Last Minute Free Agency Rundown: QB
Akash Patel is a writer for Felix, the AI-driven fantasy football assistant. To sign up for exclusive early access to Felix for free, click here.
As of the publishing of this article, tomorrow is the beginning of the legal tampering period. For those unfamiliar with that term, legal tampering is the period in which agents can negotiate with other teams for unrestricted free agents. In this 4 part series, we’ll highlight the 4 fantasy positions’ free agents, potential landing spots, and fantasy impact. Enjoy!
Notable Free Agent QBs:
Jameis Winston
Mitchell Trubisky
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Tyrod Taylor
Andy Dalton
It should be easy to tell that this isn’t the most star-studded QB pool. In fact, none of these QBs threw for over 3000 yards last season The amount of QBs from this list who have the possibility of starting a game next year is around two to three.
Jameis Winston
Estimated value: 1 year-12 million
In 2019, Winston had an up-and-down year, to say the least. Winston threw 33 TDs and led the league in yards as well as a league-leading 30 INTs. The NFL’s first 30 TD-30 INT season was met with little fanfare as Winston was replaced by now seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. On the other hand, Winston’s 2020 was less eventful as the former 1st overall pick signed a team-friendly deal with the New Orleans Saints for around 1 million with the goal to learn from Drew Brees and Sean Payton which was described by Winston as, “very intriguing for a young quarterback like myself.” Even when Drew Brees got hurt, Payton opted to start Taysom Hill who the team extended prior to the 2020 season. This can be read in two different ways. Either Payton wants Hill to be the starter or he wanted to keep Winston’s price low after seeing Teddy Bridgewater get a big deal after filling in for Brees in 2019. In fact, Ian Rappoport has reported that Jameis is the “likely starter in 2021” for the Saints. For fantasy purposes, it is best if Winston stays in NO as Payton can maximize his strengths. Additionally, keeping him on the Saints prevents Taysom Hill from starting which is better for all of the Saints’ weapons from a fantasy football perspective.
Mitch Trubisky
Estimated Value: 1 year-7 million
Trubisky has fallen from grace since being picked 2nd overall in 2017. After watching his fellow 2017 QBs get the 1st and 2nd largest contracts in the NFL, Trubisky will hit free agency in a couple of days. Like many 1st round QB busts before him, he’ll likely get his second contract as a backup for another team. However, per ProFootballTalk the Bears have not ruled out the possibility of bringing Trubisky back. After being benched for Nick Foles earlier in the season, Trubisky returned in time for an easy closing schedule in week 12. In response to facing the 7th (twice), 31st, 23rd, 24th, and 26th easiest schedule (as well as significant help from a churning run-game), Trubisky posted decent numbers (250 passing yards per game and 1.667 passing TDs). If that’s enough for the Bears to bring him back for a single year, he should thank his lucky stars (and the NFL schedule makers). However, if Chicago isn’t the destination for Trubisky he could find work backing up for many teams; the Broncos or Lions come to mind if a team is looking for QB competition.
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Estimated Value: 1 year-8 million
Fitzpatrick was successful in 2020 as a starter as well as in relief of Tua Tagovailoa. Brian Flores has been public about how they’d like to keep Fitz if possible. However, with the lowered cap space, that might not be feasible or work with the Dolphins’ plans. Fitzpatrick seems like the perfect candidate for a QB competition making the Broncos, who are looking for a veteran QB, a good candidate if retirement isn’t on the table.
Thank you for reading! I truly hope you enjoyed this article. You can find me on Twitter, where I tweet fantasy-football-related content every day.
I write for Felix, which uses AI and data-driven processes to deliver fantasy football advice instantly via chatbot. You can sign up for early access to our app on our website.
