Where does one select a quarterback (or two) in a “Superflex” league? Based on a recent Experts League tournament put together by DraftSharks.com, maybe not as high as you would expect.
In a Superflex league, you can start two quarterbacks every week. In this particular league, you’re required to start each week a QB, 2 RB, 3 WR and a TE, and there are also two flex players. One of the flex players can be a second quarterback. The other must be a RB, WR or TE.
No kickers or defenses, and it’s a best-ball format. You draft 25 guys, and they’re your guys for the entire season. No waiver moves or trades – you get your best lineup each week. The other wrinkle here is that tight ends get an extra half point per reception.
This is the brainchild of Lenny Pappano, who’s been in the industry for years. He and Emil Kadlec created the first high-stakes experts leagues way back when (the World Championship of Fantasy Football, with a host of drafts in Las Vegas).
On this new venture, Pappano put together five leagues with 12 teams each with most of the notable names in the industry. They’re going to be tracking the leagues all year, discussing them in their weekly podcast. (For more details, visit DraftSharks.com.)
I was curious if this format would cause a flood of quarterbacks to be chosen in the first two rounds. There are only about 28 reliable ones, and it would be a nice asset to be plugging in a pair almost every week. Would be a strength to have three good quarterbacks, but only a few teams get that luxury (and you don’t want to short-change yourself at the other positions).
But these five drafts went by, and the demand for quarterbacks was lighter than I expected. Patrick Mahomes was a top-4 pick in only one of the five drafts. He and Lamar Jackson were top-9 picks in every league, but only one other quarterback was picked in the first round in any draft (Dak Prescott, picked in two of the five).
I was in the most quarterback-heavy draft, with Mahomes going 2nd overall, Dak Prescott picked 6th, and Jackson also in there.
But overall, the quarterbacks weren’t as coveted as I thought they would be. Only six quarterbacks ended up being top-35 players, when the picks were averaged. So even in this kind of format (with twice as many starting quarterbacks) there was some value in the strategy of hanging back and selecting a couple of quarterbacks after the first five rounds.
I was picking 12th in the fourth league, so I had the luxury of seeing how three previous drafts played out. In none of those did Matthew Stafford or Cam Newton go in the top 60 (and some other decent arms, too) so my plan was to select quarterbacks at picks 5.12 and 6.01, and then add a third quarterback at 7.12 – I figured Jimmy Garoppolo or Ryan Tannehill would be there.
The 12th pick isn’t my favorite (leaving a 22-pick gap between selections) but it’s what I drew in the lottery. Going in, my expectation was to select George Kittle and Davante Adams with my opening picks, then follow with running backs David Johnson and Chris Carson at 3.12 and 4.01. In looking at the previous drafts and my projections, however, I noticed that I would make my team slightly stronger by selecting Matt Ryan at 4.01 and then David Montgomery or Devin Singletary at 5.12. The previous drafts indicated one of those backs would be there. The combination of Ryan-Montgomery had slightly more pop than Newton-Carson, while also looking more durable.
Then the draft got underway, however, and plans needed to be altered. Adams hadn’t been a top-15 pick in any of the previous leagues, but he was gone. I hadn’t really considered that possibility. And Travis Kelce lasted until the 11th pick (had Kelce not gone 11th, I would have had to decide whether to go with both Kelce and Kittle in a rare TE-TE opener).
Ultimately Kelce went 11th, leaving me to pick between Derrick Henry and a running back I didn’t believe would be there – Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Henry perhaps safer, CEH with perhaps more upside, and it’s a decision that needs to be made in about 30 seconds. I went with CEH.
At picks 3.12 and 4.01, I went with David Johnson and Matt Ryan, as expected.
At picks 5.12 and 6.01, I had to select a wide receiver. The Davante Adams plan blew up, after all, and it’s an important position – a PPR league where you’re starting at least 3 WR every week. And there were a few receivers available here who had gone earlier in other drafts. And Stafford was gone. So I changed course, figuring I’d go with two wide receivers, then pick up Garoppolo and Tannehill or Cousins as my second and third quarterbacks the next time around. I went with Tyler Lockett and Terry McLaurin, going against my own board and not selecting Amari Cooper (that was a tough call; I hope it doesn’t come back to bite me).
Picks 7.12 and 8.01, I grabbed Garoppolo. Cousins was there, but so was a surprise player, with David Montgomery lasting longer than he did in any of the other drafts. I figured this was a nice opportunity to nail down the running back position, particularly with CEH and David Johnson having some risk.
I missed out on the third quarterback option, with guys like Sam Darnold and Derek Carr grabbed by other teams. I’m a little lean there. My only other quarterback picks were Kyle Allen in the 21st round (he wasn’t even picked in any of the other drafts). And I took Nick Mullens in the 23rd round to cover the possibility of Garoppolo getting hurt. I went with Jeff Wilson in the 24th round rather than also selecting Matt Ryan’s backup – couldn’t bring myself to choose Matt Schaub (even though he went over 400 yards in his only start last year).
Biggest regret: I selected Dede Westbrook at pick 157, overlooking that I could have selected one of the very best backup running backs (Alexander Mattison, who went 12 picks later). That was just really dumb. A combination of a fast clock and trying to chart the direction of my team while simultaneously ticking the names off my big board. Huge mistake.
Reserve RBs: Duke Johnson, Benny Snell, Jalen Richard, Malcolm Brown.
WRs: Lockett, McLaurin, Jamison Crowder, N’Keal Harry, Larry Fitzgerald, Westbrook, Hunter Renfrow, Steven Sims, Justin Gage.
TEs: Kittle, Dallas Goedert, Kyle Rudolph, Delanie Walker.
Below I took the 300 players chosen in each of these five drafts and averaged the results. I’m listing the top 200, and I’ve got the quarterbacks in bold. In a double-quarterback or superflex format, that should give you a general idea of where quarterbacks should go.
If you want to follow along with these leagues, they’ll be discussing them all year on the DraftSharks.com podcast.
QUARTERBACKS IN DRAFTSHARKS.COM SUPERFLEX LEAGUE | ||
---|---|---|
Rk | Player | Picks (5 drafts) |
1 | RB Christian McCaffrey, CAR | 1 1 1 1 1 |
2 | RB Saquon Barkley, NYG | 2 2 2 3 3 |
3 | RB Ezekiel Elliott, DAL | 2 3 3 3 5 |
4 | QB Patrick Mahomes, KC | 2 5 5 5 8 |
5 | RB Alvin Kamara, NO | 4 4 4 7 7 |
6 | QB Lamar Jackson, BAL | 4 6 6 6 9 |
7 | RB Dalvin Cook, MIN | 4 5 8 8 10 |
8 | WR Michael Thomas, NO | 6 8 8 9 9 |
9 | TE Travis Kelce, KC | 7 7 9 11 11 |
10 | RB Miles Sanders, PHI | 7 11 11 14 16 |
11 | RB Derrick Henry, TEN | 10 10 12 14 16 |
12 | RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, KC | 10 11 13 13 17 |
13 | TE George Kittle, SFO | 10 12 12 17 18 |
14 | RB Joe Mixon, CIN | 13 14 15 17 17 |
15 | WR Davante Adams, GB | 9 15 15 17 21 |
16 | QB Dak Prescott, DAL | 6 12 20 22 22 |
17 | WR Tyreek Hill, KC | 13 15 20 20 23 |
18 | RB Austin Ekeler, LAC | 12 16 18 22 23 |
19 | RB Kenyan Drake, ARI | 15 18 18 19 22 |
20 | WR Julio Jones, ATL | 16 21 21 21 23 |
21 | QB Deshaun Watson, HOU | 13 19 24 24 27 |
22 | RB Josh Jacobs, LV | 18 19 19 27 27 |
23 | RB Nick Chubb, CLE | 14 20 24 26 28 |
24 | QB Kyler Murray, ARI | 14 20 25 25 28 |
25 | RB Aaron Jones, GB | 19 23 25 25 28 |
26 | TE Mark Andrews, BAL | 21 23 24 26 28 |
27 | WR DeAndre Hopkins, ARI | 22 25 27 29 30 |
28 | QB Russell Wilson, SEA | 16 28 29 32 34 |
29 | WR Chris Godwin, TB | 24 26 32 33 33 |
30 | TE Zach Ertz, PHI | 26 27 30 31 39 |
31 | RB James Conner, PIT | 29 30 30 33 34 |
32 | RB Todd Gurley, ATL | 29 30 33 34 36 |
33 | WR DJ Moore, CAR | 34 35 36 38 41 |
34 | RB Melvin Gordon, DEN | 32 35 36 40 44 |
35 | RB Jonathan Taylor, IND | 31 31 35 41 50 |
36 | QB Josh Allen, BUF | 26 37 37 43 46 |
37 | WR Kenny Golladay, DET | 29 32 34 47 49 |
38 | RB Leonard Fournette, JAC | 32 36 40 40 44 |
39 | WR Mike Evans, TB | 31 33 41 44 45 |
40 | WR Allen Robinson, CHI | 35 38 40 44 44 |
41 | RB David Johnson, HOU | 37 38 40 45 50 |
42 | WR Odell Beckham, CLE | 39 39 42 43 48 |
43 | WR Adam Thielen, MIN | 41 41 42 46 47 |
44 | WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, PIT | 37 39 43 45 54 |
45 | QB Matt Ryan, ATL | 36 42 46 48 55 |
46 | RB Chris Carson, SEA | 31 38 46 52 60 |
47 | WR Amari Cooper, DAL | 37 39 42 48 62 |
48 | RB Le'Veon Bell, NYJ | 35 42 51 51 51 |
49 | WR Calvin Ridley, ATL | 45 47 48 49 50 |
50 | QB Tom Brady, TB | 43 46 47 56 62 |
51 | WR A.J. Brown, TEN | 45 49 52 53 56 |
52 | QB Carson Wentz, PHI | 50 50 51 52 54 |
53 | WR Robert Woods, LAR | 51 52 54 55 59 |
54 | WR Cooper Kupp, LAR | 47 53 58 58 58 |
55 | WR Terry McLaurin, WAS | 49 52 55 57 61 |
56 | QB Drew Brees, NO | 48 55 57 59 62 |
57 | RB Raheem Mostert, SFO | 43 54 54 68 78 |
58 | WR DJ Chark, JAC | 53 56 58 66 67 |
59 | WR Tyler Lockett, SEA | 53 57 60 66 66 |
60 | QB Daniel Jones, NYG | 49 60 62 63 74 |
61 | QB Aaron Rodgers, GB | 53 57 64 64 72 |
62 | QB Matthew Stafford, DET | 57 58 63 65 76 |
63 | QB Cam Newton, NE | 62 63 63 67 67 |
64 | WR Courtland Sutton, DEN | 59 61 69 69 70 |
65 | WR DK Metcalf, SEA | 60 61 66 68 75 |
66 | RB Kareem Hunt, CLE | 38 61 68 71 96 |
67 | RB Cam Akers, LAR | 56 64 68 72 78 |
68 | TE Darren Waller, LV | 59 67 69 75 77 |
69 | QB Jared Goff, LAR | 55 71 71 74 86 |
70 | QB Ben Roethlisberger, PIT | 66 69 70 73 87 |
71 | RB Mark Ingram, BAL | 61 65 72 80 88 |
72 | TE Evan Engram, NYG | 67 70 71 73 90 |
73 | WR Stefon Diggs, BUF | 63 69 74 82 85 |
74 | RB David Montgomery, CHI | 56 73 78 81 85 |
75 | QB Baker Mayfield, CLE | 64 74 77 78 81 |
76 | RB D'Andre Swift, DET | 59 71 72 75 99 |
77 | WR Keenan Allen, LAC | 68 75 76 78 79 |
78 | WR DeVante Parker, MIA | 65 70 76 83 91 |
79 | RB Devin Singletary, BUF | 64 65 80 91 94 |
80 | WR Marquise Brown, BAL | 70 72 82 82 88 |
81 | QB Ryan Tannehill, TEN | 75 76 79 81 83 |
82 | QB Joe Burrow, CIN | 73 77 80 82 91 |
83 | TE Tyler Higbee, LAR | 60 82 84 86 95 |
84 | QB Jimmy Garoppolo, SFO | 79 80 83 84 95 |
85 | RB Ronald Jones, TB | 77 81 83 83 98 |
86 | TE Hayden Hurst, ATL | 65 87 88 88 102 |
87 | QB Teddy Bridgewater, CAR | 74 81 93 93 98 |
88 | WR Michael Gallup, DAL | 80 84 88 92 99 |
89 | WR T.Y. Hilton, IND | 79 85 92 96 99 |
90 | QB Gardner Minshew, JAC | 76 87 90 99 106 |
91 | TE Hunter Henry, LAC | 77 86 89 102 105 |
92 | QB Kirk Cousins, MIN | 84 87 90 94 107 |
93 | WR A.J. Green, CIN | 89 89 89 94 101 |
94 | WR Tyler Boyd, CIN | 79 92 93 100 106 |
95 | WR Will Fuller, HOU | 85 95 96 97 100 |
96 | RB J.K. Dobbins, BAL | 91 91 97 97 98 |
97 | QB Drew Lock, DEN | 85 86 86 100 120 |
98 | WR Jarvis Landry, CLE | 73 95 107 112 117 |
99 | TE Mike Gesicki, MIA | 87 100 109 110 111 |
100 | WR Brandin Cooks, HOU | 96 101 105 107 112 |
101 | WR Diontae Johnson, PIT | 94 98 103 104 125 |
102 | TE Rob Gronkowski, TB | 97 102 102 109 115 |
103 | TE Noah Fant, DEN | 94 96 104 112 120 |
104 | QB Philip Rivers, IND | 84 89 103 128 129 |
105 | QB Sam Darnold, NYJ | 93 106 108 110 120 |
106 | QB Derek Carr, LV | 90 105 110 114 123 |
107 | WR Marvin Jones, DET | 98 99 107 118 121 |
108 | TE T.J. Hockenson, DET | 100 106 110 113 116 |
109 | RB James White, NE | 101 108 111 111 115 |
110 | WR Christian Kirk, ARI | 93 111 117 123 125 |
111 | TE Dallas Goedert, PHI | 107 109 112 119 124 |
112 | WR Julian Edelman, NE | 104 110 114 115 130 |
113 | TE Jared Cook, NO | 108 109 113 125 126 |
114 | TE Austin Hooper, CLE | 105 118 118 119 128 |
115 | TE Jonnu Smith, TEN | 103 118 119 120 134 |
116 | TE Blake Jarwin, DAL | 116 116 117 123 125 |
117 | RB Tarik Cohen, CHI | 103 119 120 128 130 |
118 | WR Mecole Hardman, KC | 109 117 121 129 137 |
119 | WR Jamison Crowder, NYJ | 108 122 122 123 146 |
120 | RB Jordan Howard, MIA | 103 114 129 136 140 |
121 | RB Tevin Coleman, SFO | 121 122 124 132 133 |
122 | WR CeeDee Lamb, DAL | 108 121 122 138 149 |
123 | QB Dwayne Haskins, WAS | 102 115 116 152 153 |
124 | RB Kerryon Johnson, DET | 105 126 132 136 139 |
125 | QB Tyrod Taylor, LAC | 104 106 117 148 164 |
126 | RB Matt Breida, MIA | 124 124 127 131 139 |
127 | WR Jalen Reagor, PHI | 114 122 127 144 148 |
128 | TE Chris Herndon, NYJ | 121 128 130 138 141 |
129 | RB Zack Moss, BUF | 90 141 141 142 154 |
130 | RB Derrius Guice, FA | 92 92 101 116 270 |
131 | WR Darius Slayton, NYG | 126 129 137 140 144 |
132 | QB Tua Tagovailoa, MIA | 97 101 114 179 191 |
133 | TE Jack Doyle, IND | 126 130 137 144 148 |
134 | RB Phillip Lindsay, DEN | 129 134 140 140 142 |
135 | WR Deebo Samuel, SFO | 113 126 131 158 158 |
136 | QB Nick Foles, CHI | 118 124 143 151 159 |
137 | TE Irv Smith, MIN | 132 132 134 149 154 |
138 | WR Mike Williams, LAC | 125 128 147 147 155 |
139 | RB Latavius Murray, NO | 111 143 145 151 153 |
140 | RB Duke Johnson, HOU | 132 136 142 144 152 |
141 | WR John Brown, BUF | 119 139 142 147 159 |
142 | WR Emmanuel Sanders, NO | 115 144 145 145 160 |
143 | TE Ian Thomas, CAR | 130 138 141 149 152 |
144 | WR Golden Tate, NYG | 104 127 151 156 177 |
145 | WR Henry Ruggs, LV | 131 138 139 150 158 |
146 | RB Alexander Mattison, MIN | 113 133 137 168 170 |
147 | TE Eric Ebron, PIT | 127 145 145 148 159 |
148 | TE Jace Sternberger, GB | 133 134 147 158 164 |
149 | RB Sony Michel, NE | 134 146 150 152 164 |
150 | RB Tony Pollard, DAL | 133 135 153 156 171 |
151 | RB Boston Scott, PHI | 135 149 155 156 162 |
152 | WR Jerry Jeudy, DEN | 112 151 157 166 173 |
153 | RB Marlon Mack, IND | 131 135 159 168 168 |
154 | WR Sterling Shepard, NYG | 131 147 150 162 172 |
155 | WR Curtis Samuel, CAR | 127 153 160 160 162 |
156 | RB Darrell Henderson, LAR | 142 143 143 150 187 |
157 | WR N'Keal Harry, NE | 133 138 157 163 176 |
158 | RB Antonio Gibson, WAS | 95 159 166 171 182 |
159 | WR Preston Williams, MIA | 146 150 155 155 175 |
160 | RB Chase Edmonds, ARI | 141 157 165 167 169 |
161 | WR DeSean Jackson, PHI | 146 163 163 164 165 |
162 | RB KeShawn Vaughn, TB | 139 163 164 165 173 |
163 | WR Sammy Watkins, KC | 123 166 169 170 176 |
164 | WR Brandon Aiyuk, SFO | 146 151 165 169 178 |
165 | TE Gerald Everett, LAR | 143 161 167 170 174 |
166 | RB AJ Dillon, GB | 148 160 168 169 172 |
167 | WR Anthony Miller, CHI | 154 162 167 167 173 |
168 | RB Justin Jackson, LAC | 113 157 162 196 198 |
169 | WR Parris Campbell, IND | 135 154 174 182 190 |
170 | TE Greg Olsen, SEA | 136 152 163 190 196 |
171 | WR Justin Jefferson, MIN | 155 171 173 173 179 |
172 | QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, MIA | 135 149 186 189 193 |
173 | WR Breshad Perriman, NYJ | 158 167 174 174 180 |
174 | QB Justin Herbert, LAC | 137 140 161 190 225 |
175 | WR Allen Lazard, GB | 136 177 179 180 185 |
176 | RB Damien Harris, NE | 160 166 168 176 192 |
177 | QB Mitchell Trubisky, CHI | 156 161 183 183 195 |
178 | WR Michael Pittman, IND | 161 172 177 181 191 |
179 | RB Nyheim Hines, IND | 166 176 179 182 186 |
180 | TE O.J. Howard, TB | 153 169 184 192 208 |
181 | RB Darrynton Evans, TEN | 170 172 172 191 202 |
182 | WR Robby Anderson, CAR | 171 181 182 186 188 |
183 | RB Joshua Kelley, LAC | 174 175 177 188 197 |
184 | WR Steven Sims, WAS | 178 180 180 184 193 |
185 | RB DeAndre Washington, KC | 175 178 180 189 194 |
186 | TE Dawson Knox, BUF | 170 182 188 192 196 |
187 | RB Anthony McFarland, PIT | 171 178 186 192 203 |
188 | RB Ryquell Armstead, JAC | 161 165 190 200 215 |
189 | WR Laviska Shenault, JAC | 183 187 191 193 201 |
190 | WR Antonio Brown, FA | 178 185 189 199 204 |
191 | WR James Washington, PIT | 175 187 188 205 213 |
192 | TE C.J. Uzomah, CIN | 177 181 197 207 212 |
193 | RB Jerick McKinnon, SFO | 183 197 198 198 202 |
194 | WR Corey Davis, TEN | 187 195 195 201 202 |
195 | WR Larry Fitzgerald, ARI | 156 195 205 208 219 |
196 | WR Dede Westbrook, JAC | 157 201 201 204 225 |
197 | WR Denzel Mims, NYJ | 184 184 203 206 218 |
198 | WR Randall Cobb, HOU | 190 193 199 206 208 |
199 | TE Will Dissly, SEA | 184 186 210 214 215 |
200 | RB Lynn Bowden, LV | 183 196 210 213 213 |
—Ian Allan