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The Re-Draft Roundtables Series
The Footballguys staff looks at various strategies to help you in redraft leagues.
Participating in a redraft league is a process that starts with the draft and hopefully ends with a championship. The Footballguys staff has answered several questions about various strategies to help you achieve your championship dreams. From the beginning to the end and everything in between, we've got you covered to give you the tools and knowledge needed to dominate your redraft league.
Is there a sweet spot for quarterbacks this year? Where would you prefer to take your starting quarterback this year?
Ben Cummins
I wrote this in my Josh Allen spotlight: “We could see unprecedented elite production from the quarterback position in fantasy football in 2022. Explosive dual-threats Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, and Dak Prescott all missed time and/or played through injuries last season. If most or all remain healthy, the elite quarterbacks will be a major storyline, and you'll want to have that advantage over your competition.” I’m targeting an elite quarterback this year, meaning the sweet spot is in rounds 3-8.
Jason Wood
Positional targeting by round is an overrated idea. Every player has value and is worth rostering (or avoiding) depending on when they're coming off the board. This is why the concept of X-value and value-based drafting is so critical and why Footballguys -- whose founder Joe Bryant invented VBD -- has helped people dominate their leagues for 20+ years. My goal is to ensure I come away with at least two of my top-14 quarterbacks. I see a significant drop-off there in terms of projections and risk. I will say I'd avoid targeting Josh Allen. It's rarely worth drafting the consensus No. 1 quarterback, particularly when they're coming off the board a round or two before other projected top-five signal callers.
Christian Williams
I don't necessarily have a preference in where I'm selecting my starting quarterback, as many different draft strategies can lead to success. In the past, I've gone with a late-round quarterback strategy and succeeded. I've also failed with that strategy. Everything is dependent on the value on the board when you're picking. If a league is leaning quarterback early, don't jump on the run of quarterbacks. Jump on the value that the run is creating, and come back for quarterback later. Still, when considering that, Josh Allen has appeal any time after the first round has concluded.
Will Grant
I don't like building my team around a top-three quarterback - simply because I find that you can get a lot of value from that position in the sixth through ninth rounds. I'd rather grab a solid running back or wide receiver in the early rounds. That said, if the draft is well into the fourth round and one of my top three quarterbacks is still on the board, I might consider taking him. If that happens, I will probably lay off that position for the rest of the draft and take a flyer on someone in the late rounds. This year, I expect to take my first quarterback in the fifth or sixth round and then look for a second somewhere in the 10th or 11th. I feel like this year, having a QBBC approach is a good way to build a strong, competitive team.
Andy Hicks
Draft position and scoring system can mean a run at the quarterback position can have a devastating effect on your team. Unless you need Josh Allen on your team, this is a year to wait and get the best one available before it's too late. With the increase in rushing quarterbacks, rushing touchdowns often determine an elite fantasy quarterback versus an average one. This also increases the injury risk, so grabbing two good options usually pays off.
Craig Lakins
Across the fantasy landscape, it's becoming more appealing to target an elite quarterback because of the value of having a true separator at the position. If you're comfortable with taking a quarterback in rounds 3 or 4, it's not as much of a drafting faux pas as it has been in years past. However, I prefer to maximize the talent I draft at other positions early on. The sweet spot will be rounds 8 and 9, where you can take a shot at someone like Kirk Cousins, Trey Lance, or Derek Carr outperforming their ADP.
Chad Parsons
Like my friend in the industry, Steve Gallo, I am a firm late-quarterback drafter. We have drafted against each other in industry leagues, and we will wait until the final round to take a quarterback in start-one leagues. The minimum is waiting until 10-12 are drafted before exploring the options. First, the appeal of the waiver wire for the rest of the league is minimal, and the teams who spent a meaningful pick at the position, in a start-one, will have low interest in the waiver wire and have sunken cost allegiance to their drafted option. The good news about waiting at quarterback is the lack of stickiness to the incumbent a few weeks (or even one) into the season if they are underperforming or a superior streaming (or better) option is available on the waiver wire.
Gary Davenport
The sweet spot for quarterbacks this season appears (to me) to lie in the QB9-QB12 range. Tom Brady of the Buccaneers and Aaron Rodgers of the Packers were top-five fantasy options in many scoring systems last season. Matthew Stafford of the Rams wasn't that far behind. And Russell Wilson of the Broncos was a top-five quarterback two years ago in Seattle. All those veterans have a high-end upside that comes without a high-end price.
Victoria Geary
I never take a quarterback in the very early rounds (Mahomes, Allen) and typically aim for a guy with rushing upside. Depending on the build, I'm comfortable taking my quarterback as early as the fifth or sixth rounds, where you can snag someone like my guy Jalen Hurts this year. It also depends on how my draft is falling. Aaron Rodgers fell to me VERY late in a redraft league last season, and I couldn't pass him up, though his Week 1 performance had me shaking in my boots. My cutoff this year are guys like Kirk Cousins and Derek Carr - they seem fairly safe but likely won't give you an edge in a 1-QB league like the mid-tier quarterbacks should.
Sam Wagman
I have long been a fan of the later-round quarterback pick. That hasn’t changed much in recent years, with me taking a combination of Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts last season, both of whom were going in rounds 8-11 in redrafts. I am probably still there. Hurts is now a sixth-round pick and possibly the highest I would go, but there are options like Trey Lance, Tom Brady, Derek Carr, and Matthew Stafford that should all be QB1s in that range.
Zareh Kantzabedian
Rounds five through eight contain quarterbacks that all present significantly more value than the players of other positions being drafted there. Quarterbacks such as Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, and Dak Prescott can all be found there.
Jeff Bell
The quarterback has never been deeper, and the sweet spot is the last starter off the board. The exception would be a quarterback like Kyler Murray or Jalen Hurts, who have overall QB1 in their range of outcomes sliding to the point they are a clear value over the flex player pool.