Every Fantasy Football expert recommends waiting until late in the draft to pick a Quarterback. There is so much value in the later rounds, that even in a 16-team league like Don’s hometown league, a person can wait and still pick up a quality QB. When we attended the Pro Football Hall of Fame Fantasy Football Experience last summer, every single one of the experts and Hall of Famers agreed on this point.
Another strategy about QB drafting was questioned today. A couple of the morning radio hosts on Sirius XM Radio were questioning expert Bob Harris’ decision to draft two Quarterbacks during the Sirius XM Independence Day Draft. Bob drafted Drew Brees in the seventh round and Kirk Cousins in the eleventh round. Bob’s drafting strategy was questioned because of the need to have another QB when he will undoubtedly start Brees every week except the bye.
However, Harris was not the only team to take two Quarterbacks! In fact, eight of the twelve teams in the Independence Day Draft took two. Four of those teams drafted their first QB in the 10th round or later. Those four teams will probably be playing the hot hand – going week by week playing the match-ups. One of the teams drafted Andrew Luck first, and then, what could possibly be a back-up since Luck is coming off of surgery on his right throwing shoulder. In that situation, it is definitely a good idea to have a backup Quarterback. Two teams who also picked Quarterbacks in early rounds were Lisa Ann who took Tom Brady in the fifth and Eli Manning in the twelfth round, and Howard Bender taking Aaron Rodgers in the sixth and Andy Dalton in the fourteenth.
Some experts believe that they would rather have more Running Back and Wide Receiver depth instead of having an extra Quarterback, but there are many advantages to having a second QB. Several situations would make having an extra Quarterback extremely valuable. A few of these are:
- The starter gets hurt
- Coverage for bye week
- Trade bait
- Starting QB isn’t playing well
- Going up against a defense where the second QB might do a better job
- (My personal favorite) Taking a starter away from another team
In the case of Bob Harris, Kirk Cousins can be a top ten QB this year, giving Harris not one, but two high-scoring Quarterbacks. In his twelve-team league this could make a big difference in how Bob finishes the season. In leagues that have extra roster spots it certainly doesn’t hurt to have an extra Quarterback on the bench. Don’s hometown league doesn’t have enough bench spots to afford this luxury. I will definitely vote to have two Quarterbacks when we enter our Fantasy Football Couple team in a league together. Only time will tell how that will work out for us, and our team.