Fantasy Football: Who To Draft – Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers

Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers are two of the best quarterbacks you can have in fantasy football. They’re both truly elite NFL quarterbacks by any standard, and both are also among the elites in the fantasy realm, as well.

You can lump Drew Brees in there, too, which gives fantasy owners a really nice “top three” to choose from. However, Manning versus Rodgers is arguably the more popular debate in fantasy football, in terms of who should be drafted first.

Brees probably gained some steam after finishing second in 2013 to Manning, but with Rodgers missing over half the year with a broken clavicle, it’s not fair to leave him out of the conversation. That’s even more the case when you consider the fact that Rodgers was the number one fantasy quarterback in 2011 and finished in second place in both 2010 and 2012.

Needless to say, it’s pretty fair to say Rodgers is in general the better yearly fantasy player than Brees. He has his legs to thank for that, as the two are fairly similar when it comes to their passing numbers (although Brees dominates just about everyone in passing yardage), but Rodgers is one of the better “running quarterbacks” thanks to rushing yardage and scores.

But with Manning back at the top of his game and fresh off of an insane #1 overall season in 2013, the debate comes down to him and Rodgers. So, who do you draft?

Let’s take a look at both Manning and Rodgers’ arguments and try to come to a conclusion for the 2014 fantasy football season: