1. Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers
Newton headed into 2016 as the top fantasy quarterback. In terms of his preseason ADP, he was the only player at his position worthy of a first-round pick. While we cautioned against drafting any quarterback this high, common logic seemed to suggest that Newton would find his way to the top of the rankings again.
After all, here's a quarterback that put up 4,500 yards to go with 45 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions en route to an NFL MVP performance last season.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, 2016 has been an absolute disaster for Newton and his Panthers. He heads into Week 16 having thrown just 17 touchdowns compared to just nine interceptions.
This has him as the 15th-best fantasy quarterback on the season. In reality, those who exhausted a first-round pick on Newton are unlikely playing in this week's championship round primarily due to that. It's one of the primary issues we have with going quarterback hih, even in retrospect.
2. Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
Wilson finished last season by putting up 25 total touchdowns compared to two interceptions in his final seven starts. Those were historically good numbers. They also enabled him to finish as the second-best fantasy quarterback, giving fantasy owners hope that Wilson could keep somewhat up with this pace in 2016.
It simply hasn't happened. Wilson has tallied just 16 touchdowns compared to 11 interceptions in 14 starts this season. These numbers have him as the 19th-best fantasy quarterbacks. Not good for those who exhausted an early-round pick on the Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks.
3. Eli Manning, New York Giants
Much like Wilson, the expectation was that Manning might be able to build off his stellar 2015 performance and become an elite fantasy quarterback this season. After all, here's a dude that put up over 4,400 yards with 35 touchdowns and 14 interceptions last season. It sure seemed he was primed to break out even more with former offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo being promoted to head coach.
Instead, and despite his team's stellar performance, this just hasn't happened in 2016. Manning is on pace for 30-plus touchdowns again. However, he's also slated to throw for less yards and more interceptions. This has the Super Bowl-winning quarterback ranked as nothing more than a bottom end QB2 option in 12-team leagues.
4. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
With all the weapons at his disposal, the expectations as that Roethlisberger would break out big time from a fantasy perspective in 2016. Markus Wheaton and Martavis Bryant were rounding into form. Le'Veon Bell was a monster of a back. And Big Ben had the best receiver in the game, Antonio Brown to toss the rock to.
Bryant was suspended for the entire 2016 season, Bell for the first three games. Meanwhile, Wheaton simply hasn't progressed at the clip many expected of him. This has Big Ben struggling to remain fantasy relevant. He enters Week 16 ranked 13th in fantasy points among quarterbacks and 19th in fantasy consistency. That's not what we expected from him in 2016.
5. Ryan Fitzpatrick, New York Jets
It's now been proven that Fitzpatrick's 2015 performance was more of an outlier than anything else. He finished as a bottom-end QB1 option after putting up over 3,900 yards with 31 touchdowns.
Now benched in favor of Bryce Petty, Fitzpatrick has been an absolute bust this season. He's thrown 10 touchdowns compared to 15 interceptions in 12 starts. He also ranks outside of the top 25 in fantasy points per start. Not only has this likely led to the end of Fitz's Jets career, it's the end of his fantasy relevance after shining through for just one season.