Everyone knows Jared Goff's flaws as a fantasy football quarterback. No rushing production, unless he happens to vulture a stray touchdown or two. Over the course of a season, it can be a roller coaster that leaves you cleaning vomit off your shirt if you picked the wrong week to start him.
But the bottom line is the bottom line. With Week 18 as the cut-off, Goff is one of three quarterbacks to finish as a top-10 fantasy signal caller in each of the last four years. Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts are the others, in a case of "one of these things is not like the others".
Despite that year-to-year consistency, which shows no signs of stopping soon with a skill set that should age well, Goff will continually go off the board much later than he really should in fantasy drafts.
The number of fantasy analysts that are willing to boldly go all-on in any way on Goff, in this or any year, can be counted on one hand. Like anything in the fantasy realm, we can find whatever we need to justify a take one way or the other.
The Jared Goff fantasy optimism for 2026 has reached a new level
On a recent episode of the "Rotoworld Football Show", Patrick Daugherty, Denny Carter, Kyle Dvorchak and Lawrence Jackson did a fantasy mock draft.
Daugherty tapped into the idea the quarterback position is very deep this year, getting to the 12th round without taking one in the mock. Goff was of course still available, as was another quarterback who is easy to tout far more highly as a fantasy option.
Daugherty went with Goff.
"We're in Round 12, I still need a quarterback", Daugherty said. "Nothing's ever felt more wrong than this. I'm taking Jared Goff over Patrick Mahomes."
"Jared Goff is maybe the most annually underrated player in fantasy football...40 touchdowns are within his range of outcomes. I would say like a 25th percentile outcome for him. Like (a) one in four chance he has a 40-touchdown season. He plays over half his games indoors. He has probably the best overall skill corp in the NFL."
"I just think we need to come to terms with...the fact Jared Goff is good."
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The panel generally agreed about Goff, albeit with Jackson noting how he is way less effective when pressured and Dvorchak noting he has not thrown 40 touchdowns before.
This is where it's worth mentioning Goff has finished with more fantasy points than Mahomes in each of the last three years. So Daugherty's choice isn't quite the hot take it seems to be, though the Rotoworld social media team narrowed in on it knowing it would garner reaction.
Choosing Goff over Mahomes in any context feels blasphemous, and it always will. But here, as a fantasy asset for 2026, the case for it isn't as aggressive as it seems at first glance.
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