The Quarterback Tandem Strategy

Photo: USA Today Sports

If I had to pinpoint a single strategy for one-quarterback redraft leagues I have found the most success with over the last 15 years, it would be waiting on the quarterback position. Often when you hear the phrase, "wait on quarterback", you might assume it means not taking an elite-tier quarterback or any other before the double-digit rounds. My definition is much looser. While I rarely find the likes of Patrick Mahomes II, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts on my squads, I'd be happy to take one if I felt I was getting them at a fair value. Waiting on quarterback means waiting on the value to be right for the higher-tiered quarterbacks or at a price I feel like I am absolutely stealing the player. So, if you find Mahomes, Allen, or Hurts around the turn of the second and third rounds of your drafts this summer, go ahead and make the move.

With that being said, I do love being the last one in a draft room to take a quarterback. It allows me to load up at the other skill positions early. The reason I've found comfort in waiting is due to the value you can find in mid- to late-round drafted quarterbacks. Over the past six seasons, twenty-nine top ten quarterbacks have been selected as the QB10 or later. This works out to roughly half of the top ten quarterbacks each year going late or not even being drafted, depending on league size. Last year we saw a total of six quarterbacks, from the QB5 all the way to the QB10, drafted at a positional average of QB22.