Week 16 Fantasy Football QB Rankings 2025

​

  • By Patrick Leary

    Last Updated on December 18, 2025 10:00 am by Jon Mosales | Published: December 18, 2025

    Before we get into the semifinals week rankings, we must take a moment to eulogize the 2025 season of Patrick Mahomes.

    As we head into the final two weeks of the fantasy season, Mahomes ranks QB2, a truly remarkable resurgence for an erstwhile fantasy star who had fallen well into the middle rounds in preseason ADP this year. He put together an incredible fantasy season while the Chiefs dynasty collapsed around him, only to see his knee go down along with the ship last week. He delivered tremendous value in a year where three of the top five at the position bricked on their high ADPs, and we will remember his 2025 as a year where he reminded us he still has the juice to post big regular season numbers.

    How does the rest of the landscape look as we battle through the fantasy playoffs? Check out the Week 16 rankings below.

    Want to get access to Patrick’s QB rankings? You’ll need to have a FANTASYPASS membership. Click here to learn more and sign up!
    Premium Access Required

    Player Team Opponent Notes
    1 Josh Allen BUF CLE Allen (344 points) is the only QB above 300 this year, so he’s the clear No. 1 rest of season. He’s the true fantasy QB alpha.
    2 Jalen Hurts PHI WAS Hurts righted the ship against a bad defense, converting a quarter of his completions for TDs and rushing for his most yards since Week 4. Against another bad D, he’s a smash.
    3 Drake Maye NE BAL With Mahomes out of the picture, Maye is our matchup-neutral QB2. He’s a no brainer in a big game this week.
    4 Lamar Jackson BAL NE Lamar’s struggles continue, but the high total primetime total game with the playoffs on the line will propel him.
    5 Joe Burrow CIN MIA This is a gross game but should afford Burrow plenty of opportunities to put up big numbers.
    6 Brock Purdy SF IND Off of his best performance of the season, Purdy has ascended back into the QB1 realm.
    7 Matthew Stafford LAR SEA Stafford actually struggled quite a bit against the Seahawks last time out, but he’s one of just four QBs starting this week averaging 20 points per game, so there’s only so far he can tumble.
    8 Jacoby Brissett ARI ATL Brissett did the impossible, continuing his 20-point per start streak against the Texans’ vaunted D. Atlanta should be mincemeat by comparison.
    9 Jordan Love GB CHI Love is having one of the stronger back halves of the season around the league, and this is a must-win game he won the first playing of two weeks ago. He’s a clear QB1 for me.
    10 Jared Goff DET PIT The Lions have to win, and this total is near 50. Goff gets a big boost in this spot.
    11 Dak Prescott DAL LAC Prescott finally hit a speed bump, and it worries me that this Chargers defense, now up to second-worst in the league for opposing fantasy QBs, could continue his struggles.
    12 Justin Herbert LAC DAL Herbert hasn’t been a QB1 since Week 9, but it’s Dallas, so he gets the last spot here. I hope he passes more this week.
    13 Bo Nix DEN JAC Nix boomed against a good defense last week for the first time since the middle part of the year. His season has been uneven, but he clearly deserves to be in this tier.
    14 Jaxson Dart NYG MIN Dart was all over the place against an easy matchup last week. The Vikings have stormed to the Top 3 worst fantasy QB matchups, so this is a shaky spot for him.
    15 Trevor Lawrence JAC DEN It sucks that I can’t shoot Lawrence up the rankings after his dominant QB1 Week 15 performance, but Denver at altitude is an entirely different beast.
    16 C.J. Stroud HOU LVR Good opportunity for Stroud here to have one of his better games. It’s just tough to trust him when his defense destroys game scripts against bad opponents.
    17 Tyler Shough NO NYJ Shough has 18 fantasy points in three consecutive starts. He’s quietly becoming a reliable QB2, and Lawrence lit these guys up last week.
    18 Baker Mayfield TB CAR Four straight weeks outside QB1 territory for Mayfield and a tricky defense make him a dubious streamer for me.
    19 Aaron Rodgers PIT DET Rodgers is a viable streamer against Detroit, but it’s hard to trust him week to week. Case in point, his past three weekly finishes: QB31, QB8, QB18.
    20 Sam Darnold SEA LAR Darnold had his sloppiest game of 2025 against the Rams the last time he faced them. I expect him to be better this time, but also for this game to be very low scoring.
    21 Caleb Williams CHI GB The Bears are going to pound the rock to try to beat their rivals this week. The less Williams they use, the better.
    22 J.J. McCarthy MIN NYG Nine has woken up against two straight bad defenses and he’s got another one this week. He’s about as low as I’d go to stream a QB this week.
    23 Gardner Minshew KC TEN Minshew Mania is about to run wild. In all seriousness, I have no idea how the Chiefs will handle being eliminated with a backup QB starting.
    24 Marcus Mariota WAS PHI Mariota might be playing for the Jets or Raiders job for the rest of the season, so he’ll be motivated, but this is a tough matchup.
    25 Bryce Young CAR TB Young remains incredibly inconsistent and tough to trust. His last five weekly finishes: QB29, QB2, QB21, QB4, QB21.
    26 Kirk Cousins ATL ARI If Cousins gets Drake London back and this ends up being a shootout, he could be interesting, but the Falcons will likely run the ball quite a bit against the listless Cardinals.
    27 Shedeur Sanders CLE BUF Brutal matchup here for Sanders, who isn’t quite on the streaming radar with how he’s played.
    28 Phillip Rivers IND SF Old Man Rivers looked decent enough against the Seahawks, but the raw passing yardage total (120) suggests almost zero weekly floor.
    29 Cam Ward TEN KC Ward remains by far the worst QB to play every game this season, and last week’s 15 points was actually his second-best game of his rough rookie year.
    30 Quinn Ewers MIA CIN This would have actually been an interesting stream spot for Tua, but a Day 3 rookie making his debut is an automatic no.
    31 Kenny Pickett LVR HOU Pickett against the worst defense to face in the entire league is a recipe for disaster.
    32 Brady Cook NYJ NO Cook just isn’t NFL caliber, even if he will have some statpadding opportunities.
    33* Geno Smith LVR HOU If Smith starts, I’ll rank him just ahead of Ward in this terrible matchup.
    December 18, 2025, 10:00 am