Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
There’s only a handful of players at each position that warrant consideration for Fantasy lineups every week regardless of price and matchup. At the quarterback position, that list consists of Edmonton’s Mike Reilly, Ottawa’s Trevor Harris, and Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli. Each of them is blessed with an up-tempo offence, a stable full of talented receivers, and a scheme that tends towards passing the ball in the red zone.
Reilly was clearly the league’s top quarterback last season. He was the top scorer at the position on an almost weekly basis and made a solid building block for Fantasy lineups every week. He led the league with 5,830 passing yards and tied with Harris with 30 touchdown passes. No player at any position was more stable and reliable than Reilly. His ability to scramble for positive yards on broken plays gave him a solid scoring base to build from each week and resulted in a league-high 12 rushing touchdowns. He loses the services of Brandon Zylstra and Adarius Bowman this season, but he has an array of other weapons ready to step in.
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Harris was a little less consistent than Reilly in 2017. However, even in his shortened 15-game season, he managed to throw for 30 touchdowns while throwing just 11 interceptions. If he can stay healthy for a full season, he could press Reilly for top billing at the position. Greg Ellingson, Diontae Spencer, and Brad Sinopoli all possess the big play potential to get Harris to 400 yards and four touchdowns in any given week.
The dark horse candidate to reach the top tier of quarterbacks is the less-discussed Masoli. Newcomer Johnny Manziel might get the headlines, but Masoli is the undisputed starter in Hamilton for now. During the last five weeks of the 2017 season, Masoli averaged 348 passing yards and two passing touchdowns per game and added an average of six carries for 40 yards.
Solid Plays
The next group of quarterbacks has the ability to consistently produce winning stat lines but lacks the overall upside of the top tier. Injury issues are part of what keeps them from being reliable starters in Fantasy lineups. There’s nothing wrong with considering any in this tier of players, but they are a clear step down from the building blocks.
Prior to his injury, Matt Nichols seemed to have taken a step forward towards the elite tier. He regularly posted stat lines over 300 yards passing with multiple touchdowns. However, Nichols struggled down the stretch after injuring his hand, being unable to eclipse 300 passing yards in his last five starts while managing only four passing touchdowns in that same span. Now he’s out at least a month after injuring his knee in practice on a non-contact play.
It remains to be seen what Nichols will look like following a full off-season of recovery time, and now more missed time. When he does return, the addition of Adarius Bowman should be of help to him, but he has his own injury issues to contend with. There is undoubtedly a lot of talented targets for Nichols in Winnipeg, but with Weston Dressler, Bowman, and Andrew Harris each over 30 years old at the start the season, the Grey Cup window may be closing for the Blue Bombers.
The injury to Matt Nichols shakes up the quarterback landscape in Fantasy (Matt Smith/CFL.ca)
Ricky Ray was as consistent a producer as could be found in the league in terms of passing yardage last season, but the touchdown totals were much more volatile for the Grey Cup winner. He finished the season with 28 total passing touchdowns but nearly half of those (13) came in only four games. The other thing that keeps him a step behind the top tier of quarterbacks is his lack of rushing yards. It may not seem like a big deal at first glance but losing out on those 4-6 points in rushing totals each week hurts his Fantasy stability a lot.
Zach Collaros is in a dream position as the new starting quarterback for the Roughriders. Saskatchewan led the league in total passing touchdowns last season and ran the fourth-highest percentage of passing plays in that same span. Collaros has a track record that shows he can average nearly 300 yards and two passing touchdowns per game, and if he can reclaim his 2016 form, he may be a Fantasy star each week with Duron Carter, Naaman Roosevelt, Chad Owens, and Bakari Grant all capable of being 1,000-yard receivers. If not, Bridge will be starting by mid-season.
Spot Starters
Bo Levi Mitchell wins football games. Unfortunately, Quarterback Wins are not a point-accumulating statistic in Fantasy football. Mitchell had well over 100 fewer passing attempts than league leaders Reilly and Ray, and more than 20 fewer attempts than Nichols and Harris (who each missed multiple games to injuries). There is plenty of talent in the Stampeders’ receiving corps for Mitchell to throw to including Kamar Jorden, DaVaris Daniels, Marken Michel, and Reggie Begelton, but the Calgary defence and special teams has scored enough touchdowns that Mitchell’s job becomes one of avoiding turnovers rather than pressing for scores. His touchdowns were down, his turnovers were up, and the pace of the Calgary offence was third slowest in the league at 51 plays per game. If the price goes low enough and the matchup is juicy enough, he may be worth consideration.
Just a year removed from his MOP campaign, Bo Levi Mitchell will have to regain the trust of Fantasy players (Matt Smith/CFL.ca)
Long Shots
Among the bottom of the barrel are a couple of guys with long roads to redemption. The Lions begin the season hoping their quarterback can finally reach the potential he’s flashed previously, while the Als hope Drew Willy can finally provide them stability at the position. Both are long shots to lead either their teams or many Fantasy football teams to victories this season.
Jonathon Jennings seemingly has the upside of a Reilly or Masoli with his strong arm and ability to run, but turnovers have really limited his production. It’s hard to score Fantasy points when deep balls are thrown to the wrong team. The departure of Chris Williams and Nick Moore only further depleted his receiving options. Jennings has shown the ability to have big outings, but he’ll have to become far more consistent to warrant consideration for Fantasy lineups.
Following the retirement of Josh Freeman, it looks like the Als will be Drew Willy’s team this season. Willy is an experienced quarterback with a career 4:3 touchdown to interception ratio. He lacks the upside of the top passers in the game, but he’s a stable quarterback with the ability to distribute the football well. He’ll have some deep threat receivers to throw to in B.J. Cunningham, Ernest Jackson and Chris Williams, but will have to limit his turnovers to use them effectively.
Backup Plans
This last group of signal callers won’t have a starting job to begin the season, but Bridge, Manziel, James Franklin, and Travis Lulay could be viable spot starters if they are called into duty. While Franklin’s only likely path to the starting job lies in a Ray injury, both Bridge and Lulay could be called into full-time duty at any point if Collaros and/or Jennings look more like their 2017 selves than the 2016 versions their teams are hoping for.
Manziel has the most hype surrounding him, but it would take a pretty colossal failure on the part of Masoli to get Manziel on the field this season barring injury. His eye popping 2013 college stat line of 4119 passing yards with a 3:1 touchdown to interception ratio to go along with 759 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns can certainly get your imagination rolling. However, this is probably not yet Manziel’s year to shine.
Chris Streveler and Alex Ross suddenly become Fantasy-relevant in Winnipeg after the injury to Drew Willy. Ross likely gets the job after a better performance in the pre-season finale, but shouldn’t be trusted quite yet and is a high-risk option going into the season.
