Salary Cap Leagues, Your Preferred QB Strategy

Footballguys Staff's Salary Cap Leagues, Your Preferred QB Strategy Footballguys Staff Published 07/31/2023

Our staff has looked at the quarterback position in salary cap leagues in a few ways.

Should You Pay Up for an Elite QB?
Should You Target a Value QB?
Should You Go Cheap at QB?
Allocating QB Roster Spots
Overpriced Quarterbacks
Underpriced Quarterbacks

After those discussions, we asked them for their bottom line with these two questions:

What is your personal preference for how you'll attack the quarterback position this year? What percentage of your salary cap will you devote to it?

Jeff Bell: Plan A: Walk out with a top three option, with the goal of devoting less than 10% of the cap to that. Plan B: If a discount arises on Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, or Justin Fields, grab it. Plan C: Double up on two of Trevor Lawrence, Deshaun Watson, and Anthony Richardson. Plan D: Spend $3 total on three of Kirk Cousins, Geno Smith, Dak Prescott, Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and Kyler Murray.

Dan Hindery: The key to auction success is flexibility. Start with a Plan A but also have some Plan B and C options in mind. My Plan A would be to spend approximately 10% of my cap on Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, or Justin Fields. Plan B would be to pay slightly more than that if the bidding for Patrick Mahomes II or Jalen Hurts is less aggressive than expected. Plan C is paying something in the neighborhood of 5-6% of my budget on Trevor Lawrence, who I think has the best chance of the cheaper guys to make the leap to the elite tier.

Ben Cummins: If forced to choose, I’ll say saving salary by rolling with a Geno Smith or Jared Goff kind of quarterback in order to allocate more funds to stud wide receivers and running backs.

Already a subscriber?

Continue reading this content with a ELITE subscription.

An ELITE subscription is required to access content for Salary Cap leagues. If this league is not a Salary Cap league, you can edit your leagues here.

Photos provided by Imagn Images
Share This Article

More by Footballguys Staff

 

Everything Season Long and DFS for Week 16

Your landing page for all of our weekly fantasy football content.

12/18/25 Read More
 

Buy Low, Sell High: Week 16 - Dynasty Stash WRs

Sigmund Bloom

Wide receivers to add to your bench if your dynasty team is out of the playoff picture in leagues of all depths.

12/18/25 Read More
 

Passing Matchups: Week 16

Devin Knotts

A top-to-bottom ranking of this week's NFL passing matchups, while providing details on both sides of the ball for the best and the worst pairings.

12/18/25 Read More
 

Rushing Matchups: Week 16

Devin Knotts

A top-to-bottom ranking of this week's NFL rushing matchups, while providing details on both sides of the ball for the best and the worst pairings.

12/18/25 Read More
 

Week 16 Offensive Sleepers

Sigmund Bloom

Providing you with the best under-the-radar picks at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end for when you have to dig deeper to set your lineup.

12/18/25 Read More
 

Week 16 Quarterback Tiers

Sigmund Bloom

Breaking down this week's quarterback tiers to help guide your starting lineup decisions.

12/18/25 Read More