While a majority of fantasy football leagues are in the books, there are still some leagues who chug along until the NFL regular season ends. If you’re in such a 2-QB fantasy football league looking for quarterback rankings, you’ll find them below.
Make sure you’re on top of the injury/practice reports this week, as some teams may rest their starters this week, and the Kansas City Chiefs seem to be the major culprit in that area.
That means if you’re relying on Alex Smith this week, make sure you have a QB3 replacement option on your bench, or make it a priority to acquire his back-up Chase Daniel.
My rankings reflect the thinking Smith might play a very minimal amount of snaps this week, and have ranked Daniel instead. I also have Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Schaub ranked, but am uncertain of the playing status of either for the week, as of this writing.
If you’re looking for a different set of quarterback rankings for 2-QB leagues, TwoQBs.com is your place to go. Good luck this week, and may your 2-QB fantasy football season conclusion stay far clear of a lumberjack ending.
Week 17 Fantasy Quarterback Rankings for 2-QB Leagues:
1. Nick Foles @ Dallas
2. Cam Newton @ Atlanta
3. Terrelle Pryor VS Denver
4. Peyton Manning @ Oakland
5. Drew Brees VS Tampa Bay
6. Aaron Rodgers @ Chicago
7. Jay Cutler VS Green Bay
8. Ben Roethlisberger VS Cleveland
9. Ryan Fitzpatrick VS Houston
10. Ryan Tannehill VS New York Jets
11. Russell Wilson VS St. Louis
12. Matthew Stafford @ Minnesota
13. Tom Brady VS Buffalo
14. Colin Kaepernick @ Arizona
15. Andrew Luck VS Jacksonville
16. Kyle Orton VS Philadelphia
17. Kirk Cousins @ New York Giants
18. Philip Rivers VS Kansas City
19. Chase Daniel @ San Diego
20. Jason Campbell @ Pittsburgh
21. Andy Dalton VS Baltimore
22. Matt Cassel VS Detroit
23. Carson Palmer VS San Francisco
24. Matt Ryan VS Carolina
25. EJ Manuel @ New England
26. Eli Manning VS Washington
27. Mike Glennon @ New Orleans
28. Geno Smith @ Miami
29. Joe Flacco @ Cincinnati
30. Kellen Clemens @ Seattle
31. Chad Henne @ Indianapolis
32. Matt Schaub @ Tennessee
Week 17 Quarterbacks on the Rise in 2-QB Leagues:
Geno Smith
With the way Geno had been playing this year, I never thought I would see him in the arrow pointing up stock watch of this article, but after scoring a total of three touchdowns last week, and finishing the week as the third highest scoring fantasy quarterback in standard leagues, it would have been hard not to say something nice about Geno.
It’s now a three game string of decent fantasy performances out of Geno, where he has thrown more touchdowns (4) than interceptions (2). He’s also ran for a total of 142 yards, and two rushing touchdowns during that span.
Whatever happens in Week 17 versus the Miami Dolphins, Geno has shown something the past three games, and it’ll be interesting to see how the Jets view his end of season performance when scouting the upcoming quarterback draft class.
Peyton Manning
I’ve rarely written about Peyton Manning this year, because I’m not really sure what to add. He’s having one of the best seasons ever for a quarterback, having already broken the single season record for most passing touchdowns, and is 266 passing yards away from breaking the record for most passing yards in a season as well.
With only one week left in the season, I wanted to give Peyton some props for being the highest scoring fantasy quarterback in 2013, and a Week 17 showdown versus the Oakland Raiders could make his 2013 season even more historic than it already is.
Ben Roethlisberger
Week 16 saw Ben Roethlisberger notch another QB1 performance on the season, and he now sits at QB11 on the season, sneaking his way into the QB1 territory this year.
Going into the year, Roethlisberger wasn’t a highly sought after fantasy commodity, which was in part due to his team surroundings, as he didn’t have a healthy or consistent stable of pass catchers surrounding him, he also had a checkered injury past, and there were also question marks regarding his offensive line.
It was a slow start to Roethlisberger’s 2013 campaign, as he had only one multiple passing touchdown game in the first eight weeks of the season, having thrown eight touchdowns and seven interceptions in his first seven games.
Things started to change in Week 9 though, as he threw for four touchdowns, and had his best fantasy performance of the season, scoring slightly over 25 standard fantasy points.
From Week 9 to Week 16, Roethlisberger posted 19 or more fantasy points in five of eight games, and gets to end the season playing a Cleveland Browns defense who allowed Geno Smith to have his best fantasy performance of the year.
Week 17 Quarterbacks on the Slide in 2-QB Leagues:
Carson Palmer
Carson Palmer has proven himself to be a match-up dependent fantasy quarterback, and in Week 16, the match-up wasn’t right.
If it weren’t for a late game touchdown pass last week against the Seahawks, Palmer would have finished with negative fantasy points on the day, which was thanks in part to his four interceptions.
Palmer had actually been interception-free his past two games, and threw only two interceptions in his previous five games. If it wasn’t for Eli Manning’s year, Palmer would be a frontrunner to lead the interceptions category, but luckily for him, Eli is running away with the category.
The Cardinals wrap up the season versus the San Francisco 49ers, who have actually allowed both Mike Glennon and Matt Ryan to throw two touchdowns apiece versus them in their past two games.
In his previous meeting with the 49ers this year, Palmer also threw two touchdowns, to go with two interceptions. It would take a lot to trust Palmer as a QB2 this week, but it’s good to know that double digit fantasy scoring day is within reach.
Mike Glennon
Mike Glennon was the QB2 I went out on a limb for last week, and it completely backfired on me.
The numbers were looking good, the match-up was looking good, yet Glennon was only able to muster 158 yards of passing offense, and not much else.
Week 17 sees the Buccaneers take on the Saints, who, in their past three games, have a 4:1 passing touchdown to interception ratio, but are allowing only 184 passing yards per game. In his 12 starts this year, Glennon is averaging just under 200 passing yards per game.
After a string of six 15+ fantasy points in of seven games mid-season, Glennon hasn’t reached that mark in any of his past four games, and the streak might reach five, if he’s not asked to do much through the air.
Alex Smith
A lot of hopes and dreams of fantasy football championship glory were pinned on the shoulders of Alex Smith in 2-QB leagues in Week 16, and after a five passing touchdown Week 15, Smith followed up his best fantasy game of the year, with his worst fantasy game of the year.
While Smith’s 2013 fantasy campaign as a whole has been a resounding success, Week 16, the one week that matters the most, was an utter disappointment.
The sad thing about Smith’s Week 16 outing is that he might not get much of a shot at regular season redemption, as the Chiefs might rest Smith, and other important starters, like Jamaal Charles, so they can get ready for the playoffs.
While my personal Alex Smith experiment ended for me some time ago, it looks like it will officially end this week, whether his fantasy owners like it or not.
*Stats used in this article from FantasyData.com, and Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.
