Outlook: After an arduous contract battle, Ryan Fitzpatrick returns to the New York Jets and to the offensive coordinator who has helped guide his most successful seasons, Chan Gailey. Shockingly, Fitzpatrick is now the Jets’ record holder for touchdown passes in a single season (31), which doubles a career high. He also achieved a career high with 3,905 passing yards while showing some of that #FitzMagic by adding 270 yards and two scores with his 33 year-old legs. While his raw numbers looked fantastic the truth is he was lucky to escape with only 15 interceptions, as many potential INTs were dropped by opposing defenses. He also benefited from his wide receivers more than any quarterback in the league. The Amish Rifle would often put the ball into tight windows and allow Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker to use their size and strength advantages to come away with the reception.

While the Jets will face a far more difficult schedule this year, it’s unlikely that Fitz’ numbers will suffer all that much since he’ll still have Marshall and Decker to rely on and will add a healthy Jace Amaro and veteran running back Matt Forte to his arsenal of weapons in the passing game. Fitzpatrick has his limitations due to his weak arm but has mastered Gailey’s quarterback friendly system and knows that he can rely on his guys to make plays. Fantasy Football owners that like to take a QBBC approach should strongly consider Fitz in the later rounds, as his floor, barring injury, is fairly high given his team’s offensive system and skill position support.

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Outlook: A devastating rash of injuries both to himself and his supporting cast went a long way to making 2015 a season to forget for Flacco and the Ravens offense. Before tearing his ACL, Flacco was downright mediocre for the first ten games of the season. His 2,791 passing yards was pretty good, but a gruesome 14-12 touchdown to interception ratio rendered him basically useless as a fantasy asset.

So what awaits Joe and his fantasy prospects in year two of the Marc Tressman offense? Probably more mediocrity. Despite being paid a ridiculously high amount because of some clutch play in some tight spots, Flacco has never put up the kind of numbers that push his team, or yours, into the next level. In his eight years as a starter, Flacco has failed to put up 30 touchdowns or 4,000 yards passing in a season, stats that are basic thresholds for QB1 status. Even is his best season, 2014, he only finished as the overall QB14. Historically this Ravens team was built on defense and the ground game, things that eroded these past few years, coinciding with the struggles of the team. Flacco has now had to balance the rehab of a serious injury with the continued development of the offensive scheme. Never an effective volume thrower, I’m not sure the throw-first Tressman offense is the best possible fit. While Joe’s supporting cast has improved, it relies on twilight vets like Steve Smith and Justin Forsett a little too much for my liking. Sure, Mike Wallace was brought in during the offseason, and 2015 first-rounder Breshad Perriman should be ready to play his first NFL snaps this year, but nothing about his situation in 2016 makes me believe Flacco can be anything more than a low end QB2 with little upside.

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Outlook: It’s tough to read new 49ers head coach Chip Kelly, but it appears as if Blaine Gabbert has secured himself the starting quarterback role in San Francisco, thus giving himself an interesting fantasy situation for the 2016 season. Gabbert, a former top-10 NFL Draft pick, was once the laughing stock of the league, but saw a career resurrection in San Francisco this past season. While his 20.8 fantasy points per game certainly didn’t light the world on fire, what Gabbert did was provide some stability at the most important position on the football field - something which previous starter Colin Kaepernick certainly was not doing. While it’s hard to get behind him as a starter even in deeper 14 or 16 team leagues, Gabbert does provide some upside for those looking for a deep QB2.

It was only a season ago that then-Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford was the darling of fantasy experts who enjoy the "wait on a quarterback" draft strategy. While the shine might be worn off on the Chip Kelly offensive scheme, there’s still a real chance that Kelly could rekindle the flames of what was once a promising young NFL career. Bradford was disappointing, but still finished as the No. 22 fantasy quarterback in what ended up being Kelly’s final season in Philadelphia. It’s hard to imagine that the move to the Kelly system won’t at least be an improvement. The 49ers receivers left quite a bit desired in 2015 and they didn’t do much to address the problem during the off season. Still, Gabbert is at least worth consideration as a bye week replacement.

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Outlook: The Patriots spent a second round pick on Jimmy Garoppolo from Eastern Illinois in 2014 and that pick may pay dividends during Brady’s suspension if he can keep them afloat during the first month of the season. Unfortunately for him, the team opens the season facing some of the league’s better defenses - Arizona, Miami, Houston and Buffalo. Garoppolo has no significant regular season experience but will be spending his third offseason with the team and will likely split reps with Brady during training camp, so he should be prepared. He also gets the same benefit of the weapons that Tom Brady will be supported by which should help him overcome his inexperience. The offensive philosophy shouldn’t change much, if at all, and Garoppolo has the athleticism and quick release to be successful in that system. If you draft Brady, adding Garoppolo in later rounds wouldn’t be a terrible idea, although you may want to also add another capable backup and play the matchups.

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Outlook: New look, new location, new quarterback. The Los Angeles Rams are looking to forget the disastrous 2015 season which led to them opting to move up to the No. 1 overall draft pick this season. The franchise knew it needed a facelift and they decided to select quarterback Jared Goff. Head coach Jeff Fisher has repeatedly stated that he won’t rush Goff into the starting role and he has a history of letting younger talent sit while more experienced players are on the field. The reality is that Goff is the only quarterback on this roster who is at all interesting for fantasy purposes. We’ve seen what Nick Foles and Case Keenum have to offer and it’s not much. There’s a real chance that Keenum begins the season as the starter, but as the Rams offense inevitably struggles, the fans will begin to demand that Goff gets a chance. Realistically, Goff should only be on fantasy radars in extremely deep two quarterback leagues or dynasty formats. It could be a few more seasons before the Rams finally make a real attempt to address their awful pass catching options and there’s no reason to bank on some sort of dramatic improvement happening this season.

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Outlook: One of the least relevant fantasy football battles comes to us from the great state of Ohio. Unless you think the Cleveland Cavalier magic will rub off on the 2016 Browns, the winner of the quarterback battle in Cleveland shouldn’t make a lick of difference to fantasy owners. Griffin III, the former Washington Redskin savior was banished by his former team last year after he apparently forgot how to play any facet of the quarterback position. Snatched up by an equally desperate Browns team, Griffin enters the off-season program atop the depth chart. Whether he stays there remains to be seen. OTA reports from May and June have been less than glowing, and with veteran McCown ready to take over, Griffin has a mighty short leash going into training camp.

Griffin, while offering tremendous physical gifts, lacks something between the ears to be great again. A hallow shell of his former self, it will take an absolute miracle from new head coach Hue Jackson to coax production out of Griffin again. Cleveland’s quarterback of the future is wandering around a college campus right now, so from a fantasy perspective, do yourself a favor and look away from this train wreck.

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