X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Value Picks
Compare Any Players
News and Alerts

Do Wide Receivers Need a Top QB to Have a Dominant Fantasy Season?

Charlie Kleinheksel takes an in-depth look at the correlation between WR success and elite QB play to determine which receivers could be values in 2017.

Wide receiver is the premiere fantasy football position, so figuring out which WR are likely to produce at a high level is an important endeavor. One factor that could affect WR performance is quarterback play.

Should we worry about receivers who are stuck with weak QBs? What if the WR or QB changes teams? Should we upgrade or downgrade the WR on the basis of who their QB is?

These are complex questions and we won't get a complete answer here. What we can do is take a look at what the data show, and prompt further conversation and research. Here's how I approached this question.

 

QBs that Produced Elite WR Fantasy Seasons

I took the top 12 WRs in seasonal PPR performance for the past six years (72 seasons total) and matched them up with their principal QB. Then I added in the quarterback's positional finish.

QB FINISH PCT OF WR1 SEASONS
TOP 6 45.8%
TOP 10 62.5%
TOP 12 70.8%

 

The average QB positional finish was 9.1, and top 12 WR played with a top-six QB almost 46 percent of the time. Almost 71 percent of top-12 WR seasons came with a top-12 QB.

On the surface, it sure seems like top WR seasons and top QB seasons go hand in hand. This makes intuitive sense: it seems like it would be hard to be great at catching passes if you didn't have somebody great at throwing them to you.

Is that the end of the discussion? Not so fast.

 

QB Roll Call

Our 72 top-12 WR seasons were produced by 31 different QBs or QB combos. As you'd expect, the list of QBs is littered with elite names. 64 percent of the top WR seasons involved one of these QBs: Peyton Manning, Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Stafford, Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Tony Romo, Tom Brady, or Carson Palmer.

There's a whole lot of "very good" as well as a healthy bit of "outright elite" names in that list. But let's turn it around and look at the flip side. About a third of top WR seasons came with QBs who didn't have a dominant season. Indeed, Jay Cutler shows up four times, and Andy Dalton three times. Other names include Blake Bortles, Jason Campbell, Brandon Weeden, Derek Carr, Josh McCown, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Nick Foles, Mark Sanchez, Bryan Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, Matt Moore, Christian Ponder, Ryan Tannehill, and even Kevin Kolb and Jon Skelton, who combined to help Larry Fitzgerald to a top-12 season in 2011.

Let's take that table from the previous section and flip it around.

QB FINISH PCT OF WR1 SEASONS
Worse than 6 54.2%
Worse than 10 37.5%
Worse than 12 29.2%

 

What this tells us is that you can get a top-12 WR season with a QB that's outside the top 12 almost thirty percent of the time. You can do it more than half the time with a QB that's outside the top six.

Our takeaway from this section is that while it's certainly a good thing to have your WR connected to a top QB, it's not absolutely necessary.

 

Just Who Are These WR Anyway?

One important thing we haven't considered yet is the direction of causality. We can see from the tables above that top WR seasons and top QB seasons are strongly correlated, but we haven't established whether or not a top QB season causes a top WR season.

Remembering that there are 72 qualifying WR seasons, I think it's interesting that just two of them involved Tom Brady. He's a good QB. Maybe it's just because Rob Gronkowski takes so many targets that no WR can really get the volume for a top season. But Drew Brees played with Jimmy Graham for many years, and Brees is connected to twice as many top WR seasons.

Allen Robinson produced with Blake Bortles. Alshon Jeffery did it with Jay Cutler. Brandon Marshall has done it with Cutler, Matt Moore, Josh McCown, and Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Let's put some numbers to this. These are the WR that have produced a top-12 season.

WR Draft Pick Number Cumulative Pct
Top 10 7 17.9%
First Round 17 43.6%
First two rounds 27 69.2%
Top 100 32 82.1%

 

For reference, the 72 WR seasons we're looking at were compiled by just 37 unique players. 82 percent of those players were top-100 draft picks. Almost 70 percent were taken in the first two rounds. 43 percent were first-round picks, and 18 percent were top 10 picks.

Using draft position as a proxy for "talent" brings up some questions of its own, but it gives us a quick sense of something very important to consider. Let's run through some of the WR1 names: Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham, Jordy Nelson, A.J. Green, Larry Fitzgerald, Mike Evans. Did those players really need "a great QB" to produce a top WR season? Maybe, maybe not, but I think you could make a good case for doing this article in reverse: "Does a QB need a top WR in order to have a good fantasy season?"

 

Conclusion

I think this question is more complex than I can answer in one article. Variables like opportunity should also be considered. Golden Tate has a top-12 season to his credit but failed to repeat the following year. Both the top-12 season and lack of repeat can probably be attributed to Calvin Johnson, who missed extensive time in Tate's top year, but returned healthy the subsequent year and took the opportunity away from Tate.

I will say that having a good, or great, QB is obviously a good thing for a WR. But it also doesn't seem to be a requirement. Really good WRs seem capable of producing top seasons whether or not they have a good QB. And perhaps the reason those QBs are good is because of the presence of the WR.

If you've got a WR who's produced at a high level in the past, I'd continue to bet on them producing at a high level in the future, regardless of what happens at QB. If your league mates think differently, try to take advantage. Someone down on DeAndre Hopkins because he had a down year with Brock Osweiler? Remember that Hopkins had a top season with Brian Hoyer, and make an offer.




POPULAR FANTASY TOOLS

Expert Advice
Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Draft Rankings
Draft Simulator
Enter League Settings
Value Picks
Compare Any Players
News and Alerts

REAL-TIME FANTASY NEWS

Dalton Rushing3 hours ago

Wears The Platinum Sombrero On Thursday
Shohei Ohtani4 hours ago

Still Without Timeline To Face Live Hitters
Jordan Lawlar4 hours ago

Collects Three Hits, Three RBI On Thursday
Carlos Carrasco4 hours ago

Strikes Out Five, Picks Up Win
Merrill Kelly4 hours ago

Gets Lit Up By Yankees
Luis F. Castillo4 hours ago

Expected To Start Friday
Owen Caissie4 hours ago

Triples In Three-Hit Game At Triple-A
Weston Wilson5 hours ago

Set To Face Live Pitching
Ranger Suárez5 hours ago

Ranger Suarez Could Throw Live Batting Practice This Week
Brady House5 hours ago

Belts Home Run No. 1 On Thursday
Nick Lodolo5 hours ago

Delivers Quality Start
Shay Whitcomb5 hours ago

Homers Twice On Thursday
Charlie Morton6 hours ago

Strikes Out 10 In Loss
J.T. Realmuto6 hours ago

Collects Three Hits
Nikola Jokić6 hours ago

Nikola Jokic Expected To Play On Friday
Hunter Brown7 hours ago

Registers Eight Strikeouts
Jonathan Kuminga7 hours ago

Back On Thursday Night
Christian Walker7 hours ago

Mashes Homer In Win
Freddie Freeman7 hours ago

Heading To Injured List
Miles Boykin8 hours ago

Heading To Chicago
Jalen Wilson9 hours ago

Sidelined On Thursday
Baker Mayfield9 hours ago

Tampa Bay Restructures Baker Mayfield's Deal
Case Keenum9 hours ago

Chicago Signs Case Keenum To One-Year Deal
Kyshawn George9 hours ago

Unavailable For Thursday
Richaun Holmes9 hours ago

Out Versus Magic
Khris Middleton9 hours ago

Out Again Thursday Versus Magic
D'Angelo Russell10 hours ago

Good To Go On Thursday
Noah Clowney10 hours ago

Done For Rest Of The Season
Jordan Poole10 hours ago

Unavailable For Thursday
Scottie Barnes10 hours ago

Available On Thursday
Cedric Mullins10 hours ago

Goes Deep In Loss To Boston
Jonathan Drouin10 hours ago

Martin Necas, Jonathan Drouin Unavailable Thursday
Tyrese Maxey10 hours ago

Expected To Miss Rest Of Season
Alexandar Georgiev10 hours ago

Nursing An Upper-Body Injury
Henry Thrun10 hours ago

Returns From Nine-Game Absence Thursday
Taijuan Walker10 hours ago

Blanks Rockies For Six Innings To Earn First Win
Tanner Houck10 hours ago

Picks Up No-Decision In Four-Inning Outing
Olli Määttä10 hours ago

Olli Maatta Returns To Utah Lineup Thursday
Alex Bregman10 hours ago

Fills The Box Score In Win Over Orioles
Dylan Guenther11 hours ago

Ready To Go Thursday
Anthony Duclair11 hours ago

Takes Leave Of Absence
Alex Pietrangelo11 hours ago

On Track To Return Thursday
Brady Tkachuk11 hours ago

Out On Thursday
Trey McBride11 hours ago

Cardinals Making Trey McBride The Highest-Paid Tight End In NFL History
Geno Smith12 hours ago

Raiders, Geno Smith Agree To Two-Year Extension
13 hours ago

Tyler Shough Could Be Day 2 Pick In NFL Draft
Dallas Cowboys13 hours ago

Shemar Stewart Meeting With Cowboys Staff
New York Giants14 hours ago

Travis Hunter The Likely Pick For Giants?
Dallas Cowboys14 hours ago

DeMarvion Overshown Aiming For Comeback Player Of The Year Award
Washington Commanders14 hours ago

Commanders Sign T.J. Maguranyanga
Kansas City Chiefs15 hours ago

Mike Edwards Reunites With Chiefs
New Orleans Saints15 hours ago

Saints Could Take A Quarterback Early In The Draft
Joe Milton III18 hours ago

Traded To Cowboys
Anfernee Simons19 hours ago

Could Be Absent Again Thursday
Scoot Henderson19 hours ago

Misses Third Consecutive Game Thursday
Scottie Barnes19 hours ago

Iffy For Thursday
Immanuel Quickley19 hours ago

Takes Thursday Off
Jakob Poeltl19 hours ago

Sits Out Thursday's Game
Damian Lillard19 hours ago

May Return To Action Sooner Than Expected
Giannis Antetokounmpo19 hours ago

Likely To Suit Up Thursday
LeBron James19 hours ago

Probable Thursday
Jared McCann21 hours ago

Tallies Three Helpers On Wednesday
Jackson Blake21 hours ago

Scores Twice In Victory
Artemi Panarin21 hours ago

Tallies Three Points In Overtime Victory
Andrei Svechnikov21 hours ago

Exits Early On Wednesday
Jake McCabe21 hours ago

Suffers Injury On Wednesday
Jonathan Drouin21 hours ago

Exits Wednesday's Contest
Los Angeles Chargers1 day ago

Chargers Sign Tight End Jordan Petaia
1 day ago

Matthew Golden Making Pre-Draft Visit To Steelers
Cincinnati Bengals1 day ago

Trey Hendrickson Not Looking For Short-Term Deal
Tutu Atwell1 day ago

Rams Plan To Give Tutu Atwell A Bigger Role In 2025
Tampa Bay Buccaneers1 day ago

Bucs Restructure Antoine Winfield's Deal To Free Up Cap Space
Jrue Holiday1 day ago

Won't Play Against Miami
New York Jets1 day ago

Xavier Newman-Johnson Re-Signs With New York
Al Horford1 day ago

Sidelined Versus Heat
Evgeni Malkin1 day ago

Joins Penguins For Road Trip
Filip Chytil1 day ago

Could Miss Rest Of Season
Declan Chisholm1 day ago

Back In Action Against Rangers
Samuel Girard1 day ago

Exits Avalanche Lineup Wednesday
Joel Kiviranta1 day ago

Returning Against Blackhawks
Eeli Tolvanen1 day ago

Misses First Game Of The Season
Jaden Schwartz1 day ago

Unavailable Against Canucks
2 days ago

Kyle McCord Rising Up Draft Boards?
2 days ago

Ashton Jeanty To Raiders Continues To Gain Steam
Cameron Young2 days ago

A Player To Avoid At Valero Texas Open
Kurt Kitayama2 days ago

In Search Of Consistency At Valero Texas Open
Si Woo Kim2 days ago

Looking To Bounce Back At Valero Texas Open
Tom Hoge2 days ago

Looking To Build Off Strong Performance At The PLAYERS Championship
Matt Fitzpatrick2 days ago

Looking For Consistency At Valero Texas Open
Corey Conners2 days ago

Continues Strong Form Ahead Of Valero Texas Open
Patrick Cantlay2 days ago

Eyeing Victory At Valero Texas Open
Gary Woodland2 days ago

Showing Great Form Ahead Of Valero Texas Open
Akshay Bhatia2 days ago

Aiming For Repeat At Valero Texas Open
Alejandro Tosti2 days ago

A Volatile Choice At TPC San Antonio
Jordan Spieth3 days ago

Needs To Find Consistency At TPC San Antonio
Jake Knapp3 days ago

Making First Appearance At Valero Texas Open
Michael Kim3 days ago

Looking To Find The Magic Again In San Antonio
Tommy Fleetwood3 days ago

Is Nearly A Must-Play At Valero Texas Open
Tony Finau3 days ago

Hoping For Better Approach Play In San Antonio
Eric Cole3 days ago

Trending In Right Direction Ahead Of Valero
Sam Stevens3 days ago

Enjoys Nice Result In Houston
PGA3 days ago

J.T. Poston Seeks To Contend At Valero Texas Open
Denny McCarthy3 days ago

Keeps Making Cuts But Needs To Make More Putts
Brian Harman3 days ago

Off To A Subpar 2025 So Far
Ryan Preece3 days ago

Has Three Straight Top-10 Finishes For First Time In His Career
NASCAR3 days ago

Bubba Wallace After Third-Place Finish At Martinsville: "What a Great Day"
Todd Gilliland3 days ago

Has Mistake-Free Day At Martinsville, Grabs Another Top-10 Finish
Brandon Moreno3 days ago

Wins Back-To-Back Fights
Steve Erceg3 days ago

Losses Third Consecutive Fight
Drew Dober3 days ago

Gets Knocked Out At UFC Mexico City
Manuel Torres3 days ago

Gets Back In The Win Column
Harry Hall3 days ago

Bounces Back In Houston Last Week
CJ Vergara3 days ago

Gets Submitted
Édgar Cháirez3 days ago

Edgar Chairez Gets Submission Win At UFC Mexico City
Vince Morales4 days ago

Drops Decision At UFC Mexico City
Raul Rosas Jr.4 days ago

Gets Decision Win At UFC Mexico City
Saimon Oliveira4 days ago

Still Winless In The UFC
David Martinez4 days ago

Wins His UFC Debut
Kevin Borjas4 days ago

Earns His First UFC Win
Ronaldo Rodríguez4 days ago

Ronaldo Rodriguez Suffers His First UFC Loss
Christopher Bell4 days ago

Powers His Way To A Second-Place Finish At Martinsville
Chase Elliott4 days ago

Strong Martinsville Performance Ends With A Top-Five Finish
Kyle Larson4 days ago

Collects A Top-Five Finish At Martinsville
William Byron4 days ago

Places 22nd After Struggles At Martinsville
Joey Logano4 days ago

Claims His First 2025 Top-10 Finish After Up-And-Down Performance
Tyler Reddick4 days ago

Fails To Place In The Top 10 At Martinsville
Denny Hamlin4 days ago

Silences Doubters After Crew-Chief Change
Ty Gibbs4 days ago

Earns Best 2025 Finish At Martinsville Despite Failing Cool Suit
Ross Chastain4 days ago

Has A Great Day At Martinsville
Chase Briscoe4 days ago

Has Solid Run At Martinsville
Erik Jones4 days ago

Disqualified At Martinsville For Weight Violation
Josh Berry5 days ago

Has Top-10 Upside At Martinsville
Joey Logano5 days ago

Don't Overlook Joey Logano This Weekend
Ryan Preece5 days ago

Could Get First Three-Race Top-10 Streak Of His Career
Chase Elliott5 days ago

Looking To Continue Great Runs At Martinsville
Christopher Bell5 days ago

Wins Pole At Martinsville, But Can He Stay Up There?
Ryan Blaney5 days ago

Fast In Practice But Skeptical About Car
Denny Hamlin5 days ago

New Crew Chief Has Terrible Martinsville Record
RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Russell Wilson - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL DFS Picks

Fantasy Football Outlooks For QBs On New Teams: Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, more

The NFL quarterback carousel gets to spin every offseason, and plenty of QBs have already found new homes ahead of the 2025 NFL season. For fantasy football, a player's surrounding team is extremely important, so it's worth looking into each of their outlooks with their new squads. There are still a few unsigned QBs, but […]


Shedeur Sanders - College Football Rankings, NCAA CFB DFS Lineup Picks

2025 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Mock Draft: 12-Team, Superflex/Two-QB

The 2025 NFL Draft is still less than 30 days away. Therefore, dynasty fantasy rookie mock drafts are nearly here. Much will change between now and the NFL Draft. However, it’s time for another dynasty rookie mock draft. This rookie mock draft is a two-round, 12-team, and two-quarterbacks. For a deeper dive into dynasty strategy, […]


Deshaun Watson - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

2025 NFL Offseason Team Needs: Bengals, Browns, Ravens, Steelers

The AFC North, comprised of the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers, sent two teams to the playoffs in 2024 and had one on the cusp of a playoff berth. The Ravens have the best roster of the four teams by a long shot. The Steelers have a solid defensive group, and […]


UFL RANKINGS, FANTASY FOOTBALL,

UFL Fantasy Football Rankings for Week 2: QB, RB, WR, TE Rankings and Analysis (2025)

Week 2 of the UFL season is just around the corner. This week will feature one game on Friday, one game on Saturday, and two on Sunday. Birmingham and Michigan will play at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, followed by Memphis-D.C. on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. EDT. Sunday's game pits the 1-0 Renegades against the […]


Calvin Ridley - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Picks, Draft Sleepers

Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings: Overvalued, Undervalued Players (2025)

Dynasty fantasy football rankings constantly shift, especially as we inch closer to the new season and fantasy drafts. Dynasty managers know the importance of finding those underrated players who could be steals in drafts or trades. They also know some players are overhyped due to unsustainable trends or past production. I'll break down two overvalued […]


Justin Fields - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Best Fantasy Football Moves During 2025 NFL Free Agency

It has been a wild offseason so far in the NFL. Plenty of players have switched teams in free agency, and some stars were even traded. Deebo Samuel Sr. was dealt to the Washington Commanders, Geno Smith was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders, and DK Metcalf has a new home with the Pittsburgh Steelers. These […]


Tyreek Hill - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Three Aging Fantasy Football Players To Sell In Dynasty Leagues

It's hard to always know when to sell off your aging fantasy football players. Often, it's also difficult to accept that it's better to move on from a player when he's coming off a productive season and still has a lot left in the tank. But I believe it's better to be a year early […]


J.J. McCarthy - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Draft Sleepers

Five Fantasy Football Superflex Quarterback Breakouts, Draft Targets (2025)

If you’ve ever played in a Superflex fantasy football league, then you know how important quarterbacks are in this format. The ability to start multiple stud quarterbacks can carry you to a Superflex title. Unfortunately, finding two such players isn’t so easy. All the top signal-callers come off draft boards first, and that makes it […]


Omarion Hampton - College Football Rankings, NCAA CFB DFS Lineup Picks - NFL Draft

Ideal Landing Spots For The Top 12 Fantasy Football Rookies - 2025 NFL Draft

Then, the NFL Draft continues to inch closer and closer. This is a very interesting class, with a handful of players who could be stars in the NFL and reshape fantasy football leagues going forward. Here are the ideal landing spots for the top 12 fantasy football rookies. These picks exist in conversation with each […]


Jalen Coker - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Eight Best Ball Late Round Value Fantasy Football Players To Target For 2025

Fantasy football is the most popular game in all of sports. It has gone from a paper-and-pen game to a multi-million dollar-a-year one. While redraft leagues are the most popular form of fantasy football, best ball leagues are quickly gaining steam. The best part of best ball leagues is the ability to draft thousands of […]


Abdul Carter - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

2025 NFL Draft Rankings: Top 10 Fantasy Football Edge Rusher Prospects

Edge rusher is the most important, most coveted, and most highly-paid position on defense in the NFL. It stands to reason that the most important position in the entire game being quarterback, and by a wide margin, means the most important position on defense are the players that are tasked with disrupting opposing QBs as […]


Brock Purdy - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, DFS Picks

Brock Purdy Dynasty Fantasy Football Outlook and Trade Value

Despite becoming the all-time leading passer for the Iowa State Cyclones, Brock Purdy wasn't a highly touted prospect due to his perceived lack of athleticism. The 49ers picked him with the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, but Mr. Irrelevant quickly proved everyone wrong. In his first two years, he started in back-to-back NFC […]


Michael Florio's Football Show - Podcast RotoBaller Network

Florio's Football Show: Scouting NFL Draft Prospects!

Michael F Florio goes over some of the top prospects from this years NFL Draft. Florio talks about what he looks for when watching prospect tape and explains what traits translate best to the NFL level. Be sure to also tune into RotoBaller Radio on SiriusXM (SiriusXM channel 87) on Sundays from 6-7 am. You can […]