Who to Draft at Quarterback in 2026 Fantasy Football: Jayden Daniels or Joe Burrow?
The National Football League is excited about the returns of both Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow. Their 2025 seasons were derailed by injury. Yet, at their peak, they are both top-5 quarterbacks in the beloved game of fantasy football.
In the current average draft position, Burrow is going as the QB4, 59th overall. Daniels trails narrowly behind as the QB5, 64th overall. Who is the better selection entering 2026? Let's find out.
The Case for Jayden Daniels
In Daniels debut season back in 2024, he finished as fantasy football's QB5. He was QB6 in points per game, jumped by Jalen Hurts. Nonetheless, Daniels was elite.
Now in 2026, the third-year quarterback has to juggle some changes. His offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury, is now gone. Instead, the Commanders are rolling with first-time offensive coordinator and former NFL quarterback, David Blough. The new play-caller has been with this team for the duration that Kingsbury was.
The fact that Blough coached under Kingsbury does not necessarily point towards a schematic parallel. Instead, Blough will run his own West Coast scheme. This is a coach who played for 5 different NFL teams. He has seen it all. Blough will now become his own man. As for fantasy football, there is no reason to book this as a knock on Daniels in all his versatility.
A newly healthy Daniels enters his third season with Terry McLaurin as his WR1. He then benefits from the recent addition of veteran wideout Stefon Diggs. Behind the potential Hall of Famer comes rookie standout Antonio Williams. Daniels will then have the opportunity to pass to Rachaad White out of the backfield, as well as the dynamic tight end, Chig Okonkwo.
Daniels has his weapons. He has a quite trustworthy offensive coordinator. He is fully healthy. Considering all of these factors, big things are to be expected from Daniels. He is projected to have the most rushing yards among all quarterbacks (31 YPG). This is a quarterback who averaged 52 rushing yards per game in 2024 and 40 per game in 2025.
The Case for Joe Burrow
Burrow has been fully healthy for only two of his last four playing seasons. In those seasons, Burrow has finished top-4 both times at quarterback. He played 8 games in 2025, and Burrow fell short of being QB15 in points per game.
It is clear that a healthy Burrow is a top-5 quarterback in fantasy football. He is the signal-caller for the NFL's 7th-rated offense. With Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Chase Brown being all familiar, high-powered assets, the floor is quite high, as is the ceiling.
The difference between Burrow and Daniels is in rushing ability. While Daniels is slated to go out and grab a big chunk of rushing yards, Burrow is a pocket passer. He projects to run for single-digit yards per game—that is it. It is a multiple-point-per-game knock on his scoring.
A fantasy manager would have to ask Burrow to trump Daniels in two categories: passing yards and total touchdowns.
We do project Burrow to pass for 270 yards per game, compared to Daniels' 235. Over both players' careers, Burrow is averaging about 2.1 total touchdowns per game to Daniels' 1.7. The margin between these two quarterbacks is minuscule.
Final Verdict
The debate between these two signal-callers finds it very difficult to pick one over the other. In which case, we favor our projections for the 2026 season.
Daniels projects to be our QB3 overall, going for 20.7 points per game. That number spans 246 total yards, 2.1 total touchdowns, and 0.5 interceptions per game.
Burrow projects to be our QB5 overall with 19.2 points per game. That amount spans 273 total yards, 2.1 total touchdowns, and 0.3 interceptions per game. Now, you may ask, how is Burrow ranked worse with much more yards per game and fewer turnovers? It simply comes down to the rushing yards metric, which Daniels expects to rush for nearly 30 more yards of rushing addis expected (3.0 points per game) than Burrow.
The final nail in the coffin is the fact that, if Ja'Marr Chase or Tee Higgins went down hurt, Burrow would take a big hit in value. Given Daniels' rushing ability, if he were to lose McLaurin or Diggs, the loss would be much less than Burrow's.
Favor Jayden Daniels for slightly higher upside, especially on his feet.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.