Twenty seasons of Robioland Fantasy Football are in the books. 277 quarterbacks have produced a fantasy point in that time. Based solely on stats produced, both Drew Brees and Tom Brady will pass Peyton Manning and his 64,387 total fantasy points scored. They are the three kings of fantasy football at the quarterback position. Yet, like a hooker with ten minutes on the clock, you expect more, so here are your 10 greatest Robioland fantasy quarterbacks of all-time, plus one extra.
#1 PEYTON MANNING
Easily, the most successful player in our fantasy football history. Assuming he was starting in 1999, Manning was a fantasy starting quarterback for 15 seasons, never lasting in the draft behind the 5th round (in 2012). He was a first-round pick five times and a second round pick six times. He was kept a total of five times.
Minus the 2011 season where he missed the entire year due to injury (sorry Eric) and the 2015 season where his body failed him (yet he still won the Super Bowl), he led 12 teams in this league to winning records and 13 teams to the postseason. He also did manage to lead both Coomers to a top seed (2002, 2012).
Colby is the only person who failed to form a winning relationship with Peyton. He was the only person to miss the playoffs with a healthy Manning at quarterback (2009) and he’s the only person to ever trade Manning away (sending him to Bob in week two of the 2006 season). While Peyton was a solid 9-4 in our quarterfinals, he had a little trouble in the semifinals (3-6). He did reach the finals three times, but the only time he led a team to the championship was with Burrier way back in the 2003 season. P. ManningTeamDraftTransactionStart/BenchRecordSeedPlayoff ResultsPlayer Rank 1999UnknownUnknown#2 2000Justin HRound 1Starter8-6#5Lost in Quarterfinals#3 2001Matt WRound 1Starter8-6#5Lost in Semifinals#6 2002MollyRound 1Starter10-4#1Lost in finals#6 2003Rich BRound 3Starter8-6#3Won Championship#1 2004Rich BRound 2 (K)Starter9-5#3Lost in Quarterfinals#1 2005RobioRound 1Starter6-7#6Lost in Semifinals#2 2006Colby & BobRound 1Trade (2)Starter1-0/7-5#5Lost in Semifinals#1 2007BobRound 2 (K)Starter8-5#3Lost in Semifinals#5 2008BobRound 2 (K)Starter9-4#4Lost in Quarterfinals#6 2009ColbyRound 2Starter6-7#2 2010ColbyRound 2 (K)Starter8-5#6Lost in Semifinals#4 2011EricRound 3Injured 2012GriffRound 5Starter10-3#1Lost in Quarterfinals#3 2013GriffRound 5 (K)Starter7-6#5Lost in finals#1 2014GriffRound 5 (K)Starter7-6#7Lost in Semifinals#2 2015DonRound 2Roto-Injured3-10#31
#2 DREW BREES
After going undrafted as a rookie in 2001, over the next four seasons he would become a late-round fantasy draft pick, which is a bit odd, since starting in 2004, the Chargers quarterback was one of the better quarterbacks in the league. In 2004, while Bob was winning his first championship, he actualy had Brees (the 5th best quarterback) on his bench behind Daunte Culpepper. The following season, Brees wasn’t drafted until round ten by Matt, then traded to me and sat on my bench, behind Peyton Manning, despite finishing fourth among all quarterbacks.
Of course, because he was coming off shoulder surgery and switching to the Big Easy, I didn’t keep him in round 10, but I did draft him in 2006 in round nine. From that season on, Brees would be a guarantee starter and guarantee stud. He has basically been a starter for 13 straight seasons. Only in 2015, did Jeff roto him in and out of the starting lineup.
He went in the first round for four straight seasons (2010-14), twice as a keeper. He’s been kept a total of five times since 2008. He’s been traded twice. Burrier shipped him off to Calderon back in 2007. While he got a solid Philip Rivers (15th round keeper) in return, Calderon got the top quarterback in football the following two seasons. In 2012, Burrier again traded Brees, this time to Colby. However, he went just 1-3 with the Pounders and like with Peyton Manning, Colby became the first person to start Brees and miss the playoffs.
Since becoming a legit fantasy starter, Brees has made it to the playoffs in 12 out of 14 seasons in this league. Other than Colby, Griff was the only other person to not get a playoff invite while starting Brees. He missed the show this past season, despite having Brees earning a third-team All-Robio award.
While no team has ever won a scoring crown with Brees at quarterback, five did finish second. Jeff in 2016 was the only person to have Brees and earn a top seed, but six have finished among the top three. Overall, Brees is 11-10 in the postseason. He has reached the finals four times, which is a record among all quarterbacks in fantasy, but he’s 0-4 in the title game, losing with me in 2006, Calderon in 2007, Burrier in 2011 and Jeff in 2016. D. BreesTeamDraftTransactionStart/BenchRecordSeedPlayoff ResultsPlayer Rank 2001NoneUndrafted#45 2002Justin ARound 11Bench#19 2003Rich C/Dave/Rob MUndraftedAdd (6, 9, 16)Bench#32 2004BobRound 15Bench#5 2005Matt/RobioRound 10Bench#4 2006RobioRound 9Starter7-6#3Lost in Finals#2 2007Rich B/Rich CRound 3Starter2-2/3-6#7Lost in Finals#6 2008Rich CRound 3 (K)Starter9-4#2Lost in Quarterfinals#1 2009Rich CRound 3 (K)Starter7-6#5Lost in Semifinals#1 2010Rich BRound 1Starter5-8#8Lost in Quarterfinals#6 2011Rich BRound 1 (K)Starter7-6#3Lost in Finals#2 2012Rich B/ColbyRound 1 (K)Starter4-5/1-3#4 2013Rob MRound 1Starter8-5#3Lost in Semifinals#2 2014ColbyRound 2Starter9-4#2Lost in Quarterfinals#4 2015JeffRound 5Roto6-7#7Lost in Quarterfinals#12 2016JeffRound 5 (K)Starter11-2#1Lost in Finals#2 2017EricRound 2Starter6-7#6Lost in Semifinals#9 2018GriffRound 4Starter4-9#3
#3 TOM BRADY
While Tom Brady could potentially be the all-time points leader in Robioland Fantasy Football this year, he falls just short of being declared the greatest fantasy quarterback in league history. Through his first five years in the league, he was drafted just twice and started only one season (2002) for a 6-8 David team.
Starting in 2005 he began to get drafted every year, but oddly enough, Brady was never worthy of a first round pick. In 2006, he was drafted in round three by Eric, but was benched for Michael Vick. It wasn’t until his breakout season in 2007, did people really start to label him an elite quarterback.
That season, he earned first-team All-Robio, leading David to a 11-2 record and top seed. In 2010, he led his first and only team to a championship (Bob), reaching the finals two years later with Eric. Oddly enough, this began a stretch where teams that drafted Brady struggled, missing the playoffs in three of the last seven years.
Between 2008-2017, Brady would be kept seven times, but four seasons in a row (2011-14), the team that drafted/kept him ended up losing a ton of games, thus Brady became trade bait. He was actually traded four straight seasons (between 2011-2014).
Starting in 2015, he led three straight teams to the quarterfinals. Overall, only two teams in league history have started Brady for most their games and missed the playoffs; Jeff in 2014 and Burrier last season. Tom BradyTeamDraftTrade/CutStart/BenchRecordSeedPlayoff ResultsPlayer Rank 2000NoneUndrafted#67 2001NoneUndrafted#19 2002Rich BRound 2Starter6-8#4 2003Rich B/DonRound 13Cut (7), Add (9)Bench#10 2004Rich BUndraftedAdd (1)Bench#9 2005DavidRound 6Starter8-6#4Lost in Quarterfinals#3 2006EricRound 3Bench#6 2007DavidRound 3Starter11-2#1Lost in Semfinals#1 2008DavidRound 3 (K)Injured#54 2009JeffRound 3 (K)Starter8-5#4Lost in Quarterfinals#4 2010BobRound 2Starter9-4#4Won Championship#2 2011Bob & ColbyRound 2 (K)Trade (Wk 6)Starter2-3/6-2#5Lost in Semifinals#3 2012Colby & EricRound 2 (K)Trade (Wk 10)Starter3-6/2-2#3Lost in Finals#2 2013Matt & RobioRound 2Trade (Wk 10)Starter3-6/3-1#1Lost in Semifinals#13 2014Jeff & EricRound 5 (K)Trade (Wk 11)Starter2-7/1-2#6 2015EricRound 5 (K)Starter9-4#3Lost in Quarterfinals#1 2016Rob MRound 4Starter8-5#4Lost in Quarterfinals#19 2017Rob MRound 4 (K)Starter7-6#4Lost in Quarterfinals#4 2018Rich BRound 3Starter6-7#14
THE BEST OF THE REST
#4 Aaron Rodgers Since becoming a starter in 2008, few have been better over the next decade and when it’s all said and done, he could easily crack the top-three. Rodgers is a five-time All-Robio quarterbacks, earning first-team honors three times (2010, 2011 and 2016). This past season was his first where he played all 16 games and failed to finish among the top five arms. More importantly, he’s a two-time league champion. He helped lead Neatock to a title back in 2009 and then was the starting quarterback for Bob’s 2014 championship squad, which has been called the greatest team ever.
Neatock was the first person to nail down Rodgers, taking him in the 10th round of the 2008 draft. Oddly enough, despite having an elite QB, Peterson, Welker and Chad Johnson, he won only three games. Anyhow, he kept him two more seasons (winning it all in 2009), but in 2010 he traded him to Calderon for LeSean McCoy, who he would keep in round nine. With Rodgers back in the draft pool, he would never escape the top two rounds again. After being drafted or kept in round one for four straight years (three times by Molly), the Packers arm has been a second-round pick the past four seasons (two of which he has failed to finish). He’s been a startER for 11 straight seasons, although one could argue Eric should have benched him for Mitch Trubisky last year. Currently, Rodgers is 6th all-time in points, sitting about 20,000 points behind Drew Brees (who is third in points).
#5 Cam Newton In eight seasons of fantasy football, Cam Newton has been one of the best. He has finished top-8 in six of those eight years, twice earning second-team All-Robio (including this past season). He was first drafted by Bob as a rookie. He finished as the fourth best arm, leading Bob to his second straight title in 2011. He was kept in round 12 the next two years, both starting all season for Castrone, finishing 8th and 6th among all quarterbacks.
In 2014, Bob somehow ended up with Cam again in round 10, but after a series of trades, he ended up getting Aaron Rodgers and shipping Newton to Eric, where he sat on a losing team’s bench (finished 17th). The next two years, Newton would fall into Griff’s hands. He would earned his first All-Robio as a 7th round starter in 2015. However, the following year, Griff used a second-round pick him up, but injuries derailed the season as he finished 17th. In 2017, Bob went back to the well in the third round (he finished 5th) and last year, Masterson finally got his hands on Cam. The fourth round pick earned a second 2nd-team All-Robio award.
When it comes to where it counts, Newton is one of the best. Overall, Cam Newton has been a starter for a playoff team in six of his eight seasons. The two years he failed to crack the top-8 (2014 and 2016) were the two years he failed to qualify for the postseason. He’s a solid 9-4 in the playoffs, having reached the title game three times, winning it all in 2011 (Bob) and 2015 (Griff).
#6 Kurt Warner Warner is a tough cookie, because when he was good, he was brilliant. When he was bad (or hurt), he was a massive waste of a pick. Of course, it started off great. Back in 1999, he got the starting job when Trent Green tore his ACL in the Rams final preseason game. I took him as a what-the-fuck third quarterback with the last pick in the draft. He ended up finishing the season as the top fantasy player. In his first three seasons in the league, he twice finished as the best arm in football, with a 11th best finish in-between. When Don took him with his first pick in 2002, it made sense (he was a first-round pick the year before). However, injuries derailed his season and career. He would be drafted in cut in three straight seasons as he went from the Rams to the Giants to the Cardinals.
In 2005, Molly sent him to Bob, where he sat on his bench as the 21st best quarterback. His career certainly looked over when I drafted him in round 11 in the 2006 draft and cut him before midseason. However, in 2007, Matt picked him off the wire and despite only being the 18th best arm, was the starting quarterback on Matt’s championship run. Along with my 1999, it was his second career Robioland title. The following season, I also took him off the free agent wire and he dominated. He finished the year as a second-team All-Robio player and led me to the title game. Unfortunately, he scored -4 points in New England, helping to cost me a fourth tile. 2009 would be his last season. Taken in the third round, he finished 10th as Molly’s starting quarterback.
In total, Warner was twice a first-round pick, but also was cut four times. He was drafted after the 8th round (or went undrafted) a total of six times. However, the two years he went undrafted, he was picked up and led that team to the title game. One of just three quarterbacks to led a team to the title game, winning it two times.
#7 Ben Roethlisberger Big Ben has scored 43,520 fantasy points throughout his 15-year career. That’s the fourth most points ever scored by a quarterback. He’s a good player right? He’s been drafted every single season since his sophomore campaign, so the answer is, yes. He is. But he fails to sneak into the top three.
Here are some fun facts. Ben Roethlisberger has never led a team to a Robioland fantasy title game. In fact, despite scoring a ton of fantasy points, Big Ben has more rape accusations (2) than playoff wins as a starter (1). Roethlisberger didn’t get his first career postseason victory until last year, with Pattini (in the quarterfinals).
In 15 seasons, the Steelers thrower has been drafted 14 times. The earliest was round three by Molly in 2016. He was the classic second quarterback taken, getting drafted in round 10 or later a total of eight times. He was traded once, in his rookie year (2014). He was cut twice (2012 with Calderon and 2013 with Colby). He finished the season on someone’s bench six times. He was either a full-time starter or mostly-starter seven times and he only made it to the playoffs twice in his career. Once as Masterson 5th round starting arm in 2015. He lost in the quarterfinals. Then a second time last year, when Marc took him in the fifth and for the only time in Ben’s career, led a team to a top-seed and trip to the finals.
On top of all the lack of important success, Roethlisberger has never earned an All-Robio award. In fact, he has finished 7th or lower in every season, but one…with Marc last year, when he finished 4th. That was Big Ben’s best year.
#8 Daute Culpepper I feel like I need to have one flash-in-the-pan in the top-10, so we’re not just rewarded longevity. This former Viking signal caller was the flashes pan out there. Culpepper had just five good seasons under his belt. Between 2000-2004, he finished top four among all quarterbacks four times. The one year he didn’t (2002), he finished 13th after missing a couple games due to injury.
I have no clue who had him in 2000, when he earned a third-team All-Robio award, but he failed to escape the third round of any draft, until he destroyed his knee after the 2005 season. In total, he earned two 2nd-team All-Robio awards and a third-team as well. He led David to the 2001 title game, help me earn the top seed and scoring crown in 2003 and was Bob’s starting quarterback during his 2004 title run. Not bad for such a short run.
#9 Donovan McNabb Despite having a shorter career than what we’ve see lately, McNabb still managed to squeeze into the top-10 for most points scored in a career by a quarterback. His 37,519 is 8th, just ahead of Brett Favre.
For a hot minute, McNabb looked like hot shit. After finishing as the 6th best quarterback during his first full season as a starter, starting in 2001, he became one of the top quarterbacks taken, going four straight years in the second round. He did this, despite earning only one third-team All-Robio during that stretch. That year, 2004, he help led Colby to his first career scoring crown.
Colby would actually have him for three and a half years. After drafting and keeping him in 2005, where they reached the title game, Colby traded for him in 2006, where McNabb earned his second career 3rd-team All-Robio award. The following year, he would rotate in and out as a starter, finishing 14th among all arms.
The following season, Don would grab him in the fourth round and as the 6th best quarterback, he would earn his second trip to the finals and win his only championship that year with Don. After that, he would begin to slip. He help lead Masterson to the playoffs in 2009 as the 12th best arm, but by 2010, Eric would draft him and cut him. By 2011, he was out of the league, with two 3rd-team All-Robio awards, five career playoff wins and one championship.
#10 Tony Romo Never great, but never bad. After getting the starting nod midway through the 2006 season, Tony Romo was always a top-11 quarterback, when he didn’t get hurt. He finished top-11 in seven of his first eight years running the Cowboys offense. He earned his only All-Robio award during his second season, leading Eric to his first ever postseason trip. He also was the starting quarterback for Masterson’s 2011 squad that averaged 1,530 points per game.
However, much like his real life, Romo couldn’t pull the magic out of his ass in the postseason. He took five teams out of six years to the playoffs, but never escaped the quarterfinals (0-5). That is, until he led 2013 Calderon to 10 wins and two playoff victories. Yet, proving Rich is a cruel bitch, he pulled Romo for Jay Cutler in the title game. The latter scored less, but the decision did not cost Rich his first title. Just cost Romo his only title.
JUST MISS THE CUT…
Philip Rivers This guy probably belongs among the top-10, based on what he’s done in his career. Since taking over for Drew Brees in San Diego in 2006, he has finished among the top-10 among starting arms a total of 10 times (five of those time he finished 8th). However, he’s earned just one All-Robio award (3rd-team in 2010), leading me to the 2010 title game.
Yet, here’s the knock on Rivers. He was always drafted as a second option at QB and despite all those top-10 finishes, he ended a season as someone’s starting arm just six times, leading just two teams to three total playoff wins.
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