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USATSI

No man is an island. Well, unless you look at my Dynasty QB Tiers below. There, you'll find Patrick Mahomes alone in Tier 1, Anthony Richardson alone in Tier 3, and Justin Fields all by himself in Tier 8. This is unusual, and worth an explanation. Well, multiple explanations.

I have written about this before, but there are basically two ways I like to tier players, by value and by archetype. For the most part, I lean towards tiering by value because I think it's more helpful for both start-ups and trade discussions. And value is exactly what separates Mahomes from the field. In my formula, the difference between Mahomes and everyone else is bigger than the difference between QB2 Jalen Hurts and QB5 C.J. Stroud. That's partially because Mahomes is my QB1 in 2024, but also because I am more certain about his long-term future than I am about Hurts, Josh Allen, or Lamar Jackson. We've rarely seen a quarterback run as much as those guys do and have success into their 30s. Stroud may be able to match Mahomes' longevity, but he hasn't shown near the upside of the other guys in Tier 2.

Richardson could almost fit into a tier with Joe Burrow and he could almost fit into a tier with Kyler Murray. While I do have him tiered alone partially because of value, his archetype factors in as well. I'm not sure any quarterback has more upside in 2024, as Richardson scored more than 50 Fantasy points in his first two complete games combined. I'm also not sure Richardson is going to make it to his second contract as a healthy starter. While the NFL has come around on mobile quarterbacks, they still don't love them as much as Fantasy Football managers do, as evidenced by the next guy we're going to talk about. I would guess Richardson's tiering will settle itself in the first month of the season. If he starts this year like he did last year, but stays healthy, he's easily in Tier 2, if not challenging for Tier 1 by the end of the year. If he gets hurt again, he may fall out of the top five tiers.

Fields' solo-tiering is more about the fact that it doesn't feel right to put him with anyone else. Who else could be a top-five quarterback any given week but also isn't guaranteed to start even one game in 2024 (or beyond)? I'm more of a buyer than a seller on Fields, particularly in one-QB leagues. Superflex is more difficult because QB floor matters more, but at the same time if he becomes the long-term starter in Pittsburgh he's almost certain to move up at least four tiers. 

Here are my updated Dynasty quarterback tiers: