From the moment minicamps open, fantasy football owners are inundated with draft strategy tips that revolve around the running back and wide receiver positions. Whether it was the zero-RB theory telling you to load up on receivers, or the SMART system pointing you toward established runners first, the common thread found within each was to wait on drafting your quarterback.
The position is always rich with depth, and your need for high-end backs and wideouts vastly outweighs your need to have someone like Aaron Rodgers or Cam Newton steering the ship. Players such as Matt Ryan or Matthew Stafford will more than suffice.
Week 6 put all of that delicious quarterback depth on display. It also shows you may not need an elite quarterback to win a given week, but you can’t survive the season without someone of both substantial and consistent quality.
An important thing to remember is that waiting on the quarterback position doesn’t mean any port in the storm will do. Just ask those who opted for a 15th-round selection of Ryan Fitzpatrick. Waiting on the position means you can find your signal-caller in the mid-to-late rounds where the value of owning Derek Carr or Philip Rivers is greater than that of owning Darren Sproles or Torrey Smith. You don’t need a top-three quarterback to compete, but you certainly need someone who falls within the top 10.
As the dust settled on Sunday’s games, there were 12 quarterbacks who posted 20 points or more and, for the most part, all of the usual suspects were there. Sure, we had some outliers, both good and bad, as names like Case Keenum and Cody Kessler replaced an injured Ben Roethlisberger and a surprisingly subpar Rodgers, but when you look at the cumulative numbers for the season, it becomes obvious the consistency of one strong quarterback trumps any attempt at playing the outliers and the matchups.
Heading into Week 6, fantasy owners spent far too much time switching to quarterbacks like Alex Smith and Brian Hoyer, wondering if they would produce a better return value than the likes of Ryan or Stafford, both top-10 quarterbacks with tough matchups. Rather than stick with who was producing consistently, the pivot to an afterthought with a “better” matchup was made and, not surprisingly, met with disappointing results. There is a reason these players are sitting on your waiver wire and no, it is not because there are just too many good quarterbacks out there.
Strength at quarterback is a must. If you have genuine concern regarding your quarterback’s ability to consistently produce, then you need to make a move. Playing journeymen with good matchups will only take you so far. You don’t need the elite to take home the title, but you’re also not going to win it with Blake Bortles.
Howard Bender is a senior writer at FantasyAlarm.com and the host of “Overtime” on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio each Sunday from 11 p.m.-1 a.m. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy. For more from Fantasy Alarm, listen weekdays on SiriusXM from 4-6 p.m.