Who Should I Start? Baker Mayfield or J.J. McCarthy

Friday, July 25, 3:58 PM

Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht told The Athletic that he is eyeing an extension "when the time is right" for quarterback Baker Mayfield, and hopes that Mayfield "continues to be our quarterback for a long time." The 30-year-old Mayfield still has two years remaining on his current contract, but he's coming off the best season of his career in 2024. In 17 games, he threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns, chipping in 378 yards and three touchdowns as a rusher for good measure. Mayfield has an excellent supporting cast of receivers to work with in Tampa Bay between Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, and Jalen McMillan. While he may see some touchdown regression in 2025, Mayfield is a good bet to rack up passing yards and provide solid back-end QB1 play in fantasy.

Tuesday, June 17, 12:07 PM

There are plenty of question marks surrounding Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick last year, after he missed his rookie season in 2024 with a torn right meniscus in his knee. However, ESPN's Kevin Seifert writes that McCarthy's arm strength has been fine after it was a topic of discussion going into the 2024 draft. "He definitely has an arm," receiver Justin Jefferson said. "That's for sure. He can definitely zip it whenever he needs to." His arm has looked especially lively on throws down the middle of the field, and McCarthy is starting to learn to vary his throws after Jefferson noted last summer that the rookie tended to throw every ball the same way -- hard and straight. With no threats to the starting job under center, the 22-year-old is Minnesota's clear starting QB going into 2025 and has some of the best weapons in the league. He's a QB2 with upside in fantasy.