Target These Second Year QBs ✅ 2026 Fantasy Football

**Josh Norris** (0:10)
This is an important episode. I mean, last year, you saw that quarterbacks took massive leaps in from year one to year two, and that bore itself out in terms of fantasy points. I mean, Drake may finish as the quarterback two in points per game after being drafted as the quarterback 13
Last September, Caleb Williams, the quarterback eight in points per game after being drafted as the quarterback 14 And conversely, Jane Daniels drafted as the quarterback three, finished a, you know, up, down, stop, start year as the quarterback 17 in points per game. So we're going to talk about here today the year two breakouts at quarterback, four names Hayden and three guys locked into their starting jobs and one who probably will draw a few starts this year too.

**Hayden Winks** (0:50)
Perhaps so.
Well, it depends on how you would grade those starts from last year. But I think what you said, just throwing out some of those quarterbacks, there was very clear narratives and about the rookie seasons that you had to make the argument. Is it going to get better or was that just kind of the baseline for what there is? So that was Caleb Williams in the sacks, that was Drake May just being playing a little bit quicker and then using his legs a little bit more, accuracy, all those types of things were like, you can see the potential, are they going to hit it? Is there something about the college profile to the growth, to the rookie year? There's a lot of little things we have to kind of nitpick. I think these guys and this next crop of guys, they have a lot to work on.

**Josh Norris** (1:25)
Harp on that point a little bit more. So often once we see these college quarterbacks in the NFL, their rookie season almost anchors the opinion on what it is for the remainder of their rookie contract. And so we're going to talk about that opinion that we have from them, not just as prospects, but as rookies and then what can improve and what might not. And for me, I know so much of the improvement or scaling down a bit can come from the environmental change. So we'll factor all this in here today. So we're not going to go by ADP order where these guys are being drafted on Underdog right now. By the way, we're going to do that. We talk about tight ends, running backs and wide receivers the rest of this week in our year two breakout week. And so we're going to start with where these guys were drafted in the actual NFL draft. So let's kick things off with Cam Ward. We know the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. Right now being selected as quarterback 22, the fourth pick of the 12th round. What did you see when reviewing, I'll say it, all of Cam Ward's drop back during his rookie season?

**Hayden Winks** (2:19)
Very up and down. I really hope Cam Ward turns out to be a guy because the arm strength is it's A-tier stuff. And there was some ridiculous throws both in structure and out of structure, rolling to his right, rolling to his left. And he can really whip it in there. He's kind of an old school gunslinger type.
And he's got the arm talent where if this thing clicks, then you're going to have a fun quarterback. Unfortunately, there's not a single statistical argument in favor of Cam Ward. We're talking about QB 38 and EPA for drop back, 39th in passing success rate, 40th in catchable ball rate. That was out of 41 qualifying quarterbacks. Caveats are the offensive line was bad, the scheme was bad, the receivers were even worse than the other two factors in there. Things got a little bit better, but it's not fixed for Cam Ward. I think I have some issues just based off his own tape where he really has to progress here, not just to be a good quarterback. I think there's a lot of progression that needs for him just to even be an average quarterback in the NFL right now.

**Josh Norris** (3:19)
Interesting.
He was selected as the number one overall pick. He did not play statistically, as you said, like you want the number one overall pick to do. But I would say my observation, my belief in him is kind of unchanged of who he is as a player and how he needs to win in the NFL as it was with him entering the league. We talked about it. He, you know, just has a dynamite arm and you see it on definitely these like posts and corner routes that these sideline passes that to me he throws with an anticipation to layer it in on these intermediate and especially downfield passes.