Top Three Undervalued Fantasy Football Quarterbacks: Anthony Richardson, Kyler Murray and Jayden Daniels

Ted takes a look at three quarterbacks whose early fantasy football ADPs make them huge bargains.

Heading into the 2024 fantasy football season, there is a near-unprecedented amount of talent at the quarterback position. In a vacuum, just about every single name in FantasySP’s ADP feels undervalued. Last year’s QB5 and QB6, Jordan Love and Brock Purdy, are being drafted as the QB10 and QB11. Justin Herbert, an elite young passer with some rushing upside, is the QB15. Perennial QB1s like Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford and Kirk Cousins barely crack the top 20. 

This all seems absurd … but it starts to make sense when you look at the other names on the board. The position is simply loaded with fantasy talent. With that said, there are still some quarterbacks who are undervalued in current fantasy football ADP. Without further ado, here they are:

Get ready for draft season! Practice Mock Drafts, check out ADPs and get advice for trades with our trade analyzer.

Top Undervalued Fantasy Football Quarterbacks

Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts (ADP: QB6)

Starting near the top of the fantasy draft board, we have the fourth overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft. Richardson dealt with multiple injuries in his rookie season, appearing in just four games and exiting two of them in the first half … but boy were those four games exciting. In his brief NFL debut, Richardson led all quarterbacks in fantasy points per full game (25.8) and per dropback (0.76), and it wasn’t even close. 

Those numbers are slightly inflated by the fact that Richardson recorded four rushing TDs in just 25 attempts, but I’m not too worried about that for a couple of reasons. The first is that his rookie production was so insane that he can afford to regress a little and still put up truly elite fantasy numbers; the second is that, at 6’4” and 240+ pounds, Richardson is sure to keep racking up the goal-line TDs.

Doubters will likely point to Richardson’s lack of passing efficiency (his 59.5% completion percentage, 22.6% pressure-to-sack rate and 56.5 PFF Passing Grade are all concerning) as reasons to fade him. And I agree … in a dynasty format. But for redraft fantasy football, we don’t really care if Richardson is a good NFL passer. His rushing upside can make him an elite fantasy option even if his arm doesn’t develop … and if it does, watch out. Given his demonstrated elite upside, even in a small sample size, I’d be willing to gamble on Richardson as high as QB4, making his QB6 ADP a bargain. 

Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals (ADP: QB9)

If the small sample size and high draft price scare you away from Richardson, I recommend pivoting to Murray as your QB1. Kyler has a long track record of performing as an elite fantasy quarterback: In 2020, 2021 and 2022, he was the QB3, QB4 and QB7 in points per game. His 20.2 career points per game average is fourth all-time at the position. Even last year, less than a year removed from an ACL injury, he was the QB10 in points per game (QB9 if you don’t count Joe Flacco). 

And, very importantly for his fantasy outlook, Murray was still a threat on the ground in his return from injury, averaging 5.5 rushing attempts per game. His 30.5 rushing yards per game in 2023 wasn’t up to his career standards of 39 yards per game, but it was just 0.3 yards behind Josh Allen, so it’s certainly nothing to scoff at. 

With all that said, I haven’t even mentioned the most exciting part of Murray’s 2024 fantasy outlook: Marvin Harrison Jr., the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft and a truly generational WR prospect, is now in Arizona. Murray hasn’t always had the best of weapons throughout his career, but the last time he was paired with a dominant receiver, DeAndre Hopkins, he exploded. Murray averaged 24.2 fantasy points per game in contests where both he and Hopkins played the majority of snaps. That’s exactly as many points as Allen, the QB1 by a mile, averaged in 2023.

Asking any rookie to perform like prime DeAndre Hopkins is a tall task, but if any prospect is going to do it, MHJ is the one. Even if Harrison isn’t D-Hop, his addition, plus another offseason of recovery for Kyler’s ACL, means Murray is all but guaranteed to outperform his 2023 numbers. Drafting him as the QB9 is getting a potentially elite fantasy quarterback at his absolute production floor. 

Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders (ADP: QB17)

By now, you’ve probably noticed the secret theme of this article: rushing quarterbacks. Rushing is simply a cheat code for fantasy football, and Jayden Daniels may be next up to join the ranks of elite dual-threat fantasy QBs. The 2023 Heisman winner, Daniels dominated the NCAA with his arm and his legs, racking up nearly 5,000 total yards and 50 (!!) touchdowns in his final season at LSU. He was rewarded for his efforts in the NFL Draft, going second overall to the Commanders, who have an unusually solid set of weapons ready for their new franchise quarterback.

Daniels comes with the same potential concern as Richardson: There’s a chance he simply isn’t a good NFL quarterback, especially in his first year. He struggled mightily with avoiding sacks in college, he’s old for a rookie at 23, and some scouts have raised concerns about his processing ability. But, just like with Richardson, none of those things directly matter for his fantasy production. We’ve seen bad NFL quarterbacks rack up fantasy points at the exact same time as they rack up sacks and losses (*cough* Justin Fields *cough*) as long as they provide value with their legs.

Most importantly, Daniels simply isn’t being drafted that highly. In a traditional 1-QB fantasy league, he may not even be drafted at all. But you shouldn’t let that happen in your league. Daniels’ ceiling is in another stratosphere compared to the passers around him in the draft (The FantasySP ADP tracker has him being drafted right after Trevor Lawrence and right before the aforementioned veteran trio of Cousins, Rodgers and Stafford). If he struggles to adapt to the league and can’t produce, no worries. You can simply drop him for the low cost of a late-round pick. If he hits the ground running (literally), which is certainly possible given his age and decent situation, he could immediately be a top-10 fantasy QB. 

#2024-fantasy-football