Most of the 2-QB fantasy football articles you’ll find are targeted towards 2-QB leagues that are made up of 10 or 12 teams. That just seems to be the standard when it comes to the world of 2-QB fantasy football leagues. But they’re not the only ones. There are 2-QBers out there that play in 8-team 2-QB leagues, 14-team 2-QB leagues, and 16-team 2-QB leagues, just to name a few.
I used to play in a 2-QB league that was 14 teams, but have stuck to 12-team 2-QB leagues the last little while. I didn’t even really know 8-team 2-QB leagues existed, to be honest with you, and if my strategy of waiting on the quarterback position applies to 10-team 2-QB leagues, you can imagine how that would translate to an 8-team 2-QB league.
Now, when it comes to 16-team 2-QB leagues, that just seems too hardcore, even for my 2-QB loving ways, but nonetheless, I’m willing to try new things, as evidenced by my foray into the worlds of dynasty 2-QB leagues, and 2-QB auction leagues.
With that being the case, I set out and hosted a live 16-team 2-QB mock draft, the results of which you can see here. Going into a 2-QB mock draft the size of 16 teams, my strategy consisted of drafting two quarterbacks with my first two picks then praying I come out with a respectable team.
Simple math tells us that the NFL has 32 teams, which means there are 32 starting quarterbacks. Not all of them are worthy of starting considerations, in both the NFL and your fake football squad. If you don’t dedicate part of your 16-team 2-QB draft to the quarterback position early, you might wind up with a starting quarterback fantasy situation equivalent to that of the New York Jets.
When breaking down how quarterbacks were drafted in the 16-team 2-QB mock, we got the following results:
- Number of quarterbacks drafted in the first round: 12
- Number of quarterbacks drafted in the second round: 10
- Number of teams that employed a QB/QB strategy: 8
- Number of teams that didn’t draft a quarterback with their first two picks: 2
- The latest a team drafted their QB1: Round 4 (@scbtnd – Brandon Weeden)
- The latest a team drafted their QB2: Round 11 (@BryKno – Mark Sanchez)
- Total number of quarterbacks drafted: 41
- Was Mark Sanchez drafted? Yes. Colt McCoy, too.
I can’t really say that the draft played out all too surprisingly from my point of view. For the teams that didn’t draft a quarterback in the first round, two of them drafted their QB1 in the second round, while the other two waited until the third and fourth rounds, respectively.
I played it safe going Russell Wilson/Andy Dalton in rounds one and two, and having the 15th overall draft pick made going QB-QB a strategy worth employing. I could have went with a QB/RB strategy, and in hindsight, that might have been the better choice, as E.J. Manuel and Brandon Weeden were still on the board when it was my turn to pick in the third round. Both Manuel (pre-injury) and Weeden have QB2 potential this year.
If I had gone with a running back, like C.J. Spiller, instead of Dalton, I would have had a much better RB1 option. Instead I wound up waiting to draft my running back, filling out my wide receiver and tight end slots instead, which lead to a Chris Ivory/Daryl Richardson starting running back combination. One I can live with but one that could have been much better.
If you take a look at my finalized roster, ignoring running back early was probably the biggest mistake by me, but I could have also fixed that by not drafting Andre Johnson and taking a running back such as Reggie Bush in the third round. You’re not going to have a perfect team in a 16-team league, whether it’s a 2-QB league, or a 1-QB league, so there is always going to be something to quibble about. Having two solid every week starting quarterbacks was the one thing I wanted to get out of the draft, and that was accomplished.
With half the league employing a QB/QB strategy, good running backs and wide receiver options were going to fall, and the teams that didn’t draft a quarterback early were able to especially reap the benefits of that. One of those teams, @scbtnd, took the boldest route of them all, bypassing the quarterback position entirely with his first three picks. Instead, he drafted the trio of Doug Martin, Dez Bryant, and Brandon Marshall, and addressed the quarterback position in the fourth round where he selected Brandon Weeden in to be his QB1.
The main drawback of waiting to draft your quarterback(s) in a 2-QB league with 16 teams is that if you don’t draft one or two early, you’re going to have to reach at the position later—which is what happened in this case. Not only was Weeden his QB1, but then he wound up selecting Blaine Gabbert as his QB2, in the sixth round. A Weeden/Gabbert combo isn’t going to be the most imposing quarterback tandem in a 2-QB fantasy football league, but having Martin/Dez/Marshall will soften the blow.
It might seem that I’m picking on @scbtnd, but I’m not. At a certain point you decide to either go in on QB early, or wait, stocking up your team at running back/wide receiver, hoping that a solid quarterback will fall to you. Eventually the QB2/QB3 tier might all seem the same, and that you’d rather grab a top RB/WR, rather than spend a pick on a quarterback that isn’t all that enticing.
After the third round was completed the pool of serviceable quarterbacks began to dwindle, which may have played a role in @scbtnd’s decision to wait and draft Gabbert. It’s not like Matt Flynn, or Christian Ponder are that much better QB2 options, and they happened to be the only other quarterbacks drafted between his selection of Weeden and Gabbert.
Mock drafts are meant to be used as learning experiences, and I have learned my fair share of lessons mock drafting this off-season. What I learned from this particular 16-team 2-QB mock draft, which was something I suspected going in, is that you’ll want to draft your quarterbacks early. Just like you would usually do in a 12-team 2-QB league. With the only difference being that it might be more imperative to go QB/QB, rather than QB/RB or WR/QB, as can sometimes be the case in 12-team 2-QB drafts.
Also, don’t worry all that much about the QB3 position, because with a 2-QB league this big, most of the league will be in the same boat as you when it comes to QB bye weeks.
