Fantasy football is all about points. The more you score, the better chance you have to win.
(It ain't rocket science, folks).
While the final scoring leaders offer a look at how well a player performed in the stat sheets, it fails to offer us a complete picture of how good the player really was for fantasy fans. So, let's take a deeper look into the numbers to see how our gridiron heroes performed when the football was in their hands. In the case of the quarterbacks, here are the position's top 12 players (minimum eight games) ranked based on a combination of completed passes and rush attempts and the positive points that resulted via passing and rushing yards gained in addition to total touchdowns scored last season.
1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs (0.86): The highest-scoring player in fantasy football, Mahomes was scoring at a ridiculous pace in 2018. Not only did he averaged the most points per touch, but he also led all quarterbacks in points per pass attempt (0.65) and points per pass completion (0.99).
2. Philip Rivers, Los Angeles Chargers (0.78): Rivers finished outside of the top 10 fantasy quarterbacks, but he still produced a ton of points with the football in his hands. While he did nothing as a runner (not a shock), the veteran was fifth in points per pass attempt (0.56) among quarterbacks.
3. Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks (0.77): Wilson produced another top-10 season, and he did it despite the fact that his rushing totals declined. In fact, he went from second in points per rush attempt (76.6) to 11th (37.6). Regardless, he'll be one of the first quarterbacks picked in 2019 fantasy drafts.
4. Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams (0.73): Goff wasn't the most consistent fantasy quarterback a season ago, but he did produce an average of 0.82 points per pass completion. That ranked fifth in the league among qualified signal-callers. Goff also ranked seventh at the points in points per attempt.
5. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons (0.72): Ryan finished second in fantasy points among quarterbacks in what was a quietly productive season. The veteran ranked tied for sixth in both points per completion (0.77) and points per pass attempt (0.54). Not surprisingly, 95 percent of Ryan's points came as a passer.
T-6. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints (0.71): Brees was awful for fantasy fans down the stretch of 2018, but he still produced a top-10 season in the stat sheets. The veteran tied for sixth in points per pass completion (0.77) and only Mahomes and Wilson averaged more points per pass attempt (0.57).
T-6. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0.71): Fitzpatrick made our list due to his eight games, during which time he tied Brees in points per pass attempt (0.57) and was third behind only Mahomes and Wilson in points per completion (0.86). Jameis Winston will be the Bucs quarterback to target in 2019.
T-8. Tom Brady, New England Patriots (0.68): Brady is coming off one of his worst fantasy years, finishing 14th among quarterbacks. He produced 0.47 fantasy points per pass attempt, which ranked a mere 13th at the position. The G.O.A.T. will be a popular bust candidate in fantasy leagues next season.
T-8. Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals (0.68): The Red Rifle missed five games last season due to injuries, and his numbers weren't all that impressive when he was on the gridiron. In fact, he ranked tied for 19th in points per pass attempt (0.45). Dalton is likely to be left undrafted in a lot of 2019 drafts.
10. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers (0.67): Rodgers might have finished sixth at quarterback, but he beefed up his numbers with a strong finish in the stat sheets. Likely the second signal-caller off the board in 2019 drafts, Rodgers ranked tied for eighth at the position in points per completion (0.75).
T-11. Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts (0.66): Luck returned to the gridiron with a vengeance, ranking fifth in points among qualified quarterbacks while averaging 0.49 fantasy points per pass attempt.
T-11. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers (0.66):Big Ben had a quiet 5,100-yard passing campaign, finishing third in fantasy points among quarterbacks while averaging 0.70 points per completion.
T-11. Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns (0.66): A massive breakout candidate for 2019, Mayfield finished his rookie campaign with an average of 0.75 fantasy points every time he completed a pass.
Notes:Deshaun Watson averaged just 0.50 fantasy points per pass attempt last season, but he did a lot of damage with his feet. In fact, he averaged a solid 0.84 fantasy points per rushing attempt and put up 83.1 points as a runner. That made up 25 percent of his total fantasy point total for the season. ... Lamar Jackson finished second among quarterbacks in fantasy points scored via rush attempts (95.5). That accounted for 61 percent of his total points scored as a rookie. ... The lone quarterback who scored more fantasy points as a runner was fellow rookie Josh Allen, who compiled 109.1 with his feet. Of course, he started four more games than Jackson in 2018. The Bills quarterback put up almost 60 percent of all his fantasy points as a runner. ... Dak Prescott finished fifth at the position in fantasy points scored as a runner with 64.5. He has rushed for six touchdowns in each of his first three NFL seasons.
Michael Fabiano is an award-winning fantasy football analyst on NFL.com and NFL Network and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Hall of Fame. You can follow Michael on **Twitter**, **Facebook**, **YouTube** and **Instagram** for the latest fantasy football news and analysis!
