2005 Top Second Half Fantasy Quarterbacks

Coming on Strong to the Finish Line


Stats that reflect a player's season totals are often misleading. The NFL season lasts a long time, and players often have impressive stretches of play that get lost in the shuffle.

There are a lot of reasons why certain players have a great second half after a slow start. Injuries to them or their teammates are often the cause, but other factors like strength of schedule can play a role too.

However, there is also a class of players that are simply known as slow starters. Year after year they come out poorly out of the gate and post weak early season numbers before they find their flow and start to pump out the stats.

Identifying and acquiring these players can be critical as they are good value selections in the next draft. A lot of impressions get created in the first half of the season, which translates to your competition under-valuing talented players.

Another point is that the second half studs are often not slow starters, but emerging stars who only began to get their opportunity later in the season.

We use the Freaks' standard scoring system and all of the scoring totals are rounded to the nearest whole number. 

So study hard, and come next fantasy draft you'll have the best stocked roster in your league. 

For more fantasy stats analysis, please see the NFLFreaks Stats Index.


Quarterbacks | Running Backs | Wide Receivers | Tight Ends | Kickers | Team Defense / Special Teams


10 Yards Rushing/Receiving = 1 pt  |  20 Yards Passing = 1 pt  |  TD = 6 pts

Rank

Player

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Season Total

1st Half Total

2nd Half Total

1 Carson Palmer 26 35 26 20 24 26 18 30 24 0 29 37 29 11 33 27 3 397 205 192
2 Tom Brady 27 20 19 18 36 22 0 16 31 26 30 20 15 36 32 22 8 377 188 188
3 Peyton Manning 25 6 11 38 19 22 25 0 36 33 36 24 27 29 23 6 0 361 182 179
4 Michael Vick 21 16 27 14 0 17 20 0 21 33 29 25 12 33 10 26 6 310 136 174
5 Eli Manning 21 14 31 39 0 18 23 13 19 23 30 33 8 28 15 20 16 349 177 172
6 Trent Green 10 12 17 23 0 20 14 30 18 11 30 22 26 23 11 23 23 314 144 170
7 Matt Hasselbeck 26 27 12 20 28 18 18 0 20 18 18 25 11 36 32 20 4 335 170 166
8 Drew Brees 23 9 22 24 17 14 28 34 20 0 41 11 20 33 19 17 3 335 171 164
9 Kyle Boller 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 16 30 17 19 32 33 8 169 7 161
10 Drew Bledsoe 30 20 39 17 34 22 13 17 0 16 6 30 13 35 14 16 18 339 191 148
11 Jake Delhomme 18 8 32 22 24 24 0 35 17 12 13 16 20 18 21 25 20 325 181 144
12 Kerry Collins 31 20 29 11 0 15 20 30 21 28 20 20 18 0 13 9 35 318 177 142
13 Kurt Warner 20 16 7 0 0 0 0 0 23 24 34 28 24 19 12 0 0 207 66 141
14 Jake Plummer 20 13 21 19 11 26 17 42 0 19 14 16 21 18 27 21 5 307 167 139
15 Gus Frerotte 26 15 21 0 25 14 6 14 5 30 3 25 6 25 10 20 20 264 126 138
16 Brad Johnson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 19 7 11 28 26 7 8 24 24 172 36 136
17 Mark Brunell 4 30 0 25 30 35 31 3 12 27 9 16 14 6 32 18 14 304 169 136
18 Steve McNair 17 16 25 21 29 14 0 22 18 0 23 35 11 12 29 3 0 274 144 130
19 Brett Favre 10 37 22 44 30 0 28 20 11 19 23 15 14 9 7 16 19 324 202 122
20 Chris Simms 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 21 19 32 7 10 12 7 8 26 19 165 43 122
21 David Carr 14 19 0 18 17 16 12 15 18 14 11 37 9 12 8 27 2 247 128 119
22 David Garrard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 18 20 28 20 25 6 118 0 118
23 Mike McMahon 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 30 7 4 10 13 28 24 119 1 117
24 Ben Roethlisberger 23 25 25 0 25 0 17 21 0 0 0 15 38 15 14 17 13 247 135 112
25 Aaron Brooks 13 26 19 18 11 28 26 12 21 0 32 27 12 19 0 0 0 263 152 111
26 Brooks Bollinger 0 0 0 7 0 0 6 0 18 5 2 20 8 18 29 12 9 134 31 103
27 Joey Harrington 22 16 0 8 11 11 0 0 21 31 9 3 0 0 10 11 30 182 89 93
28 J.P. Losman 18 7 6 8 0 0 0 0 0 19 17 10 30 16 0 0 0 130 38 92
29 Charlie Frye 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 24 20 11 10 17 85 0 85
30 Ryan Fitzpatrick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 36 16 19 10 0 0 81 0 81
31 Kelly Holcomb 0 0 0 1 16 21 20 19 0 1 0 0 0 0 16 28 22 144 77 67
32 Byron Leftwich 26 11 22 18 20 15 0 24 24 17 38 1 0 0 0 0 0 215 159 56
33 Josh McCown 3 0 6 34 35 0 13 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 28 25 160 106 53
34 Jamie Martin 0 0 0 0 0 13 10 22 0 0 16 1 0 0 3 25 8 97 45 52
35 Trent Dilfer 20 35 10 0 23 7 5 16 20 19 13 17 0 0 0 0 0 187 137 50
36 Alex Smith 0 0 0 2 4 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 10 6 9 9 15 60 11 49
37 Jeff Garcia 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 10 0 0 0 14 8 14 13 0 0 76 27 49
38 Kyle Orton 7 14 7 0 13 18 13 18 13 3 13 15 3 11 1 0 3 153 104 49
39 Todd Bouman 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 12 19 50 2 48
40 Marc Bulger 31 17 33 35 29 12 0 0 0 22 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 202 157 45
41 Jim Sorgi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 22 41 0 41
42 Sage Rosenfels 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0