disparity between the top tier and lesser tiers compared to a position like running back or tight end. So finding one in the later rounds who can hold his own while Peyton Manning throws a fistful of touchdowns can allow you to stock up on premium RB talent as the opposition scrambles to round out its roster.

Before figuring out how to do that, have a look at how we would rank the fantasy QBs before camping out in your draft-day war room. If you think we got anything wrong, let us know in the comments.

Consensus Writer Rankings

Rank	Consensus
1	Peyton Manning
2	Aaron Rodgers
3	Drew Brees
4	Matthew Stafford
5	Andrew Luck
6	Cam Newton
7	Tom Brady
8	Robert Griffin III
9	Colin Kaepernick
10	Nick Foles
11	Matt Ryan
12	Tony Romo
13	Philip Rivers
14	Russell Wilson
15	Jay Cutler
16	Ben Roethlisberger
17	Andy Dalton
18	Ryan Tannehill
19	Eli Manning
20	Joe Flacco
21	Alex Smith
22	Carson Palmer
23	Johnny Manziel
24	Josh McCown
25	Jake Locker
26	Sam Bradford
27	EJ Manuel
28	Michael Vick
29	Ryan Fitzpatrick
30	Teddy Bridgewater
31	Chad Henne
32	Geno Smith

Individual Writer Rankings

Rank	Daniel Kelley	Dan Ciarrocchi	Alex Welch	John Daigle
1	Peyton Manning	Peyton Manning	Peyton Manning	Peyton Manning
2	Drew Brees	Aaron Rodgers	Aaron Rodgers	Drew Brees
3	Aaron Rodgers	Drew Brees	Drew Brees	Aaron Rodgers
4	Cam Newton	Matthew Stafford	Matthew Stafford	Andrew Luck
5	Matthew Stafford	Andrew Luck	Andrew Luck	Colin Kaepernick
6	Andrew Luck	Matt Ryan	Cam Newton	Matthew Stafford
7	Tom Brady	Robert Griffin III	Nick Foles	Cam Newton
8	Colin Kaepernick	Nick Foles	Robert Griffin III	Robert Griffin
9	Tony Romo	Tony Romo	Matt Ryan	Phillip Rivers
10	Nick Foles	Cam Newton	Colin Kaepernick	Russell Wilson
11	Robert Griffin III	Jay Cutler	Tom Brady	Tom Brady
12	Russell Wilson	Phillip Rivers	Jay Cutler	Jay Cutler
13	Philip Rivers	Tom Brady	Tony Romo	Nick Foles
14	Matt Ryan	Colin Kaepernick	Philip Rivers	Matt Ryan
15	Jay Cutler	Russell Wilson	Andy Dalton	Ben Roethlisberger
16	Andy Dalton	Ben Roethlisberger	Alex Smith	Johnny Manziel
17	Ben Roethlisberger	Andy Dalton	Russell Wilson	Tony Romo
18	Alex Smith	Alex Smith	Ben Roethlisberger	Jake Locker
19	Carson Palmer	Eli Manning	Ryan Tannehill	Eli Manning
20	Joe Flacco	Carson Palmer	Eli Manning	Andy Dalton
21	Johnny Manziel	Ryan Tannehill	Carson Palmer	E.J. Manuel
22	Eli Manning	Johnny Manziel	Jake Locker	Joe Flacco
23	Ryan Tannehill	Josh McCown	Joe Flacco	Ryan Fitzpatrick
24	Josh McCown	Joe Flacco	Teddy Bridgewater	Ryan Tannehill
25	Michael Vick	Sam Bradford	Josh McCown	Michael Vick
26	Chad Henne	E.J. Manuel	Geno Smith	Sam Bradford
27	Sam Bradford	Jake Locker	EJ Manuel	Alex Smith
28	Teddy Bridgewater	Teddy Bridgewater	Ryan Fitzpatrick	Carson Palmer
29	Matt Schaub	Ryan Fitzpatrick	Brian Hoyer	Geno Smith
30	EJ Manuel	Chad Henne	Matt Schaub	Blake Bortles
31	Ryan Fitzpatrick	Michael Vick	Chad Henne	Josh McCown
32	Jake Locker	Geno Smith	Matt Cassel	Matt Cassel

Rank	Kenneth Arthur	Scott Kaliska	Mike Gallagher
1	Peyton Manning	Peyton Manning	Peyton Manning
2	Drew Brees	Aaron Rodgers	Aaron Rodgers
3	Aaron Rodgers	Drew Brees	Drew Brees
4	Tom Brady	Matthew Stafford	Matt Stafford
5	Philip Rivers	Andrew Luck	Cam Newton
6	Matt Stafford	Nick Foles	Andrew Luck
7	Russell Wilson	Robert Griffin III	Matt Ryan
8	Colin Kaepernick	Cam Newton	Nick Foles
9	Cam Newton	Matt Ryan	Tony Romo
10	Ben Roethlisberger	Tom Brady	Tom Brady
11	Matt Ryan	Colin Kaepernick	Jay Cutler
12	Andrew Luck	Tony Romo	Russell Wilson
13	Andy Dalton	Jay Cutler	Robert Griffin III
14	Tony Romo	Russell Wilson	Colin Kaepernick
15	Robert Griffin III	Philip Rivers	Andy Dalton
16	Carson Palmer	Ben Roethlisberger	Philip Rivers
17	Jay Cutler	Andy Dalton	Ryan Tannehill
18	Nick Foles	Ryan Tannehill	Ben Roethlisberger
19	Eli Manning	Alex Smith	Joe Flacco
20	Joe Flacco	Carson Palmer	Josh McCown
21	Alex Smith	Johnny Manziel	Johnny Manziel
22	Ryan Tannehill	Eli Manning	Michael Vick
23	Sam Bradford	Joe Flacco	Eli Manning
24	Josh McCown	Josh McCown	Sam Bradford
25	Michael Vick	Sam Bradford	Teddy Bridgewater
26	Ryan Fitzpatrick	Jake Locker	Jake Locker
27	EJ Manuel	EJ Manuel	Ryan Fitzpatrick
28	Matt Schaub	Teddy Bridgewater	E.J. Manuel
29	Teddy Bridgewater	Geno Smith	Carson Palmer
30	Jake Locker	Ryan Fitzpatrick	Chad Henne
31	Johnny Manziel	Matt Schaub	Derek Carr
32	Blake Bortles	Chad Henne	Geno Smith