2017 fantasy football rankings: Quarterbacks heading into the NFL draft

Our first look at the top quarterbacks to target for 2017.

Apr 7, 2017, 2:22 PM UTC

New England Patriots v Green Bay Packers

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The biggest news entering 2017 free agency was the landing spot for Tony Romo. It was surprising to learn that he was leaving the playing field and entering the broadcast booth. Most of us thought he would eventually sign with either Denver or Houston.

Denver looks to be sticking with Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch for the 2017 season. Neither proved to be fantasy game-changers in 2016. I believe Siemian will win the starting job to begin this season but won’t improve much on his numbers from last year. Depending on how the season unfolds, Lynch may get a shot to start at some point in 2017.

The Houston Texans are in a much different circumstance. They were able to unload Brock Osweiler by trading him to Cleveland. That leaves Houston with Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden as the only quarterbacks on its roster. Savage started two games in 2016 but only completed one. He doesn’t seem to be a quarterback who will put up big numbers, and he seems pretty useless for fantasy purposes.

The Texans may draft a quarterback, which would put them back at square one. They could also sign someone like Jay Cutler or Colin Kaepernick. It should be interesting over the next few weeks to see which direction they choose to go.

Rumors are also flying around that Kirk Cousins or Jimmy Garoppolo could be traded before the upcoming NFL draft. Cousins is currently a top-10 fantasy quarterback because of the weapons he has at his disposal with Washington. A move to San Francisco would severely damage his short-term fantasy value. Kyle Shanahan is a brilliant offensive mind, but even he needs skill position weapons to bring out the best in his quarterback.

The Cleveland Browns may trade for Garoppolo or draft a quarterback using one or more of the draft picks they’ve acquired. I hope they draft and develop, using Cody Kessler as the bridge quarterback. Kessler played well as a starter in 2016 and should improve on that in his second NFL season. At this point, I don’t feel like Garoppolo would offer anything better than what they already have in Kessler. The draft should answer a lot of questions about the Browns quarterback situation.