Walker-Sports Presents: Fantasy Football Reality Check No.2, Quarterbacks

Once again, Walker-Sports is happy to welcome back Stephen Lamare of Gridiron Goddess.net to help out all you fantasy people out there. I would like to take this moment to thank Stephen for all his hard work. Now, without further ado, here is your fantasy update.

Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and fantasy leaguers of all ages to the QB installment of Gridiron Goddess’ Fantasy Football Reality Check!

This week, we’re going to start talking about the specifics of each position.

Let’s begin with the field generals of football: the quarterbacks. Now, I know that the standard thinking in approaching a fantasy football draft is to draft running backs first, running backs second, and take whichever best QB is left, but I just don’t buy into that conformist style.

Fantasy football scoring systems in head to head leagues are predicated on scoring touchdowns.

Who else on any team has the likelihood of consistently putting up 20+ TDs in a season? I realize that not all fantasy league scoring formats are the same—a lot of leagues award less points for QB TDs than the other positions—but that still places the quarterback as one of your steadiest producers.

It seems strange to say this, but QBs are a slightly undervalued commodity come draft day in most leagues. That’s why I’m going to stress the importance of acquiring a true No. 1 QB.

Believe me, you don’t want to have two marginal fantasy quarterbacks that you’ll have to shuffle between each week. There have been a couple of seasons when I didn’t go out of my way to draft that surefire producer, and not coincidentally, one of those seasons was my only year at .500 or less.

You need to draft a quarterback you feel absolutely comfortable with every week, regardless of the matchup. Attempting to play the “who has a better matchup this week” game and trying to determine who will have the better scoring week due to their upcoming opponent is the most surefire way of insuring a mediocre outcome.

If your dilemma, post draft day is, “Do I start Clemens or Garcia?!” I really don’t need to tell you that you’re entering a world of pain.

Hopefully, by reading this column, we’re preventing that potential disaster from occurring.

Before I list the Gridiron Goddess Fantasy-Reality Check quarterback rankings, I need to make something clear—it is imperative to have one of the QBs listed in the top eight at best, and top 10 at worst, in order to alleviate any concerns about what to expect from this vital position.

Make no bones about it—they WILL require a top draft choice.

I’m addressing this position first, so the idea of spending one of your top three picks (and in many cases, top two picks), has sufficient time to settle in before any ‘08 drafts ensue.

QBs you’ll relish owning

From fantasy royalty to a steady hand

1) Tom Brady

2) Peyton Manning

3) Tony Romo

4) Drew Brees

5) Carson Palmer

6) Ben Roethlisberger

7) Derek Anderson

8 ) Matt Hasselbeck

9) Donovan McNabb

10) Brett Favre—only if he is starting for the Pack though!

QBs you’ll have to live with:

One week on/one week off/some upsides
11) Jay Cutler

12) Marc Bulger

13) Eli Manning

14) David Garrard

15) Jake Delhomme

16) Matt Schaub

17) Jason Campbell

18 Philip Rivers

19) Aaron Rodgers

20) Jon Kitna

Good luck! The rest of the field doesn’t require ratings, as far as I’m concerned.

Your starter and backup are hopefully both amongst the first 20 named here. If one is in the top 10 and the other in the 11-20 range, you’re gold!

However, if both your QBs are listed in the second tier, you could have that week-to-week matchup problem I mentioned earlier. With so much parity in the NFL schedule, you’re better served by taking my advice and drafting the unquestionable No. 1 QB that you start EVERY week.

That’s it this week everybody, visit Gridiron Goddess for the running backs preview next Thursday.

~Stephen Lamare