Salary Cap Leagues, Your Preferred QB Strategy

Photo: Gary A. Vasquez, USA Today Sports

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.