Quarterback Moves to Make This Month

Photo: Gary A. Vasquez, USA Today Sports

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One of the best parts about dynasty fantasy football leagues is the year-long commitment to the team. The ongoing nature of dynasty teams creates a lot of advantages for dynasty GMs who use good strategy and roster construction. Free agency, trades, the NFL Draft, and the different news cycles lead to different strategies for different positions. This series will focus on different moves to make this month.

Quarterback moves to make this month: Address quarterback depth charts with uncertainty

When you have questions about your quarterback position in a Superflex dynasty team, finding a solution is critical. This can be true for young and veteran quarterbacks.

One of the most common issues for dynasty teams in 2022 was dealing with disappointing seasons from Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford in dynasty leagues. Both were top-two-round startup picks in Superflex startup drafts in 2022, but if you invested before the 2022 season and depended on them as a QB1 or QB2 in your lineup, you were let down. Wilson finished as QB21 in points per game (PPG) in his first season in Denver, while Stafford finished as QB32 in PPG in an injury-shortened season.

Dynasty GMs now find themselves at a crossroads. On one hand, Wilson and Stafford entered the 2022 season with top-24 ADPs in Superflex startup drafts. On the other hand, both players are in their mid-30s coming off down seasons.

There is some split in the market values of players at present. Wilson and Stafford are currently QB16 and QB21 in Underdog ADP. Our consensus dynasty rankings have Wilson at QB17 and Stafford at QB22. Stafford’s rank is also high among other dynasty valuations like KeepTradeCut, which has Stafford around QB30.

This is a big drop from a year ago, and with both being 35 years old, there is a natural concern about whether they are on the decline or in line for a bounce back.

There is a chance that both players are like Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan, who were high-level players that began to decline in their early 30s and fell off a production cliff at age 35. The other arc is the Aaron Rodgers-like trajectory. By his standard, Rodgers had a disappointing season at 36 before rebounding for back-to-back MVP seasons at 37 and 38 years old. This is not a unique trajectory, as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning experienced a similar dip in their mid-30s before rebounding to elite levels.

Stafford and Wilson are closer to Roethlisberger and Ryan in career trajectory than the Rodgers, Brady, and Manning arcs, but there is precedent for both to rebound.

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Concept in Action

Teams with Wilson and Stafford need a plan.

One option is to trade them before they fall off a cliff. This is difficult as both are at a low point in their career and are difficult to trade for elite quarterbacks.

Recent Trades Involving Wilson or Stafford