The legal tampering period always announces the beginning of the new NFL league year, and then as the clock strikes 2:00 pm on March 15, free agency opens in a flurry. Teams rush to sign their new players and announce them to the world. In the ensuing chaos, both interested fans of the NFL and excitable partakers of the great game of fantasy football speculate as to how those new players will impact their favorite teams and their fantasy rosters. So let's dive into the quarterback group that signed deals so far in free agency and see what kind of impact they'll have!
Derek Carr, New Orleans Saints
Carr signed a four-year, $150 million deal (with $100 million guaranteed) with the Saints about a week before free agency opened, but this was allowed because the Las Vegas Raiders had cut him on February 14. By joining the Saints, Carr immediately steps into a spot where he can be a reliable fantasy QB2 with enough upside to get into QB1 numbers every week due to the presence of a solid wide receiver corps that includes Chris Olave and a recently restructured Michael Thomas.
Carr may have only finished as the QB19 in points per game last season after lofty expectations had him drafted as a top-15 option, but in making a move to the weaker NFC as well as a wide-open division in the NFC South, he should be a quarterback that fantasy players can trust to draft cheaply and get solid production out of.
2023 Fantasy Football Prediction: Finishes as a top-15 quarterback and should be drafted in the QB12-16 range.
Jimmy Garoppolo, Las Vegas Raiders
Taking Carr's spot for the time being is the newly acquired Garoppolo, who came over from the San Francisco 49ers a signed a three-year, $72 million contract with $45 million guaranteed. On the surface, this appears to be a bridge quarterback play for the Raiders. Garoppolo has proven in the past that he can get you where you need to go, but he probably won't elevate your football team to get you a Super Bowl win.
The Raiders also have an out in this contract after one season, so keep an eye on them to draft a quarterback in either this year's draft class or next year's. For fantasy purposes, though, Garoppolo is a very suitable QB2 that you can rely on in Superflex leagues. He shouldn't be too much on your radar for regular 1QB leagues. But he does have access to Davante Adams, so he could play as a streaming quarterback if you are in a 14+ team league.
2023 Fantasy Football Prediction: Finishes as a top-24 quarterback and should not be drafted in 1QB leagues. In Superflex leagues, draft as a QB2 or QB3 only.
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