It’s Conference Championship weekend in the NFL, meaning we only have four teams left chasing their dreams of hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy.
It also means we only have four quarterbacks to chose from when building our 2-QB daily fantasy football StarStreet roster this week, and those four quarterbacks are Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, and Colin Kaepernick.
During this year’s playoffs, each quarterback has played only once, minus Kaepernick who also played during Wildcard Weekend. Here’s how they have fared so far on StarStreet this playoff season:
Manning – 15.1 fantasy points
Brady – 7.8 fantasy points
Wilson – 5.7 fantasy points
Kaepernick – 20.9 fantasy points (Playoff game 1) and 19.3 fantasy points (Playoff game 2)
When you look at the numbers there’s not much to get excited about. Kaepernick has the two highest scoring fantasy games of the playoffs of the four, but his points are aided by his rushing prowess.
During Wildcard Weekend he rushed for 98 yards, and last weekend he ran for 15 yards, and scored a rushing touchdown. Take those stats away, and he goes from 20.9 fantasy points to 11.1, and from 19.3 to 13.8 fantasy points.
In terms of money, here’s the financial breakdown of each possible starting quarterback tandem on StarStreet this week:
Peyton-Brady: $27,800
Peyton-Wilson: $27,400
Peyton-Kaepernick: $27,000
Brady-Wilson: $26,200
Brady-Kaepernick: $25,800
Wilson-Kaepernick: $25,400
No matter how you look at it, you’re going to have to spend at least 25 percent of your budget at the quarterback position. The days of value quarterback plays are over, when we have so few games to chose from.
If forced to chose, the Peyton/Brady combination would be the one I’d go with because the 49ers-Seahawks match-up has the feel of a defensive battle/running game showdown.
Neither quarterback did much in their previous two meetings this year, with the highest passing output being 199 yards by Wilson.
The two quarterbacks also combined to throw only three passing touchdowns and five interceptions in those two games.
When it comes to the rushing aspect, Kaepernick won that battle, outrushing Wilson 118 to 35.
The Seahawks and Niners also have an over/under of 39.5 points, which is 16 points less than the Broncos-Patriots game, leaving me to Wilson and Kaepernick.
Even with such a high projected points total in the Broncos and Patriots game, I’m hesitant to spend so much money on a Manning/Brady combo. Forking over 27.8 percent of your budget on quarterbacks is a lot, and it leaves you scrambling to put together a strong lineup.
I’m not one to generally make optimal line-ups, but there are some players each week I like to single out, and I also try to pick out one bottom priced player who allows me to splurge elsewhere.
With only two games it’s hard to find a cheap player, but the guys I’m looking to pay for include Demaryius Thomas, Julian Edelman, and Julius Thomas. Those are the three guys I want in my line-up. No matter which quarterback combination I go with, if I include those three, I’m going to have to submit a line-up I’m not entirely in love with.
With that in mind, this week I’m going to go out on a crazy limb for my final NFL DFS week, and submit a line-up without a starting quarterback. Or as Steve Gallo would call it, the Zero QB Theorem.
Here’s what I’m rolling with:
QB1-Colt McCoy
QB2-Tarvaris Jackson
RB1-Marshawn Lynch
RB2-Shane Vereen
WR1-Demaryius Thomas
WR2-Julian Edelman
TE-Julius Thomas
Flex1-Wes Welker
Flex2-Eric Decker
The only other switch I considered was Knowshon Moreno for Vereen. Other than that, I’m happy with that lineup, compared to one that might involve Jermaine Kearse, or Michael Hoomanawanui.
With so many pass catchers from the Patriots-Broncos game in my line-up I’ve attached myself to Brady and Manning, without having to pay for them. It might backfire, or it might be so crazy it works. I’m willing to find out.
Do what you want with the above lineup. But I’m taking the zero quarterback risk, and hoping the rest of my line-up can do enough damage to make up the zero points I’ll be getting from the quarterback position.
*As an aside, this will be my final fantasy football article for the 2013 season, and I wanted to thank everybody who has taken the time to read my crazy ramblings, and championed for the 2-QB fantasy football cause. I look forward to getting started on the 2014 fantasy football season.
**Stats used in this article from ESPN.com
