In parts one and two of this series I looked at how the late round quarterback (LRQB) draft strategy would work in 2-QB fantasy football leagues in both standard scoring leagues and leagues where passing touchdowns are worth 6 points instead of your standard 4 points. If you go back and read parts one and two you’ll see just how important it is to get at least one quarterback early in 2-QB leagues.
For part three of this series I just wanted to briefly compare the two leagues so that you can get a complete look at how much of a difference it makes when you draft quarterbacks in 2-QB fantasy football leagues.
In the chart below you’ll find four 12-team snake style mini mock drafts, two for each 4-point and 6-point leagues. In each of the formats there are two versions of the LRQB draft strategy in play: one is the LRQB strategy that sees the LRQB team (drafting 12th) draft it’s QB1 last (12th QB taken overall) while also being the last team to draft a QB2 (24th QB overall taken).
Then in the second mock of each points league the LRQB strategy is taken to an extreme where the LRQB team, again drafting 12th overall in a snake format draft, doesn’t draft it’s QB1 and QB2 tandem until every other team has drafted both of their respective starting QB duos. That means that the extreme LRQB team is left with drafting the 23rd and 24th ranked QBs to be its QB1 and QB2 starting tandem. If you read both parts one and two of this series the format should be all too familiar to you by now.
The players drafted were based on MyFantasyLeague.com 12-team ADP results from March 7th and I followed the ADP as closely as possible, as I didn’t want to play favorites with certain players. The points projected for each team is once again based on customized 2013 fantasy scoring projections from Mike Clay at Pro Football Focus that were also taken from the 7th of March and the number in brackets is the combined points total for the quarterbacks drafted.
Examining the numbers gets you this:
- 4-point LRQB team: 1,134 projected points, 73 points behind the best projected scoring team, a 5th place finish overall, and the 11th worst quarterback duo. Difference in points between the highest scoring QB duo and the LRQB duo was 77 points.
- 4-point extreme LRQB team: 1,249 projected points, 165 points behind the best projected scoring team, an 8th place finish overall and the worst scoring QB duo. Difference in points between the highest scoring QB duo and the extreme LRQB duo was 165 points.
- 6-point LRQB team: 1,118 projected points, 26 points behind best projected team, a 3rd place finish overall, 11th best scoring QB duo. Difference in points between the highest scoring QB duo and the LRQB duo was 113 points.
- 6-point extreme LRQB team: 1,100 points overall, 55 points behind best projected team, a 4th place finish overall, worst scoring QB duo. Difference in points between the highest scoring QB duo and the extreme LRQB duo was 219 points.
When the normal LRQB strategy was utilized in the standard scoring league, which basically meant being the last team to draft a QB1 and QB2, respectively, the LRQB team in the standard league had to make up 53 points at the quarterback position from the highest projected scoring team (Team 2) and the extreme LRQB team’s starting QB duo is projected to score 165 points less than the QB duo from the highest projected scoring team (Team 1).
In the touchdown heavy league the difference in points at the quarterback position between the LRQB team and the highest projected team (Team 2) was 87 points and the points difference between the highest projected scoring team’s QB duo (Team 1) and the extreme LRQB team’s quarterbacks was 219 points.
There’s a big difference between 3.31 and 10.31 PPG, as that would be what the PPG totals would be at the quarterback position if your team ended up with the quarterbacking duo of QB12 and QB 24 instead of QB23 and QB24, respectively, in the standard scoring league. That’s a difference of 7 PPG between the two starting quarterbacking combinations.
In the 6 point passing touchdown league the LRQB team’s quarterback combination would score 5.48 PPG less than the highest projected scoring team’s quarterback duo (Team 2) and the extreme LRQB team’s quarterbacking duo would score 13.69 PPG less than that of the quarterbacking duo found on the highest projected scoring team (Team 1). The difference in PPG for those two teams is 8.21 PPG.
Can you make up 3.31 or 5.48 PPG in any given week? Sure. It’s doable and not out of the realm of possibility. In terms of points it’s just one extra passing touchdown per week from your quarterback. However, when the PPG differentials jump up to 10.31 or 13.69 PPG that’s when you’re looking at a bit of a challenge ahead of you.
What the numbers are saying is that when you have to draft an extra starting quarterback you can’t wait too long to grab your quarterback(s), especially your QB1, like you can in a 1-QB league because eventually the talent well starts to dry up. Sure, there are more than enough quarterbacks to go around in 2-QB fantasy football leagues, but just like in any fantasy football quarterback format, you have to make your picks count. We’ve seen that the combination of Romo/Locker is a much better combination than that of Schaub/Locker and the Romo/Locker tandem is one that can realistically be had in a 2-QB league.
Going for talent at other positions on your team like running back and getting to leave the draft room with both Adrian Peterson and Arian Foster is unbelievable but when Matt Schaub is your QB1 and Jake Locker is your QB2 it makes you look at your RB haul a little differently and wondering if maybe Romo would have been a better draft pick than Foster. If you read part one of this series then you already know the answer to that question. And only in 2-QB fantasy football leagues can you legitimately ask such a crazy question as whether or not Tony Romo is a better fantasy draft pick than Arian Foster? For me, personally, that’s part of the fun of playing in 2-QB leagues, as I have to challenge myself more when it comes to my draft strategy. In 1-QB leagues it’s all about deciding how late to draft your first quarterback but in 2-QB leagues it’s figuring out how late is too late and whether or not it is worth waiting that extra round or two.
Do you want to find out the answer by walking away from a 2-QB draft with Schaub and Locker as your starting QB duo? That’s up to you to decide but the answer you find might not be the answer you want to hear once the draft is over.
Stats used in this article courtesy of TheFakeFootball, MyFantasyLeague, ProFootballFocus Fantasy and NFLData.
