Fantasy Friday
April 6th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Quarterbacks
Let’s talk Quarterbacks, shall we? Just look at all the commotion around Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, and you see the importance of the position. When Griffin ran that 4.41 40 at the combine, grown men – large grown men were positively giddy. GMs and coaches are jostling now, just look at ’em. Pushing, sliding, trying to wedge themselves to the doors. Like a horde of brides to be at the doors of a once a year Vera Wang factory sale.
Think about this: Carolina Panthers or Jacksonville Jaguars? Carolina, right? Both teams drafted QBs in the first round. Cam Newton was just all man, all season. Blaine Gabbert struggled mightily. There’s a buzz in Carolina. Fans are excited. Ron Rivera is smiling. Jacksonville? They whacked Jack Del Rio, and put up a “For Sale” sign. What were their records? Jacksonville 5-11. Carolina 6-10. One game. That’s it. And yet, just because of QB play, the forecast is sunny in Carolina and rainy in Jacksonville.
What does this mean for fantasy? For one, you’d better get yourself a productive player at QB. In drafting your fantasy QB, couple trends to keep in mind. One, they as a whole score more points than any other position. Go check. How many QBs were among the top 10 scorers last season? The answer is 8. Here’s another fact: Matt Ryan had more fantasy points than Arian Foster, Calvin Johnson, Rob Gronkowski. Surprising, right? The second thing you need to know is that traditionally there isn’t as much separation between the top QB and the 2nd tier QB. Meaning the variation in scoring between the top guys and the 2nd tier guys is not as great as the variation amongst RBs and WRs. Last year however was an exception. Was last season an anomaly or the beginnings of trending in a different direction? We’ll see.
You can take all this and go one of two ways: The overall points say, “Take a stud early.” The variation or the traditional lack thereof says, “Maybe a spot to take a risk.” Whichever way you go, remember, winning or not, it’s sunnier with Cam.
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