Quarterback Strength of Schedule

Fri May 16 10:08am ET
By JEFF PAUR
Sr Fantasy Writer

Murray has a favorable schedule

Using our rules for our money leagues, we came up with a schedule strength ranking for the quarterback position. We are using our fantasy defenses report to calculate the rankings. This report can be found in all of our leagues under the "reports" heading. We took the schedule of each team and entered the average number of fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks last season from all of their opponents to get our fantasy points allowed number. This is a good indication of the quarterbacks with the most favorable schedules for fantasy scoring for the coming season. Defenses obviously change from year to year, but knowing the quarterbacks that might have the easiest schedule for fantasy is always a good idea when formulating your rankings and draft strategy.

	QB SOS
1.	Dallas	323.69
2.	New York Giants	325.58
3.	Detroit	328.48
4.	Minnesota	329.6
5.	Cincinnati	330.48
6.	Green Bay	330.81
7.	Baltimore	331.58
8.	Cleveland	332.58
9.	Pittsburgh	333.67
10.	Chicago	333.76
11.	Washington	334.83
12.	Las Vegas	337.38
13.	Philadelphia	338.09
14.	Los Angeles Chargers	338.73
15.	Buffalo	340.31
16.	Atlanta	340.56
17.	New England	342.51
18.	Miami	342.76
19.	Tampa Bay	345.16
20.	New York Jets	345.71
21.	Kansas City	345.99
22.	Denver	346.19
23.	Indianapolis	347.54
24.	New Orleans	348.47
25.	San Francisco	349.33
26.	Los Angeles Rams	349.98
27.	Seattle	350.27
28.	Jacksonville	350.64
29.	Carolina	351.85
30.	Tennessee	352.69
31.	Houston	354.27
32.	Arizona	358.17

The Arizona Cardinals have the easiest fantasy schedule for quarterbacks. Kyler Murray had a solid season last year but could be even better this year, being another year removed from his major knee injury and having the most favorable fantasy schedule. The Cardinals passing game could have a lot of success this season, especially if Marvin Harrison Jr. takes his game to a new level.

C.J. Stroud is an intriguing option because of his favorable schedule. Stroud gets the second-easiest fantasy schedule for quarterbacks. He had a disappointing season last year but had all sorts of injuries at receiver, which impacted him. He gets most of those guys back this year and also adds two talented rookie receivers to the mix. This makes Stroud a good buy-low candidate for fantasy teams.

The Titans, Panthers and Jaguars round out the top five easiest fantasy quarterback list. This is good news for rookie Cam Ward. He could make an immediate fantasy impact because of an easy schedule. He still could be up and down as a rookie with a team that lacks some weapons, but Ward also could have some big games along the way.

Bryce Young had a great finish to last year, so you have to be thrilled to see him get a favorable fantasy scheduled. He could build on that finish and continue his solid play this season, especially if you consider the Panthers did well to get him more talent to work with offensively.

Lastly, Trevor Lawrence hasn’t lived up to expectations but this could be the season this year. He gets a great schedule, a new quarterback-friendly head coach and some more weapons to work with in the passing game. If Lawrence is going to have that breakout season, this is the year.

The Cowboys top the list for most difficult quarterback schedule. This isn’t likely to deter them from throwing but you have to worry a little about the ceiling of Dak Prescott. He could struggle some weeks against some really good passing defenses.

Russell Wilson heads to the Giants this year to take over as their starter. He heads to an offense that has struggled at quarterback in recent seasons and gets a very difficult schedule to boot. Wilson faces the second most difficult fantasy schedule for quarterbacks. A big first season in New York doesn’t seem likely for Wilson.

The Lions, Vikings and Bengals round out the list of toughest schedules for quarterbacks. The one that stands out is Minnesota because they are going to have a first-year starter in J.J. McCarthy. He has some real upside in an offense that likes to throw the ball and has maybe the best receiver in the game, but this schedule could temper his expectations a little.

And we have a hard time betting against Jared Goff and Joe Burrow because of a challenging fantasy schedule. These passing offenses are tough to slow down no matter the opponent.

We also wanted to look at playoff schedules for fantasy quarterbacks. So we crunched the numbers of all the schedules from Week 15-17, which is the fantasy playoffs for most leagues. We know you have to get to the playoffs first, but knowing the quarterbacks with the easiest playoff schedules doesn’t hurt by any means, especially in the big-money contests.

	QB PLAYOFF SOS
1.	Dallas	300.55
2.	Cleveland	303.77
3.	New York Giants	308.43
4.	Buffalo	313.05
5.	Philadelphia	314.27
6.	Green Bay	324.72
7.	Pittsburgh	326.15
8.	Chicago	327.72
9.	Cincinnati	327.82
10.	Detroit	328.27
11.	San Francisco	329.53
12.	Kansas City	330.52
13.	Baltimore	334.67
14.	Las Vegas	337.68
15.	Houston	338.22
16.	Carolina	338.93
17.	Tennessee	339.15
18.	New England	347.12
19.	Washington	347.93
20.	Indianapolis	349.22
21.	Los Angeles Rams	350.87
22.	Jacksonville	352.78
23.	New York Jets	354.02
24.	Miami	354.32
25.	Tampa Bay	354.83
26.	New Orleans	355.13
27.	Denver	357.28
28.	Atlanta	364.7
29.	Minnesota	372.5
30.	Los Angeles Chargers	373.05
31.	Arizona	376.65
32.	Seattle	377.82

Arizona is the lone team that finishes in the top five for both the regular and postseason for easiest schedule. Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. could be a good stack for those of you in those big-money contests. Very intriguing.

The Seahawks actually have the easiest fantasy playoff schedule. Sam Darnold has some question marks after his finish to last year but might be worth the risk because of this schedule. If he can get it going again, he could be a help down the stretch.

And it is interesting to see the Vikings have the fourth easiest playoff schedule. They made the top-five toughest schedule list for their overall schedule. But things get easier for McCarthy in the fantasy playoffs. He could be a factor down the stretch.

So the Cowboys have both the hardest overall and playoff schedule for quarterbacks. Ouch. Dak Prescott is looking like a scary pick for fantasy owners. Buyer beware.

The Giants are another team that made both lists, giving you even more hesitation when it comes to taking a chance on Wilson in his first season with the team. He probably isn’t worth the risk.

There are two really big names that made the top five most difficult playoff schedule. Both Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts have challenging playoff schedules. It is something to keep in mind when deciding between them and other elite options like Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow.

Jeff Paur is a two-time finalist for FSWA Fantasy Football Writer of the Year and won the FSWA award for Best Fantasy Football Article on the Web in 2011. He also was the most accurate expert in 2012, winning the FSTA Fantasy Football Accuracy Award. If you have any questions for Jeff, email him at jeff@rtsports.com. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffpaur.

Quarterback Strength of Schedule

The Paur Report