On the outside decking of the Red Bull hospitality unit at Silverstone, Laurent Mekies, Raymond Vermeulen and Jos Verstappen were deep in conversation.

The trio were digesting a race-ending spin for Max Verstappen at high-speed while running third in the closing laps of the British Grand Prix.

As Verstappen returned to the Red Bull motorhome and hurried up the nearby stairs to get changed, Mekies, the team principal, quickly followed to speak to his driver, parting from Vermeulen, Verstappen’s manager, and Jos, his father.

There was plenty to discuss even in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Because more worrying than the lost podium was the cause of the spin. For the second time in eight days, Verstappen had lost control due to a rear wing failure on his car, having experienced a similar problem at the end of qualifying in Austria.

Although he didn’t hit the wall this time, the car instead beaching itself in the gravel, Verstappen had turned into one of the fastest corners of the track feeling like the rear wing wasn’t attached to his car. It failed to close properly, so without that downforce and grip, he stood no chance of avoiding the spin.

“At that point, it’s super dangerous, because you can really hurt yourself two times,” Verstappen told reporters after the race. “I was lucky in Austria, I was lucky here. That’s why you get really fed up with it.”

It capped off Verstappen’s frustrating weekend. After contending for victory one week earlier in Austria, recovering from the qualifying crash to finish a close second in the race, at Silverstone he was nowhere. The fact he was even in the mix for a podium was “not deserved at all,” Verstappen said, given how badly the car had performed.

“The whole weekend I had a terrible balance, no top speed compared to the other (Red Bull) car as well in the garage,” said Verstappen. “Then the race was exactly the same, which I already predicted.”

After qualifying on Saturday, where Verstappen had lagged to seventh place, he’d bemoaned the poor balance and the lack of power he was feeling from his engine; not ideal at the best of times, but especially problematic on Silverstone’s long straights. “There’s actually no point to race like this if we keep the car the same,” Verstappen said after the session. “So we’ll have a look.”

Verstappen wanted Red Bull to make changes to his car even if it meant sacrificing seventh on the grid and starting the race from the pit lane, from where he’d join the field in last place. All he wanted was a car capable of letting him fight. But Red Bull said no, a decision Verstappen didn’t understand.

“I wanted to start from the pit lane,” he said. “They were maybe confident to fix it, which I was not.”

Mekies explained to reporters after the race that Red Bull felt Verstappen would still be better off starting seventh with an imperfect car. “I’m not completely sure that we could have been P3 on the road before the failure happened if we had started from the pit lane,” he said.

Verstappen wanted Red Bull to make changes to his car before the race. (Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

Although Mekies said the rear wing failure was slightly different to the one in Austria qualifying, he sympathized with Verstappen and acknowledged it “doesn’t make it better.” He was adamant the team would undertake a full review to ensure there was no chance of a repeat, especially heading to Spa’s high-speed corners next weekend. “We’ll do whatever is necessary,” Mekies said.

But at a time when Verstappen’s future is already in the spotlight once again, a weekend like Silverstone will have left the Dutchman and his camp with plenty to ponder.

Verstappen has made no secret of his dislike of the new generation of cars this year and their reliance on battery power. He said qualifying at Silverstone, one of the sport’s fastest and most iconic tracks, gave him “no enjoyment.” The same will likely be true of Spa, another classic. This style of F1, constantly having to think about recharging the battery and making overtakes by pressing a button, just doesn’t excite Verstappen. He wants pure, flat-out racing that’s about bravery and opportunity.

Performance needs to be added to the car — and fast — to satisfy Verstappen’s competitive hunger. But it’s about more than that to him right now.

“I just want to finish races first of all, that would be nice,” Verstappen said. “At the moment, too many things are going wrong, it’s as simple as that, not even speaking about pace.”

It’s a marked difference to the second half of last year, when Verstappen fell just two points shy of the greatest title fightback in F1 history. Red Bull found performance for its struggling car and remedied many of the issues Verstappen felt, following his feedback closely and giving him what he wanted — something that seemingly did not happen with the decision not to start from the pit lane at Silverstone.

Nine rounds into the season, Verstappen is winless and a lowly seventh in the standings, more than 100 points off the championship lead. As much as he may love the Red Bull family and project, having been immersed in it not only throughout his whole F1 career but his entire adult life, such disappointing form and these setbacks will surely test his faith.

“It would be a very zen person to be optimistic at the moment with what happened again this weekend,” Verstappen said. “I’m sorry, but it’s just like that. I need a few days, I think, to reset and try again.”

“I’m trying my best with everything,” Verstappen added. “That’s the only thing that I can do.”

Here’s what happened to Max 👇#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/X1BMh6spR9

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 5, 2026

Verstappen is contracted through to 2028 with Red Bull, but has clauses in his contract that would allow him to walk away at the end of the year if he is not within a set championship position at a certain point of the year. This is believed to be the top two, which looks incredibly unlikely based on Red Bull’s current form.

The 28-year-old has been knocking back questions about his future in recent weeks, most recently at Silverstone after it emerged his management had approached McLaren for talks. The messaging has consistently been that when he has an update to give, he’ll give it.

As things stand, there seem to be few alternatives on the grid for 2027.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has stressed his commitment to contracted drivers Oscar Piastri and Norris. Mercedes is sewn up with Russell’s multi-year deal and Kimi Antonelli’s scintillating form. Ferrari recently extended Charles Leclerc’s contract, and Lewis Hamilton is also back to form, as well as indicating there is time to run on his agreement.

Coming off the encouraging race result in Austria, there seemed to be a flicker of positive momentum for Red Bull. But Silverstone pointed to the work that still needs to be done to keep Verstappen happy going into 2027 and beyond.

Right now, things aren’t clicking as they should at Red Bull. And until they do, it may be tough for Verstappen to rediscover his “zen,” to borrow his word of choice.

If your team — real-life or fantasy — started Matthew Stafford or Drake Maye at quarterback, the 2025 season was pure football bliss.

Stafford and Maye finished 1-2 in MVP voting (Stafford received 24 first-place votes while Maye had 23), and Stafford’s Rams and Maye’s Patriots staged deep playoff runs.

Those successes absolutely translated to fantasy football. Maye finished second among quarterbacks in fantasy scoring with 352 points, and Stafford finished third with 350.4. Selecting Maye or Stafford did not require a major investment, either. In FantasyPros’ composite of average draft position (ADP) rankings, Maye’s ADP was QB16 and 125th overall, and Stafford’s was QB23 and 160th overall.

Managers who spent a mid- or late-round pick on either star passer (and drafted a solid or strong roster overall) turned their teams into immediate championship contenders. Having one of these players on a roster could help a manager weather an injury to a starting quarterback, bring in a trade haul from another team or, if drafted as the team’s top quarterback, reward use of earlier picks on running backs, wide receivers, tight end and overall depth.

In ESPN’s leagues, Maye was the most commonly rostered quarterback among championship winners and eighth among all positions (18 percent), while Stafford (15.7 percent) was behind only Maye and Josh Allen.

Maye and Stafford were not the only quarterbacks to provide massive returns on investment in 2025. Four of the five quarterbacks to finish in the top five in fantasy scoring were drafted in the rounds typically reserved for backup options: Maye, Stafford, Trevor Lawrence (QB20) and Caleb Williams (QB15). Dak Prescott finished sixth in fantasy scoring and had an average draft position of QB11.

Conversely, Lamar Jackson (drafted as QB2) and Joe Burrow (QB5) were frequently drafted in early rounds, but Jackson finished 20th in fantasy points, and Burrow finished 29th. Both players dealt with injuries, but when they played, Jackson averaged 16.5 points per game and Burrow 16.8.

Does that mean all fantasy teams should wait 10 rounds before selecting a quarterback? Let’s dig in deeper to see if last year’s result was a one-year aberration or a legitimate, league-winning strategy.

What the historical numbers say

Looking across the past 10 years, last year’s quarterback performances were in a league of their own. The 2025 season was the only year in the past decade in which four players with an average draft position out of the top 10 quarterbacks ultimately finished in the top five in PPR scoring (2019 and 2018 both had three). It was also the first season since 2020 that a signal-caller drafted outside of the top-10 quarterbacks finished in the top three — and both Maye and Stafford accomplished the feat.

Another unique aspect of 2025 was how few quarterbacks drafted as one of the top 10 quarterbacks finished in the top 10. Three players — Allen, Bo Nix and Jalen Hurts — checked that box, and Nix was the only one who exceeded his ADP relative to quarterbacks (he was drafted as QB8 and finished as QB7). The only other season over the past 10 years to rival 2025 in this category was 2022, which had four such players.

However, if you’re looking to draft a QB2 who can have QB1 value, there’s still some hope.

I also tracked players who finished in the top 10 but were typically drafted outside of the top 10 quarterbacks and added a requirement that the QB had to be drafted at least five spots lower than he finished in the quarterback rankings.

By this comparison, 2025 was more normal. In each of the past four seasons, five players met these criteria, ascending from QB11 or lower and jumping at least five spots to finish in the top 10 (and in only three of the past 10 years was this untrue). A few quarterbacks finished at least 20 places above their ADP: Sam Darnold in 2024, Jordan Love in 2023 and Geno Smith in 2022.

The takeaway? In most of the past 10 seasons, at least half of the quarterbacks who provided QB1 production were drafted in backup QB territory or lower. Fantasy teams that drafted and hit on these lottery tickets or grabbed them off the waiver wire early in the season had an advantage and league-winning potential.

Locating QB2s with the most potential

New offensive systems and breakout seasons by young quarterbacks are two reasons that QB2s outperform their preseason ADP.

Maye and Williams took a major step in their second seasons after a combined eight wins in their rookie years, and that real-life improvement carried over to fantasy. Washington’s Jayden Daniels (drafted as QB12 in 2024 and ultimately finishing as QB5) and Denver’s Nix (with a QB23 ADP and QB7 finish in the same season) fit that bill the season before last. Houston’s C.J. Stroud in 2023, Lawrence in 2022, Justin Herbert in 2020 and Patrick Mahomes in 2018 blossomed in their first or second season as well.

In 2019 — a season in which five quarterbacks finished in the top 10 after having an ADP of at least five spots lower at the position — three of those passers were in their first two seasons: Jackson, Allen and Kyler Murray.

Along with being young quarterbacks amid development, Maye and Williams were also in new offensive systems last season. Josh McDaniels took over as offensive coordinator in New England, while Ben Johnson led a massive turnaround in Chicago in his first year as head coach. Lawrence’s strong year was also in large part due to his new head coach, former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen.

Baker Mayfield took a major leap in fantasy under Coen’s mentorship in 2024, improving from QB21 to QB4. Sam Darnold (QB31 to QB9 after joining Minnesota in 2024) and Jared Goff (QB27 to QB10 after Johnson became his offensive coordinator in 2022) were not even in QB2 territory before rocketing into the top 10.

What about Stafford’s rise to QB3? Part of why Stafford was drafted below 2025 flameouts like Justin Fields, J.J. McCarthy and Tua Tagovailoa was that Stafford’s production had been so solidly in QB2 territory that a sudden rise seemed unlikely. Stafford popped into the top 10 in 2021 (sixth in PPR points), 2017 (seventh) and 2016 (seventh), but in most of the previous seasons he finished 15th or lower. His injury concerns in the offseason and his lack of production in the running game — understandable as a 37-year-old with a rocket arm — seemed to lower his ceiling.

Stafford silenced those concerns by throwing 46 touchdowns and playing in all 17 games. That was his highest single-season touchdown total by five scores and was two more touchdowns than his 2023 and 2024 seasons combined. Stafford threw the most touchdowns of any player in the NFL by a 12-touchdown margin, and that gap absolutely gave managers an advantage in fantasy.

Throwing for 4,707 yards did not hurt, either, helping fantasy managers overcome his mere 1 rushing yard accumulated.

In past seasons, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger similarly provided excellent returns late into their careers, without generating fantasy points with their legs.

Who to draft in 2026

ADP will fluctuate during the offseason, but the top-10 quarterbacks are shaping up to be a mix of 2026 breakouts like Maye and Stafford and quarterbacks who underperformed but are projected to bounce back, like Jackson, Burrow and Daniels.

Which players in QB2 territory in 2026 could make that leap? Let’s take a look at three intriguing candidates.

Chargers quarterback Herbert could be a terrific pick and available in the middle rounds. The Chargers upgraded at offensive coordinator, moving off Greg Roman for former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel. Los Angeles also added tight ends David Njoku and Charlie Kolar and should benefit from a healthier offensive line that added a few players itself. Herbert finished in the top 12 among quarterbacks in three of the past four seasons, but he is currently being drafted as QB15 in ESPN leagues (though inside the top 10 in Yahoo leagues).

Rookie of the Year runner-up and Saints quarterback Tyler Shough is an intriguing candidate to fit the ascending young player mold. Shough will have more familiarity in Kellen Moore’s system and operate in an offense that invested in the skill positions: wide receiver Jordyn Tyson with the eighth overall pick and running back Travis Etienne Jr. in free agency.

New York’s Jaxson Dart is a more exciting fantasy talent with elite rushing potential, but Dart is drafted at QB7 in ESPN leagues, and Shough might represent better value at QB17.

I’ll throw Murray into the mix as another QB2 to track. Signing with Minnesota represented a significant upgrade in coaching with head coach Kevin O’Connell and supporting cast with wide receiver Justin Jefferson; at 29 years old, Murray can still be dangerous in the Vikings’ rushing attack. Sam Darnold and Kirk Cousins broke out with top-10 finishes in 2024 and 2022, respectively, under O’Connell’s tutelage, and Murray is a more promising fantasy talent.

The question with Murray, as always, is health. He has performed as a QB1 on a per-game basis throughout his career with the exception of last season, so he is a proven commodity with a high ceiling. Then again, if Murray was consistently healthy throughout his career, he would be vying with Allen and Jackson to be the top quarterback picked and would not have the potential as a terrific value. Murray could pair well with another, more durable quarterback and bring high upside without requiring a draft pick in the first 10 rounds.

Players in the QB2 range are not necessarily bound for more success than the top 10 or 12 options — Josh Allen is easily a better pick than Jared Goff. But fantasy managers who don’t want to reach for a high-end quarterback in the early rounds can utilize their first picks on finding surplus value at running back, wide receiver and tight end and know that QBs with top-10 potential will be available in later rounds. This strategy makes the most sense in PPR leagues, wherein running backs, wide receivers and tight ends score closer to quarterbacks by amassing receptions, and in leagues with 12 or more teams where depth can make a major difference.

The success of quarterbacks drafted in later rounds also presents a compelling case for managers using a later pick on the position even with another quarterback on the roster, with the potential for high trade value or the luxury of injury insurance.

The 2025 fantasy season saw anarchy reign at the quarterback position, and while that outcome is unlikely to repeat itself next season, the historical success of mid-to-late round picks demonstrates that finding great value at quarterback is a legitimate path to a fantasy football championship.

Arsenal have signed Switzerland midfielder Geraldine Reuteler following her exit from Eintracht Frankfurt.

The 27-year-old is understood to have signed a four-year deal and leaves Germany after eight years in the Frauen-Bundesliga.

She made 184 appearances in all competitions for Frankfurt, scoring 54 goals and providing 44 assists.

She will wear the number 14 shirt and becomes Arsenal’s third summer signing following the arrivals of Georgia Stanway and Selina Cerci.

“Arsenal is one of the best clubs in the world and I’m so proud that I can be here,” said Reuteler.

“I love the way this team plays and I can’t wait to test myself against the best players in the WSL [Women’s Super League].

“I want to add to the history and success of this football club and I’m looking forward to walking out at Emirates Stadium in front of all our supporters.”

Reuteler began her career at Swiss club FC Stans before joining FC Luzern and making her senior debut in the top flight at the age of 15.

She joined Frankfurt in 2018, a year after making her debut for Switzerland – the first of 91 caps for her country.

Reuteler helped Switzerland reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2025 on home soil.

“I’m delighted we’ve been able to bring her to Arsenal,” said manager Renee Slegers.

“She’s a really technical, intelligent player and combines this with good athleticism, which we believe makes her a great addition to our midfield group.

“I’m looking forward to starting to work together when pre-season begins.”

You can find all the latest transfers in our dedicated page.