RADIO
My first rule of thumb in the preseason is to never overreact. That does not mean, however, that we can't glean some valuable information from these meaningless games. QB battles are usually decided in the first two games and it is our first look at how new offensive systems are working. Here are three quarterbacks looking good after week one of the preseason:
Stock Up: Quarterbacks on the Rise after Preseason Week 1
Ryan Tannehill - Current ADP: QB22, 158th Overall
The Dolphins have a new offensive coordinator in Bill Lazor. Lazor is coming over from Philadelphia where he was the quarterbacks coach. He is implementing some of the uptempo aspects of the Eagles offense so I was pretty excited to see how Tannehill would look here. It's worth mentioning that until now Mike Sherman had been his HC in college and his OC in Miami so many figured Tannehill would have a tougher time adapting.
In the first preseason game, Tannehill only had one drive, but he looked great. He was a perfect 6/6 culminating in a touchdown to Brandon Gibson. Better than the actual stats, Tannehill looked very comfortable under center and had nice accuracy. Tannehill took a big step forward last year despite the mess with his offensive line. If he takes another step forward this year as he should, he is a fantasy-relevant QB in most leagues, and a big time sleeper value pick in 2 QB leagues. Tannehill is currently my QB17.
Carson Palmer - Current ADP: QB23, 159th Overall
Before I talk about how Palmer looked this weekend, lets look at his second half stats in in 2013 as he began to click with the offense in Arizona. Final 8 games: 2361 Yards, 14 TD, 8 Interceptions. One of those games was a horrible 4 interception game against Seattle where you probably (hopefully!?) weren't ever going to start him anyway. If we look at the last 7 games besides the Seattle game here are his stats: 2183 Yards, 13 TD, 4 Int. Over a full season that would have been almost 5000 Yards with approximately a 30:9 TD:Int ratio. That is a fantastic quarterback. Of course you can bring those numbers down a little bit to account for a couple terrible games against Seattle.
Now that I've gushed about the performance he already showed us, let's talk about this first preseason game. He looked great on his lone drive also going a perfect 5/5 and finishing with a touchdown. Palmer also had a touchdown called back on an earlier play as well. The Cardinals offensive line should be much improved this year and Palmer spoke highly of 3rd round rookie John Brown as well. Palmer is my QB16 but he has a very real shot to break the top 10 this year. He's a great streamer / bench QB in 12-14 team leagues, and like Tannehill a nice sleeper in 2 QB leagues.
Blake Bortles - Current ADP: Undrafted, QB37
Bortles made his debut in a Jags uniform and looked pretty good. Moreover, Chad Henne didn't look good at all. If you look at his stats Henne did alright, but his longest completion of the game was a fluke play that bounced off a defenders hands into the outstretched arms of their TE. Another throw should have been intercepted and he also botched a snap.
Bortles came in and looked significantly better. It was against backups but he was making deep passes and challenging himself (his longest completion totaled more yards than any other Jags QB had overall). I believe the Jags when they say they would like to let Bortles sit for a while, as there can be some benefit to that. I also think if Bortles continues to outplay Henne by as much as he did in week 1, the Jags will have to seriously reconsider their plans. He hasn't made himself draft worthy yet, but if you play in a 2 QB league you should keep an eye on this battle, and if you play in a dynasty league, Bortles should be squarely on your radar. Jacksonville has what should be a very welcoming early schedule for the starting QB with the Eagles, Redskins and Colts to open the season.
