Top Candidates to Dethrone Josh Allen as the QB1 in Dynasty Fantasy Football (2025)

August 21, 2025

Justin Carter's fantasy football dynasty quarterback rankings and analysis. Top contenders to be the dynasty QB1 and dethrone Josh Allen in 2025.

Josh Allen is deservingly the dynasty fantasy football QB1 at the moment. His combination of arm strength and speed makes him a fantasy cheat code and the most valuable quarterback to roster in dynasty leagues.

Things change, though. Allen's been at or around the dynasty QB1 spot for a few years now, but each passing season puts a small dent in his future value. Someone will pass him in the rankings at some point, but who will it be?

Here are five players who could dethrone Josh Allen as the QB1 in dynasty leagues.

Lamar Jackson - Baltimore Ravens

Lamar Jackson's case for dynasty QB1 over Josh Allen is simple: he's already a great quarterback and is a year younger than Allen. He's the current consensus QB2 in dynasty, and it wouldn't take too much to see that change.

Jackson's resurgence since Todd Monken has taken over as offensive coordinator has been fascinating to watch and has shot Jackson back up the dynasty rankings. Two years ago, he'd dropped out of dynasty's top five, but Monken has unlocked something huge with Jackson's arm.

After a very good 2023 season where he won MVP, Jackson took his numbers to the next level in 2024, throwing a career-high 41 touchdowns and going over 4,000 yards for the first time. His two highest completion percentages have come with Monken calling the shots.

Nobody is better against winning teams than Lamar Jackson… pic.twitter.com/hwvML5DwDK

— Jordan (@OnlyTheRavens) June 23, 2025

Meanwhile, he's still making a huge impact on the ground. Jackson's 915 rushing yards last year were his most since 2020, and he led the NFL in yards per attempt for the fourth time. Allen's goal-line usage makes him a bit more valuable on the ground for fantasy purposes, but Jackson is the better athlete and rusher overall.

Still, the fact that Jackson is already 28 years old means his chance to be the dynasty QB1 has probably passed him by, barring something happening with Allen. Maybe Allen gets hurt. Maybe he forgets how to throw the football. Jackson is best positioned to pounce if that happens in 2025, but I'd guess if he isn't the dynasty QB1 by the end of the 2025 season, he won't ever get there.

Jayden Daniels - Washington Commanders

The easiest way to become the dynasty QB1 -- or to become the top dynasty player at any position -- is to be young and good. Jayden Daniels is both of those things. He's the most likely player to surpass Allen at some point, though he sits second on this list for now since Jackson is closer to Allen at this current moment.

Assuming 2024 wasn't an anomaly and Daniels is as good as he looked, he'll be the dynasty QB1 soon, potentially as early as the 2026 offseason.

As a rookie, Daniels completed 69.0 percent of his pass attempts for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns. He was picked off nine times. On the ground, Daniels added 891 yards and six scores.

My favorite Jayden Daniels middle of the field throws (there were a lot (he's really good)) pic.twitter.com/JyzFoA0ZQO

— Nick Akridge (@PFF_NickAkridge) July 3, 2025

Daniels looked like an elite dual-threat quarterback. His path to being the dynasty QB1 is simply to play another season and still look like an elite dual-threat quarterback once it's over. He'll only be 25 years old in 2026. Allen, meanwhile, will be 30 years old. That seems like a good time for the rankings swap to occur.

Caleb Williams - Chicago Bears

There's a group of second-year quarterbacks who could go here. Our dynasty rankers have Drake Maye as QB8, the top player from this group, while Caleb Williams is QB10 and Bo Nix is QB11.

Maye and Nix could both be very good fantasy quarterbacks for a very long time, but it's hard to see them being threats to the overall QB1 spot. It would take injuries or a major fall-off from Allen and Jackson, plus Daniels would have to falter.

It would probably take those things for Williams to ascend to the spot as well, but he carries with him the highest ceiling of the three players, even if his floor is lower than Nix's floor.

As a rookie, Williams looked lost at times, but his numbers improved late in the year. If you extrapolate his numbers over his final seven games of the year to "per 17 game" numbers, Williams would hit 3,704 yards, 27 touchdowns, and just two picks. He reined in the turnovers late in the season and found the end zone more consistently.

There's still a lot to clean up for Williams. His accuracy isn't quite there. He has mobility, but he didn't harness it in productive ways as a rookie.

But you know who else struggled as a rookie? Josh Allen! To a significantly worse degree! Allen threw more picks than touchdowns in 2018 and completed just 52.8 percent of his passes. Williams' rookie year wasn't nearly as bad by comparison. Let's not write him off too early.

Caleb Williams goes from one of the worst 2024 "coaching metrics" to potentially one of the best! pic.twitter.com/QbEbFJg68Q

— Joseph Bryan (@KoalatyStats) June 27, 2025

Plus, Williams had a rough coaching situation last year. The team hiring former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as head coach this offseason could potentially be huge going forward for Williams.

Cam Ward - Tennessee Titans

Cam Ward is not getting the dynasty respect he deserves. The No. 1 overall pick in this April's NFL Draft sits as the QB20 in RotoBaller's dynasty rankings, wedged between Jared Goff and Michael Penix Jr.

I get it. This was a weak quarterback draft class, so Ward being by far the best quarterback in it just doesn't bring the weight it would bring if he were the best quarterback in a deeper class. We also haven't seen him on an NFL field yet to know how he translates.

But look: I've been watching Ward play football since his first college start at Incarnate Word. This is a guy who came from a high school system that's so archaic that Ward basically got no scouting hype since he had very few chances to showcase what he could do.

Then he got to UIW and immediately won the starting job. Playing in an offense that was significantly different than anything he'd played in before, one that forced him to throw the ball at high volume, Ward won the Jerry Rice Award for top FCS freshman.

Ward has continued to step into bigger and bigger situations, and he's shown he has the mettle each time, topped off by winning the Davey O'Brien Award with Miami last season.

You can't count this dude out, which is why he's a potential future dynasty QB1 candidate. Ward keeps getting better. He has a huge arm that can make any throw, coupled with the mobility to make things happen when plays break down.

One of the concerns with Ward is his decision-making, as it can feel like he's never met a pass that he doesn't believe he can complete. That's caused some turnover issues, but I think that concern is overblown. It's not like he was throwing double-digit picks in college. That's something that can be cleaned up.

Arch Manning - College

Finally, let's look at a candidate who is still in college but who most people expect will be the No. 1 overall pick when he declares for the NFL Draft, though it's unclear how far away that declaration will be. That player is Texas quarterback Arch Manning.

Manning, the nephew of former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, is all potential right now, as he's only thrown 95 college passes over two seasons at Texas. He's been impressive in that time, though. Last season, he completed 67.8 percent of his pass attempts with nine touchdowns and two picks, plus he rushed for four touchdowns.

In theory, Manning brings the arm strength and accuracy that his family is known for while also adding athleticism to the mix, something Peyton and Eli weren't known for. He might not have Peyton's methodical accuracy, but if he's an Eli-level thrower while being a top-10 athlete at the position? That's a build with QB1 overall upside.

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