Skip to content

Dynasty Owner QB Tiers

This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant

By Steven Van Tassell

Tier rankings are one way that fantasy players and analysts categorize players. There are a lot of ways to do it and plenty of websites and analysts who do these types of rankings. A quick Google search for “Fantasy Football Tiers 2021” turns up about 4.1 million results. If you add the words “Dynasty” at the beginning, it increased to about 4.86 million results. However, if you make it “Dynasty Owner”, the number drops down to about 686,000 results. Those searches just use all of the words.

If we want all of the results for exactly “Fantasy Football Tiers 2021” or “Dynasty Fantasy Football Tiers 2021”, there are a more manageable number of results with about 14,600 and 14,400 respectively. However, if we want all of the results for exactly “Dynasty Owner Fantasy Football Tiers 2021”, we get the following screen:

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to returning Dynasty Owners. There isn’t anybody doing these rankings for Dynasty Owner because it’s much more difficult. After all, you need to factor in salaries as well as 2021 projected production and long-term projections. In a “regular” dynasty fantasy football league, you don’t have to worry about Patrick Mahomes’ new $45 million salary for the next 11 years, but Dynasty Owners do. Dynasty Owners also need to consider how much Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are going to make in 2022 when deciding whether to draft them or not. For all Dynasty Owners, we’re going to cover this new territory over the month of July with a series of articles about Dynasty Owner Fantasy Football Tiers 2021 (that’ll stop the above page from coming up). This week, it’s QBs followed by RBs, WRs and TEs. We won’t do any tiers for kickers, but Dynasty Owner uses them, and you’ll still need at least two of them and preferably three to account for the need for a Bench kicker on bye weeks.

All 2021 projections come from Rotowire and are based on the Standard Dynasty Owner scoring system as outlined in the updated Dynasty Owner Constitution. Standard Dynasty Owner scoring gives you .1 points for every yard rushing or receiving, .1 point for every 2 yards passing, 1 point per reception, 6 points for a rushing, receiving or passing touchdown and 2 points for a successful 2-point conversion (rushing, receiving, or passing). Interceptions or fumbles lost cost you 3 points, while a fumble that is recovered by the player’s team is a loss of only 1 point. Bonus points are available for 100-199 yards rushing (2 points), 200 yards rushing or receiving (6 points), 300-399 yards passing (1 point) and 400 yards passing (4 points). There is also a 3 point bonus for clutch scoring, which is a score that results in a lead change in the final two minutes of the 4th quarter or overtime. Kickoff and punt return touchdowns are worth 6 points for the player and kickoff and punt returns are worth 1 point for every 40 yards.

Average Draft Position (ADP) listed is from 2021 Dynasty Owner start-up drafts and was accurate as of the morning of July 6th.

These Tiers Go Up to Eleven

Dynasty Owner tiers are not the same as tiers for other fantasy football leagues or on other fantasy football websites. There are multiple factors to consider in Dynasty Owner including current salary, future salaries, 2021 projected stats and long-term potential. Dynasty Owners also need to have a Starting QB and Bench QB every week, so more QBs will be used by Dynasty Owners than in a single-QB league, or even a SuperFlex league. That’s why we have more tiers and more players listed than elsewhere.

Just like Nigel Tufnel’s amplifier, these tiers go up to 11. Of course, there are a couple of tiers with an “a” and “b” to really make it 13 tiers, but let’s not confuse matters. The QB tiers are:

  • Tier 1a – High Value Young QBs
  • Tier 1b – High Value Young QBs who Are Getting Paid Soon
  • Tier 2 – Low Value, but High Production Veterans
  • Tier 3 – High Potential Young QBs
  • Tier 4 – Young QBs who Need to Prove Something to Get Paid
  • Tier 5 – Low Salary QBs with Unclear Futures
  • Tier 6 – Veterans at the End of Their Careers on One-Year Contracts
  • Tier 7 – Veterans who Might Start in 2021 on One-Year Contracts
  • Tier 8 – Rookies with Future Potential
  • Tier 9 – Veteran Handcuffs
  • Tier 10a – Low Salary QBs on One Year Contracts so Why Not in Case They Play
  • Tier 10b – Low Salary QBs on Multi-Year Contracts so Why Not in Case They Play
  • Tier 11 – Veterans to Avoid Drafting Due to High Salaries

Tier 1a – High Value Young QBs

These are the elite QBs for a Dynasty Owner to have as all of them are young (24 or younger) and expected to put up plenty of Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2021. They are still playing on their rookie contract that has multiple years left on it, so they have lots of value and a low Dynasty Dollar per Point (DD/PT) figure for at least two years.

Dynasty Owners are going to have to draft these five guys early in their 2021 start-up drafts as their current ADPs range from 8.3 to 43.9. In order from lowest (aka Best) DD/PT to highest, they are:

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Jalen Hurts, PHI$1,506,2923422.5$3,565
Justin Herbert, LAC$6,644,6883461.8$14,389
Kyler Murray, ARI$8,914,5042473.8$18,815
Trevor Lawrence, JAC$9,198,3724434.1$21,190
Joe Burrow, CIN$9,047,5343418.9$21,598

The QB with the highest ADP (43.9) is Jalen Hurts who has the lowest projected points in 2021 (422.5) and the best DD/PT by far at $3,565 because of his salary of just slightly over $1.5 million. Kyler Murray is the only QB listed who was drafted in 2019 and only has two years left on his contract, while Trevor Lawrence is the only rookie QB in this elite tier.

Tier 1b – High Value Young QBs who Are Getting Paid Soon

In a “regular” dynasty league, this would be one tier as these two QBs would be combined with the five QBs in Tier 1a since salaries don’t matter. However, this is Dynasty Owner and the fact that Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are going to get huge salary increases in 2022 is very important since Dynasty Owners have to stay under the salary cap and those contract extensions will make it difficult to keep Allen or Jackson on your Dynasty Owner roster. To keep them, Dynasty Owners will likely be forced to drop other productive players for salary reasons. Even though they will get paid soon and have new 2022 salaries, they still have low ADPs (16.2 for Allen and 38.0 for Jackson) that will require Dynasty Owners who want them to draft them in the first couple of rounds.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Lamar Jackson, BAL$2,367,9121441.4$5,365
Josh Allen, BUF$5,295,7601493.1$10,740

Jackson is about twice as valuable since his salary is less than half as much as Allen. However, Allen is projected to score more Dynasty Owner fantasy points than Jackson in 2021 so if you want Allen, you’ll have to draft him earlier.

Tier 2 – Low Value, but High Production Veterans

While these guys are NFL veterans, age is not the reason they are on this list. The important factor is that they are on multi-year contracts that will pay them at least $25 million per year in salary. No more rookie contracts for these guys. They cost you a lot in salary, but they should provide plenty of Dynasty Owner fantasy points in return for that salary (at least 400.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2021).

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Tom Brady, TB$25,000,0001419.1$59,652
Matthew Stafford, LA$27,000,0002417.9$64,609
Ryan Tannehill, TEN$29,500,0003426.9$69,103
Aaron Rodgers, GB$33,500,0003451.4$74,214
Russell Wilson, SEA$35,000,0003448.9$77,968
Dak Prescott, DAL$40,000,0004479.7$83,385
Patrick Mahomes, KC$45,000,00011524.2$85,845
Deshaun Watson, HOU$39,000,0005401.4$97,160

The players at the top and bottom of this list need additional explanation. The G.O.A.T. (Tom Brady) is listed on Dynasty Owner as only having one year left on his contract, but he is signed with Tampa Bay through 2022 and plans on playing until then when he turns 45 years of age. Dynasty Owners can drop him free of charge after the 2021 season when his $25 million extension for the 2022 season kicks in if they want. Deshaun Watson is projected to score over 400.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2021, but he might produce none in 2021 and future years due to his legal troubles. Dynasty Owners who draft Watson, or kept him on their roster when his new $39 million per year contract kicked in, should make sure they have an Amnesty Provision on hand to use in case he doesn’t play this year and they need to find another QB.

Tier 3 – High Potential Young QBs

These are the “potential” elite QBs who are just a step below the Tier 1a QBs since they are projected to score fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2021 than the elite QBs. If you believe in one of these guys, you can draft him at a discount this year compared to the elite QBs as their ADPs range from 46.0 to 83.7 and maybe give him a year to develop since they all have two or more years left on their rookie contract.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Justin Fields, CHI$4,717,9884324.8$14,526
Daniel Jones, NYG$6,416,0142378.1$16,969
Mac Jones, NE$3,896,5884192.5$20,242
Tua Tagovailoa, MIA$7,568,8593315.6$23,982
Trey Lance, SF$8,526,3194305.7$27,891
Zach Wilson, NYJ$8,787,6704299.8$29,312

Four out of the six QBs listed here are rookies drafted in first half of the first round of the 2021 NFL draft. The others were also early first round picks, but in 2019 (Daniel Jones) and 2020 (Tua Tagovailoa). Daniel Jones is projected to score the most Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2021, while Mac Jones is projected to score the fewest.

Tier 4 – Young QBs who Need to Prove Something to Get Paid

Tier 4 could have easily been combined with Tier 3 except for the looming one year left on each Tier 4 QB’s contract. They are a couple of tiers below fellow 2018 NFL first round draft picks Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson because they haven’t produced as many fantasy points as them and aren’t guaranteed to get paid. Both of them could have a great year in 2021, prove to their current team that they are worth a huge salary contract and get paid. Or, they could have a poor season, have their fifth year option declined and become a backup on a one-year contract like Mitchell Trubisky.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Sam Darnold, CAR$7,561,9291370.6$20,405
Baker Mayfield, CLE$8,170,7451384.5$21,250

Tier 5 – Low Salary QBs with Unclear Futures

None of the QBs on this list are the clear starter on their team and two are definitely going to be backups, but all of them have affordable salaries that make them attractive to Dynasty Owner. All of them are also worth owning for different additional reasons.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Gardner Minshew, JAC$677,7212111.1$6,100
Drew Lock, DEN$1,752,7042220.9$7,934
Jordan Love, GB$3,095,8633249.5$12,408
Brandon Allen, CIN$1,500,00010.0N/A 

Minshew is unlikely to play for Jacksonville, barring an injury to Trevor Lawrence, but his rock bottom $677,721 salary for two more years makes him attractive if Lawrence does get hurt, or if another team trades for him and gives him an opportunity to play. Drew Lock only has to beat out Teddy Bridgewater to be the starter in Denver. Jordan Love might be the starter in Green Bay, depending on the playing status of Aaron Rodgers, which makes him a solid speculative add even at the highest salary ($3.1 million) on this list. Finally, while Brandon Allen is projected to score zero Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2021 and only has one year left on his contract, I added him to this tier because of the potential that Joe Burrow could miss the beginning of the 2021 season due to the injury he suffered that ended his 2020 season. If Allen plays even a game or two, Dynasty Owners would have a bargain at only $1.5 million in salary for 2021. He’s widely available now with only 11% ownership.

Tier 6 – Veterans at the End of Their Careers on One-Year Contracts

Both QBs in Tier 6 are likely in the final year of their careers since they are nearing 40 years of age. While each one has a double-digit million dollar salary, it’s a bargain relative to other veterans and they only have one year contracts. Both are projected to score fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points than the veteran QBs in Tier 2, but they will provide better value and cost at least $10 million less than the Tier 2 QBs.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Ryan Fitzpatrick, WAS$10,000,0001368.6$27,130
Ben Roethlisberger, PIT$14,000,0001320.6$43,668

Roethlisberger is probably the safer play out of the two despite the extra $4 million in salary since it’s unlikely the Steelers play one of the many other QBs on their roster over him. Fitzpatrick also has a couple of younger QBs on the Football Team roster to contend with, but it would be less surprising to see him yield time as the season progresses than Big Ben.

Tier 7 – Veterans who Might Start in 2021 on One-Year Contracts

This tier is one of the largest with seven QBs falling in it. The potential to start varies greatly as do the salaries and the projected value for 2021. None of them are signed beyond 2021, so they can be easily shed off your Dynasty Owner roster if they get injured or aren’t the starter for their team since you’ll only have to pay 25% of their remaining salary to drop them.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Blake Bortles, GB$1,075,000164.8$16,590
Cam Newton, NE$5,100,0001289.6$17,610
Jameis Winston, NO$5,500,0001307.6$17,880
Tyrod Taylor, HOU$5,500,0001194.6$28,263
Taysom Hill, NO$12,159,0001312.1$38,959
Teddy Bridgewater, DEN$11,499,0001249.2$46,144
Andy Dalton, CHI$10,000,0001200.2$49,950

The only player at a true low salary is Blake Bortles at $1.075 million. Of course, he’s the most unlikely to play any snaps in 2021. The three QBs in the $5 million range could all see significant time in 2021, but also might not depending on if they win a QB battle (Winston), can hold off a rookie first round pick (Newton) or the real starting QB on the team plays (Taylor). The stories are similar for the $10 million plus salary QBs. One needs to beat out another QB on this list (Hill), win a QB battle with a younger, cheaper QB (Bridgewater) or hold off a rookie first round pick (Dalton). Dynasty Owners are taking a chance with all of these guys in Tier 6, but fortunately they are all on one year contracts so there’s no long term commitment or large drop fees.

Tier 8 – Rookies with Future Potential

In terms of 2021 value, all of these players have next to none. Some of them are projected to score Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2021, but don’t count on it. Davis Mills is the most likely, but he’ll need to beat out a couple of veterans in Tyrod Taylor and Jeff Driskel plus have Deshaun Watson out for the year to make that happen.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears
Kyle Trask, TB$1,383,8344
Kellen Mond, MIN$1,305,8544
Davis Mills, HOU$1,304,3834
Ian Book, NO$1,038,3964
Jacob Eason, IND$1,006,8163
Sam Ehlinger, IND$902,6774

Trask and Mills have very similar ADPs right now (152.6 for Mills; 152.8 for Trask), while Mond and Mills were drafted back-to-back at the beginning of the third round of the 2021 NFL draft, so their salaries are virtually identical. Trask’s salary is about $80,000 higher than both of them since he was the final pick in the second round. Technically, Jacob Eason isn’t a rookie, but he didn’t play at all in 2020 so this is the best tier for him. He’s here along with fellow Colts backup QB Sam Ehlinger who is indeed a rookie.

Tier 9 – Veteran Handcuffs

These QBs are also unlikely to play. Take a look at the list and think about the teams they play for, and you’ll know why. But, if you have the starter ahead of them of your Dynasty Owner roster, it could be worth paying a couple of million, or less in some cases, for these veteran handcuffs in case of an injury.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears
Case Keenum, CLE$6,000,0002
Jacoby Brissett, MIA$5,000,0001
Joe Flacco, PHI$3,500,0001
Marcus Mariota, LV$3,500,0001
Mitchell Trubisky, BUF$2,500,0001
Chad Henne, KC$1,625,0001
Colt McCoy, ARI$1,212,5001
Geno Smith, SEA$1,212,5001
Chase Daniel, LAC$1,075,0001

Out of the nine of them, Marcus Mariota is the most likely to play this year for Las Vegas. Case Keenum is the most expensive at $6 million and is the only one with two years left on his contract. That explains why he’s also unowned in Dynasty Owner right now. All of them are widely available with Trubisky having the highest ownership at 43%.

Tier 10a – Low Salary QBs on One Year Contracts so Why Not in Case They Play

This tier is filled with a bunch of QBs who make less than $1 million and probably won’t play in 2021. Some of them might not even be the backup. They could be the third string emergency QB. However, they don’t cost much and if the opportunity presents itself, all of them do have NFL experience. They are flyers for sure, but cheap ones and only have to be kept for 2021.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears
Mason Rudolph, PIT$980,4721
Nick Mullens, PHI$970,0001
Kyle Allen, WAS$850,0001
Dwayne Haskins, PIT$850,0001
Josh Rosen, SF$850,0001
Phillip Walker, CAR$782,5001
John Wolford, LA$770,0001

Mason Rudolph did sign a one-year extension for $5 million for 2022, but Dynasty Owners can always release him after that contract kicks in if they don’t want to keep him for 2022. Nick Mullens might still be listed as a Free Agent with a $750,000 salary, but he signed with Philadelphia for almost $1 million in mid-June.

Tier 10b – Low Salary QBs on Multi-Year Contracts so Why Not in Case They Play

Another “b” tier as all of these guys would be in the same tier in a “regular” dynasty league, except for that extra year on their current contract. That makes them a bit more expensive than the Tier 10a guys so slightly less valuable in Dynasty Owner.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears
C.J. Beathard, JAC$2,500,0002
Taylor Heinicke, WAS$2,375,0002
Will Grier, CAR$963,2492
Jarrett Stidham, NE$788,4232

Heinicke has the most likely path to playing time in Washington, which is why he’s 81% owned in Dynasty Owner and you’ll need to draft him in the later stages (ADP 223.2) of your start-up draft if you want to secure his services. Jarrett Stidham is owned in 42% of Dynasty Owner leagues, but that’s probably because Dynasty Owners took him in 2020 drafts when it was expected that he was the starter in New England. Many of these owners probably didn’t release him since his salary is low and he did play some in 2020.

Tier 11 – Veterans to Avoid Drafting Due to High Salaries

None of these guys are worth drafting in your 2021 Dynasty Owner start-up draft. They cost too much, are projected to finish outside of the Top 12 QBs in 2021, have more than one year left on their contract and will produce fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points than other veteran QBs at similar salaries (see Tier 2). If you have one on these players on your roster already, they will cost you an Amnesty Provision or lots of Dynasty Dollars to drop so they could be worth keeping around since all of them are projected to start in 2021 (at least at the beginning of the season). They might have a renaissance season, like Aaron Rodgers did in 2020, and end up being worth their contract.

PlayerYearly SalaryYears2021 Projected Points2021 DD/PT
Derek Carr, LV$25,000,0002372.9$67,042
Matt Ryan, ATL$30,000,0003393.0$76,336
Kirk Cousins, MIN$33,000,0002394.8$83,587
Carson Wentz, IND$32,000,0004368.3$86,886
Jimmy Garoppolo, SF$27,500,0002278.8$98,637
Jared Goff, DET$33,500,0004301.3$111,185

Not surprisingly, none of them are owned in more than one-quarter of Dynasty Owner leagues with Carr having the highest ownership (25%), along with the lowest salary in the tier at $25 million. Kirk Cousins has the lowest ownership at less than 1% (.81% to be exact). For the 2.4% of Dynasty Owners with Jared Goff, he’s projected as the #30 QB in 2021 and to have the highest DD/PT by far, as the only starting QB with a projected 2021 DD/PT of over $100,000.

Conclusion

There you have it. The first Dynasty Owner Tiers. No more zero matches when you search for Dynasty Owner Fantasy Football Tiers 2021. Depending on how you count them, it was either 11 or 13 of them. And we didn’t even include a couple of QBs who might play and find their way on to a few Dynasty Owner rosters this year (Mike Glennon, Jeff Driskel, etc.). More tiers to come for the other positions (RB, WR and TE) for the rest of July. Let me know what you think of these QB tiers on Twitter (@SteveVT33) or in the comments section on YouTube.

Dynasty Owner has great content coming to help you draft your dynasty. We can also provide guidance as you continue to tweak your roster after your rookie or start-up draft is over so you can win your league. My articles and videos to get you ready for your 2021 Dynasty Owner start-up league team are being released on Wednesdays. Keep an eye out for new articles from the rest of our team of Dynasty Owner writers as well. Matt Morrison – The Jerk (@Dynastyjerk) is doing a deep dive on individual teams that you can check out on Mondays, while Jay Pounds (@jaypoundsnfl) looks at how to rebuild your Dynasty Owner roster on Fridays. All of the articles will be released at 1 PM (Eastern) with videos and podcast released at 3 PM (Eastern).

Please read all of their articles and follow all three of us plus Dynasty Owner (@Dynasty_Owner) on Twitter. Hopefully this article is helpful for everyone who has a 2021 start-up draft coming soon, and at least interesting for those of you who have already drafted or have an established team. Maybe it’ll give you and other Dynasty Owners some ideas for potential trades too. Thanks, and have a great day!

Steven Van Tassell is the Head of Content for Dynasty Owner

Follow us on Twitter: @SteveVT33 and @Dynasty_Owner

Facebook Comments: Please enter a valid URL