Quarterback By Committee - Start 2 QBs

  Posted 8/22 by Chase Stuart, Exclusive to Footballguys.com

In this article, I explained the benefits of using a Quarterback-By-Committee system this season in standard fantasy drafts. However, a growing number of leagues now start 2 QBs, or allow you to use a QB at one of your flex positions. Can QBBC accommodate this?

There are two ways to go about handling this. The simplest way is to treat them as two entirely separate positions. You could draft Peyton Manning as your QB1, and then still take Alex Smith, Jeff Garcia and Jason Campbell to fill the committee role for the separate QB2 position. This is sound, reasonable and would produce strong results. The problem, of course, is not everyone will be able to draft Manning. In a start-two-QB league, Manning is almost certainly going to be a first round pick, and maybe a high one. And while drafting Carson Palmer and Smith/Garcia/Campbell is just as sound in theory, your predraft plan doesn't always come to fruition.

Most leagues that start two QBs every week are 10-team leagues, and in 12 team leagues the situation is even worse. The demand for QBs skyrockets, and it will be difficult to guarantee rostering those three players. So while I certainly don't think this approach is a bad one, let's focus on the other option.

Instead of picking three QBs to find a trio with the highest maximum score from any one QB every week, we want to find the best trio (or quartet) when looking at the two best matchups each week. So a committee where QB-A plays Detroit, QB-B plays Jacksonville and QB-C plays New England goes from being the best for that week to just average. And that's the important difference we want to highlight.

I'd advocate grabbing four QBs if possible. That won't always be an option, especially in 12 team leagues, but we'll look at that in the second half of this article.

For a start-two-QB league, the trio with the easiest combined schedule is Jake Delhomme, Alex Smith and Jeff Garcia. Now remember, I'm not saying that that group will outscore a trio of Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, and Tom Brady. I'm only saying that that trio's collective schedule is the easiest. That schedule gives you an additional 41.8 FPs (from the two positions) over an average schedule. Outside of single games against Baltimore, Indianapolis and Minnesota, the other 29 opponents have below average defenses. For what it's worth, substituting in Campbell for Delhomme drops the schedule advantage to 32.5 points, so you can see that a start-2QB league can make a notable difference.

Top QBBC Trios in a Start-2-QB League

Here are the top 20 committees based strictly on the easiest two schedules for each trio of QBs in the league, with how many FPs you should gain by using that committee in the far right column. As always, week 17 numbers are not included.

Some of these committees aren't very helpful. I don't care what the schedule is, if you have Marc Bulger, Alex Smith and Jeff Garcia, you know you're going to start Bulger every week. Similarly, Vince Young, Donovan McNabb and Alex Smith don't form much of a "committee."

But some of these look pretty good. The top scoring trio, Delhomme/Smith/Garcia, is solid. None of those QBs would require you to spend an early draft pick on a quarterback, and you could definitely stock up on the RBs and WRs in such a league. Delhomme/Grossman/Smith and Grossman/Smith/Garcia are also attractive committees.

Mapping it out

While Jeff Garcia may be the key to all those committees above, you're not going to draft him early. Alex Smith is probably the guy that will go first, among the members of the top committee. After drafting Smith…what happens if Jake Delhomme and the other QBs better than him are gone? Here are some options.

• Alex Smith, Jake Delhomme and Jeff Garcia (ideal combo: 41.8 FPs)
• Alex Smith, Rex Grossman and Jeff Garcia (38.0 FPs)
• Alex Smith, Jeff Garcia and Joey Harrington (37.0)
• Alex Smith, Byron Leftwich and Jeff Garcia (35.7)
• Alex Smith, Rex Grossman and Joey Harrington (35.6)

What if you grab Delhomme and Smith, but Garcia isn't there? Joey Harrington (39.5), Rex Grossman (39.5), Byron Leftwich (36.4), Jason Campbell (36.2) and Matt Schaub (34.7) are reasonable replacements.

What if Alex Smith is gone by your pick? Assuming most of the other QBs ranked ahead of Smith are gone as well, you might want to go with Jake Delhomme, Tarvaris Jackson and Jeff Garcia. After selecting Delhomme first, what are your contingency plans?

• Jake Delhomme, Tarvaris Jackson and Jeff Garcia (38.6 FPs)
• Jake Delhomme, Joey Harrington and Jeff Garcia (38.5)
• Jake Delhomme, Rex Grossman and Jeff Garcia (37.9)
• Jake Delhomme, J.P. Losman and Jeff Garcia (37.3)
• Jake Delhomme, Joey Harrington and Tarvaris Jackson (37.1)

That last one shows the top combo if Jeff Garcia (and those better than him) are gone after you grab Delhomme. While Garcia should be your 2nd QB after Delhomme, what happens if he's gone? Delhomme with Grossman and Tarvaris Jackson (35.4), Leftwich and Harrington (35.2), Leftwich and Grossman (35.0) and Grossman and Harrington (34.9) are all good substitutes.

While the Delhomme/Smith/Garcia trio is nice, I think you might even be better off grabbing four QBs. Getting quantity over quality can help for committees, especially if you're starting two QBs.

Top QBBC Quartets in a Start-2-QB League

Mapping it out

Once again, Garcia is the key to most of those committees, along with Alex Smith. All those combos above remove the top 11 QBs, so it's possible that you could land any of those twenty in your fantasy draft.

Let's say you grab Alex Smith first, and Delhomme is gone by your next pick. What should you do? If you can't grab one of the committees in the table above, grab Jeff Garcia late (to go with Alex Smith), and any of these pairs after Smith:

• Rex Grossman and Jason Campbell (47.7)
• Joey Harrington and Byron Leftwich (47.6)
• Joey Harrington and Trent Green (47.5)
• J. P. Losman and Rex Grossman (47.1)
• Rex Grossman and Tarvaris Jackson (47.1)

What if you want to select Delhomme first, but Alex Smith is gone? Once again, grab Jeff Garcia, and any of these pairs:

• Rex Grossman and Jason Campbell (47.9)
• Joey Harrington and Eli Manning (47.7)
• Rex Grossman and Steve McNair (47.4)
• Joey Harrington and Rex Grossman (47.3)
• Rex Grossman and Byron Leftwich (46.8)

I know what you're thinking…you never thought your draft could ever depend on Jeff Garcia. Well, let's make sure that won't happen. Here are the top non-Jeff Garcia committees:

Additionally, here's a list of all possible committees if you can't grab either Jeff Garcia or Alex Smith:

Finally, here are the top committees possible without Garcia, Smith or Jake Delhomme:

I'd recommended keeping this article open (or printing it out) and using it during your draft as the QBs go off the board. It should only take a few seconds for you to figure out which chart to use (based on what QBs have been selected) and then to scroll down and find the best combo.

Best of luck in all your fantasy leagues this year. Be sure to shoot all your questions to stuart@footballguys.com.