By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

The new wave of quarterbacks is as rapid as ever. Notjustagame breaks down the top ten quarterbacks that are either in their rookie season or upcoming second season. From a fantasy standpoint these are the quarterbacks of the future for your keeper dynasty leagues. Of this crop of quarterbacks who will end up being the Cade McNown, Akili Smith’s, or Tim Couch’s?

Just like in the NFL, fantasy football is a win now mentality. Here is who will reign in their class of quarterbacks in 2012.

1. Cam Newton- Newton is a top fantasy quarterback let alone in a class of first and second year quarterbacks. Questions regarding his pocket presence and ability to read pro defenses were squashed quickly last year. Let downs do not happen after a year like Newton had last year. He should only improve and get better.

2. Andrew Luck- The hype of Luck being the best quarterback to come out since John Elway is going to surpass Tim Tebow’s daily ten minute media segment. I’ll take that. Luck is actually performing well to garner proper attention.

3. Andy Dalton- Dalton has one of the top young playmaking receivers in the league in AJ Green, and a solid tight end in Jermaine Gresham. He is not going to light it up every week, but Dalton has quarterback smarts. He won’t kill you repeatedly with turnovers and makes just enough plays to have solid fantasy value. For this year he sits in the top three, but there are rookies from this class that will likely pass him soon.

4. Robert Griffin III- RG3 is going to get the love of the NFC East division this year. The NY Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and Philadelphia Eagles have solid defenses with well known pass rushers. Welcome to the NFL.

5. Blaine Gabbert- Before the preseason, you probably would not of found many fantasy football leagues were Gabbert even was drafted. The stock meter on Gabbert has changed to the watch list. Deservedly so as he looks like a transformed quarterback. Keeper league value and fantasy backup value are suddenly tied with Gabbert’s name.

6. Brandon Weeden- Weeden comes in being drafted by the Browns with expectations of starting from day one. That’s true support from a franchise that could of signed a free agent veteran instead. Weeden is a big quarterback that should play more like his age instead of his amount of time in the NFL.

7. Jake Locker- Like a pitcher in the MLB or an NBA D-League call up that gets an opportunity, good things tend to happen with an opportunity suddenly. Last year Locker had semi success filling in for an injured Hasselbeck. With the pitchers and D-league call ups, the rise usually comes down fairly quickly once teams can scout and realize your weaknesses. Locker is going to experience that this season and will struggle like a rookie in his second season.

8. Christian Ponder- Ponder sure hopes that AP will not be rushed back and is healthy. If not Ponder not only will have one of the bottom ten receiver sets but also one of the worst backfields. Not a combination you want to have as a second year quarterback. The elusiveness he showcased last year will change rather quickly if he starts taking a beating.

9. Ryan Tannehill- He has the familiarity with the offensive system but Tannehill is going to struggle the most of anyone. His fantasy value is about as high as Kevin Kolb right now.

10. Russell Wilson- One thing about head coach Pete Carrol, he is not afraid to make changes. With the way Russell has performed this situation could turn very similar to the Arizona Cardinals. Though Seattle paid a hefty price for Flynn, Wilson could find his way onto the field sooner than later.

By Zack Cimini

All around the locker room typically when a team has a poor season the fingers start pointing at the foundation at quarterback. For the Buffalo Bills last season it was the opposite. They were in the majority of their games because of surprising quarterback play from Ryan Fitzpatrick. He came into the season ranked near the bottom of fantasy quarterback rankings, only too become a fantastic waiver wire pickup and viable fill in starter for teams that were suffering at quarterback.

Gaining confidence from your organization is an ultimate psyche booster. The Alex Smtih treatment the Bills were giving to Trent Edwards finally came to a halt. When the Bills said they have their guy at quarterback as the season unfolded, and in the early off-season, it had to of given Ryan a tremendous boost. Especially this past draft, in which quarterbacks were selected like it was a quarterback sweepstakes in 1999.

Can Fitzpatrick lift his accuracy woes he displayed last year? He only completed 57% of his passes even though he was able to keep defenses off guard?

His rise did come out of no where, since he had opportunities with the Rams and Bengals and didn’t necessarily look like more than a career backup to say the least . The stint with the Rams included an impressive outing against the Houston Texans, but his outings as a Bengal in place of an injured Carson Palmer were awful.

No one could have anticipated Fitzpatrick throwing for eleven touchdowns in his first four starts of the season in 2010.

The I don’t believe it until I see it carried over until that fourth game last year against the Ravens. Fitzpatrick absolutely picked apart the Ravens secondary, with precision and daring throws. His rise led to the catapult of Stevie Johnson, who also shot up the waiver wire to become a more than viable starter. It was apparent that Johnson had become the go to guy, and by dealing Lee Evans, Bills management had must feel secure with Johnson as the number one wide receiver.

Subtract those four games from Fitzpatrick’s year and the year looks blindingly bad. He did not start the first two games, but from week eight on he only threw for multiple touchdown throws twice. There are certain variables that would lead you to believe the reasoning to that. Buffalo never had a consistent running game with CJ Spiller not showing first round pick value as a rookie. Also his decline coincided with the Buffalo winter.

At 28 though, Fitzpatrick is now a capable veteran. Look for him to be the same hot potato type fantasy quarterback as last year. You’ll likely miss out on the four touchdown games, but he will serve his purpose as being a solid fantasy backup quarterback. A bye week filler and worst case injury fill in. Do we see Fitzpatrick throwing for 23 touchdowns in 2011? Maybe not that high. The Bills should get some sort of running game going, that should cut Fitzpatrick’s red zone touchdowns a tad.