Fantasy Football: Don’t Draft Quarterback Until Final Rounds
Fantasy Football season will be here before you know it! Now is the time to develop your draft strategy and win your league.
When it comes to fantasy football, you are always looking for the best value. Who is the receiver you know will be sneaky good you can snatch up in the later rounds? Which rookie will surprise and become the next Odell Beckham Jr.? Foresight such as that will win you your league.
The position that in most leagues garners you the most points is, what else, the quarterback position.
When looking at the ESPN fantasy football rankings, the first quarterback (Cam Newton) does not arrive on the board until the late second round. A similar situation arises for Aaron Rodgers, as he is ranked just four spots behind Newton.
Russell Wilson follows suit directly behind Rodgers at the top of the third round.
At the top of the fifth round, ESPN has mashed Tom Brady, Andrew Luck, Ben Roethlisberger, and Drew Brees together.
After that, it’s a large gap until you see another quarterback’s name pop onto your screen.
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The fact is, a quarterback such as Derek Carr, Blake Bortles, Andy Dalton, or Teddy Bridgewater can provide just as much FANTASY points as a Brees or a suspended Brady.
By waiting until the last few rounds of your draft, you can snatch up playoff quarterbacks and build immense depth at your skilled positions.
When the run on quarterbacks arrives around the late fourth/early fifth round, names such as Donte Moncrief, Travis Kelce, Delanie Walker, Larry Fitzgerald, and John Brown will be sitting there for you to steal.
When you get to the later rounds, your league-mates will be scrambling for depth while you get two playoff quarterbacks on your roster.
The “projected points” ESPN assigns players shouldn’t be your primary reason for drafting a player. If you do over analyze them though, the points that you “lose” by drafting a quarterback later are easily made up with the receiver or running back you snagged in the middle of the draft when the guy from accounting took Drew Brees.
The value isn’t there for mid-round, or even first round quarterbacks this year. Pass on Rodgers and Newton and take Amari Cooper, Jordy Nelson, or Rob Gronkowski.