Over the last two weeks, I competed in a 72-team tournament hosted by DraftSharks.com. Teams are operated by a mixture of analysts in the industry and people who’ve won high stakes leagues – a quality field. In this group, I was surprised by some of the quarterback rankings.

Derek Carr in particular. I consider him to be a top-15 quarterback. He’s proven and he looks very likely to start 17 games, with his tendency to avoid hits. Yet he wasn’t picked higher than 20th among quarterbacks in any of the six leagues.

This Draft Sharks Leaguefield had a lot more interest in the high-risk youngsters at the position – Trey Lance and Justin Fields were picked higher than Carr in every draft, and Tua Tagovailoa was picked higher than him in most drafts. That was weird to me.

The contest in general, by the way, has a cool format. It’s a PPR best-ball league (with no moves or starting lineups), but with a few wrinkles to create more debate about the value of the positions. Tight ends get an extra half point per reception, supercharging their value. You must start three wide receivers, creating extra demand there. Running backs are always coveted. And there are two flex positions, with the ability to plug a second quarterback into one of them. With this format, I think a player from every position was selected in the first round of every draft. In maybe all of the drafts, two players from each position went in the first round (I think that’s a good thing).

I wanted to pick two quarterbacks I felt would be solid starters for the entire season, so I grabbed Matthew Stafford and Kirk Cousins with my choices in the third and fourth rounds. But when Carr was still sitting there in the ninth round, the opportunity to pick up a third quarterback to contribute in those two spots was too good to pass up.

I also added Jimmy Garoppolo with a late pick.

These are big leagues, with 12 teams each selecting 25 players. With no kickers or defenses, that’s 300 players chosen. There were 37 quarterbacks who got picked in all six leagues, and the average order is below. In the picks section, I put my own choices in bold.

DRAFTS SHARKS INVITATIONAL (QUARTERBACKS)
RkPlayerDraft positions
1.Mahomes, Patrick KC1 1 2 1 2 1
2.Allen, Josh BUF2 2 1 2 3 2
3.Jackson, Lamar BAL4 3 4 3 1 3
4.Murray, Kyler ARI3 4 3 4 4 4
5.Prescott, Dak DAL5 5 5 6 5 5
6.Wilson, Russell SEA6 6 6 5 6 8
7.Herbert, Justin LAC8 7 7 7 8 7
8.Rodgers, Aaron GB7 12 9 8 7 6
9.Brady, Tom TB9 8 10 9 10 9
10.Stafford, Matthew LAR10 10 12 11 11 11
11.Tannehill, Ryan TEN13 13 11 10 9 10
12.Hurts, Jalen PHI11 9 8 15 14 12
13.Burrow, Joe CIN12 15 14 14 13 13
14.Lance, Trey SF18 14 13 16 12 14
15.Lawrence, Trevor JAC15 16 16 12 15 15
16.Ryan, Matt ATL16 11 19 13 16 17
17.Cousins, Kirk MIN14 17 17 17 18 16
18.Mayfield, Baker CLE19 18 18 18 20 19
19.Fields, Justin CHI20 20 15 22 19 18
20.Tagovailoa, Tua MIA17 22 20 23 21 20
21.Roethlisberger, Ben PIT22 24 22 19 22 22
22.Fitzpatrick, Ryan WAS21 23 21 21 24 26
23.Carr, Derek LVR23 21 26 20 28 21
24.Jones, Daniel NYG27 26 23 25 26 23
25.Darnold, Sam CAR26 27 24 27 25 24
26.Hill, Taysom NO25 19 29 28 27 28
27.Wilson, Zach NYJ24 28 25 29 23 27
28.Goff, Jared DET32 29 27 26 30 25
29.Newton, Cam NE31 32 30 24 29 29
30.Wentz, Carson IND30 25 28 30 31 31
31.Watson, Deshaun HOU28 33 32 31 17 38
32.Winston, Jameis NO29 31 31 33 32 30
33.Jones, Mac NE35 30 35 32 35 33
34.Bridgewater, Teddy DEN33 35 33 35 33 32
35.Lock, Drew DEN34 34 34 36 34 35
36.Taylor, Tyrod HOU38 38 36 34 36 37
37.Garoppolo, Jimmy SF37 37 37 37 37 36

—Ian Allan