Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston finished 16th in his position’s fantasy football score rankings in 2016. How does he look heading into 2017’s season?
Barring disaster, there’s no doubt Winston will be leading his Buccaneers onto the field when the year begins. Of course, this means he could also be leading your fantasy football squad as well. Is he worthy of a QB1 slot though?
Recently, Mike Wright of The Fantasy Footballers joined myself and James Yarcho on our weekly “Walking the Plank” podcast. We talked fantasy running backs like Doug Martin and Jacquizz Rodgers, but fortunately, the information connection with Mike doesn’t stop there. Mike, Andy Holloway, and Jason Moore each provided their pre-season rankings for fantasy football quarterbacks.
Jason had Winston ranked the highest coming in at 9th. This put him ahead of guys like Matthew Stafford, but behind the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott. Andy has the Bucs’ passer ranked the lowest as he brought him in at 15th. This is just one spot better than his 2016 finish and puts him squarely behind other players like Cam Newton and Philip Rivers. Mike put the third-year player at 10th making him a low-end QB1 option in leagues with 10 or more teams. Interesting here was Derek Carr coming in behind Winston at 11th in that set of rankings.
The final consensus rankings brought Tampa’s leader in at 11th overall. So, if you’re in an 8-team league, this puts him outside the QB1 consideration. Or does it?