In my last 2-QB draft strategy article I went over a 2-QB mock draft in which I went QB-QB-QB-QB early. You can read the results of that mock here. This time around, I wanted to use the latest live 2-QB Sports Jerk mock draft to experiment with a draft strategy I’d like to dub “ignore the quarterback position at your own peril.” While it’s not really catchy, it is an apt description of how this particular 2-QB draft turned out for me.
I recently wrote a three part series that revolved around using the late round quarterback (LRQB) draft strategy in 2-QB fantasy football drafts. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of LRQB, do yourself a favor, and visit the lateroundqb.com website, and buy the LRQB book, written by the LRQB guru, JJ Zachariason.
The world of 2-QB fantasy football leagues is a foreign concept to some people, as a lot of fantasy footballers out there prefer the traditional format of playing in leagues that require only one starting quarterback. However, for those that mainly play in 1-QB leagues, and are champions of the LRQB draft strategy, but want to try out 2-QB leagues, the mindset for some is to stick with the LRQB method of drafting, even in 2-QB leagues.
During the off-season I’ve found that waiting on quarterbacks in 10-team leagues is an advisable strategy. There are just too many worthwhile fantasy quarterbacks to go around in a 10-team 2-QB fantasy football draft. In 12-team leagues though, you’re going to want to grab at least one of the top fantasy signal callers early in the draft, because they will run out quickly.
The point of experimenting with different 2-QB fantasy football drafts is to see for yourself what the results will look like, and that you hopefully get a greater understanding of a certain 2-QB strategy to utilize, or avoid entirely. And experimenting is exactly what I did in the latest live 2-QB Sports Jerks mock draft. This time, I experimented with waiting a really, really, really, really, long time to address my quarterback situation. How’d do I do?
Judging by the results of the latest 2-QB live draft in which I implemented an extreme LRQB draft approach, it’s easy to surmise that if you wait too long to draft your quarterbacks, the results aren’t going to look pretty.
With the help of 11 other fine folks, and myself, we all got together and mock drafted a 12-team 2-QB draft, where passing touchdowns were worth six points, interceptions deducted two points, and receptions valued at .5 points.
If you want to see the results for yourself you can do so by clicking on this link, and there’s also a screen grab for your convenience below:
I was drafting sixth, and here’s how my 2-QB league LRQB drafted team shook out:
QB1-Alex Smith
QB2-Brandon Weeden
RB1-Jamaal Charles
RB2-Trent Richardson
WR1-Vincent Jackson
WR2-Pierre Garçon
WR3-Wes Welker
TE1-Jordan Cameron
Flex-Matt Forte
Kicker-Kai Forbath
D/ST-St. Louis Rams
Bench1-Shane Vereen
Bench2-Danario Alexander
Bench3-Michael Floyd
When waiting late to draft your quarterbacks in a 2-QB league, especially one with 12 teams, and where passing touchdowns are valued at six points, there’s a tier you don’t want to miss out on, and I believe it starts to get picked apart in the 6th round of 12-team leagues. The quarterbacks who were drafted between the 6th-8th rounds before I took Alex Smith as my QB1 in this mock included: Sam Bradford, Ryan Tannehill, Ben Roethlisberger, Andy Dalton, Philip Rivers, Carson Palmer, Josh Freeman and Matt Schaub.
The difference being is that each of those quarterbacks were drafted as QB2s, and in the case of Freeman and Schaub, QB3s, all drafted before I selected Alex Smith to by my team’s QB1. That’s some dangerous territory you’re going to be swimming in when using such an extreme late draft approach to the quarterback position in 2-QB leagues, like I did. If you don’t make your move and draft two or three of those quarterbacks, you’ll wind up with somebody like Alex Smith, Jake Locker or Matt Schaub as your QB1.
Not only was I the last team to draft a QB1, but I was the last to take a QB2, which netted me Brandon Weeden in the 10th round. What to make of this 2-QB draft strategy overall? The first thing is that you put yourself in a great spot to build depth for the rest of your team at all key offensive positions, except quarterback. If you look at the team I built, by ignoring quarterbacks, there’s depth all around, particularly at the all-important running back position. I did draft only one tight, but that has to do with there being only three bench spots.
But what about the quarterback position? What I did to my team by neglecting quarterbacks for so long was to show you that you shouldn’t draft the way I did. Waiting as long as I did screwed me over pretty badly when it came to the quarterback position. I love Alex Smith this year in fantasy football, as does ForensicFantasy.com, but I like him more so as a QB2/QB3, not a QB1. I’m also starting to warm up in regards to Weeden’s fantasy potential, and think he could be somebody to monitor in 2-QB leagues, as a QB2/QB3. But an A.Smith/Weeden combo is not a winning combo in 2-QB fantasy football leagues.
With a short roster, the free agency pool in this type of league could be an option to consider, when it comes to streaming quarterbacks, and in this mock, the available quarterbacks after the draft concluded included the likes of Blaine Gabbert, Kevin Kolb, Mark Sanchez, and Drew Stanton. All quarterbacks with murky fantasy outlooks this season, in terms of talent, opportunity, or both.
If you’re adverse to drafting a quarterback early in a 12-team 2-QB fantasy football league, and would prefer to draft quarterbacks later and stream them, you have to read your draft room, and take your shot at the right time. If I wasn’t experimenting with such an extreme LRQB 2-QB draft strategy, the smart pick would have been to take somebody like Ben Roethlisberger in the 6th round, instead of Wes Welker.
Not only would I have had a QB1, at least I think he can be a QB1 this year in fantasy, not everybody else does, but, also, with the depth of the wide receiver position, I still ended up getting a couple of receivers late in Danario Alexander and Michael Floyd, who both have the potential to be at least WR3s this season in fantasy.
The freedom of having a QB1 I believe in would have been a much better choice than a WR3, and if I still ended up with A.Smith and Weeden, they would have been my QB2/QB3. Or an even better alternative would have been drafting two quarterbacks from the Andy Dalton/Carson Palmer/Josh Freeman pool in rounds 7-8, which would have given my team a more-than-adequate quarterback depth chart.
With all mocks, one of the tools I’ve loved to use is the customizable projected points system over at ProFootballFocus, and below you’ll see the standings for the 12 teams, based on the highest projected points getter at each position…
1. @KyleWachtel-2,110 points
2. @RussellClay17-2,064 points
3. @KevKev1984-2,041 points
4. @geomclean-2,030 points
5. @Dunhaaam-2,007 points
6. Cody Kendera-2,003 points *autodrafted*
7. @adam_capo-1,993 points
8. @DraftCalcNation-1,964 points
9. @LordReebs-1,961 points *no kicker*
10. @reino56-1,940 points *autodrafted*
11. @2QBFFB-1,892 points
12. @MayanWrathews-1,786 points
What’s interesting about the projected points goals is that the top three teams had contrasting draft strategies:
- Picking second overall, Kyle went with Adrian Peterson in the first round, and followed that up with Robert Griffin III and Tony Romo, in rounds two and three.
- Russ went mid-round QB with Joe Flacco and Sam Bradford at the end of rounds five and six, and then took Josh Freeman with the first pick of the eigth round. The funny thing about the projected points totals for his quarterbacks, is that PFF projects Freeman to score more points than both Flacco and Bradford, yet he was the third of the three taken.
- Kevin went QB-QB in rounds one and two, taking Drew Brees and then Colin Kaepernick, and wound up being the only team to draft four quarterbacks. If he had drafted a better RB2, he might have wound up outscoring everybody.
If you take my strategy and play it risky with the quarterbacks, deciding you want to go extreme LRQB in 2-QB fantasy football drafts, you’re not going to wind up with a team that will compete. You don’t necessary have to have two elite quarterbacks as your starting QB1-QB2 tandem, but you need to make sure that you have a duo that will put up points on a consistent basis; or draft three respectable ones, like Russ. It also helps if you can draft at least one of the top fantasy quarterbacks early, like Kyle and Kevin did.
One thing you should take away from my experiment, forgetting about my forgettable Alex Smith/Brandon Weeden combo for a moment, is that it’s not just about the quarterbacks in 2-QB fantasy football leagues, it’s also about the team you surround them with, but if your team isn’t lead by two good fantasy quarterbacks, the rest of your team won’t matter.
A last lesson to leave you with from this 2-QB mock draft experiment is that you shouldn’t go into your 2-QB fantasy football draft with the mindset of building a stud team by waiting extremely late to grab your quarterbacks, and then think you’ve drafted a winning team. You haven’t. You’ve only hurt yourself at the most important position in 2-QB fantasy football leagues.
