Using SOS - Backing Up Your Stud Quarterback

  Updated 8/26 by Clayton Gray, Exclusive to Footballguys.com

If you spend a high pick on a quarterback, you most likely will want to start him every week. Of course, there is still the bye week that you'll need to cover, but you probably don't want to spend more than a single extra pick to back him up. In your search for a backup QB, three things are important: his cheapness on draft day, his ability to score, and his opponent on your stud QB's bye week. In this article, we'll use that criteria and search for the top backups for each of the high-priced QBs.

First, let's identify the so-called Stud QBs. For the purposes of this article, we'll consider any QB taken in the first six rounds to be a stud. While this isn't completely accurate, it's safe to assume that someone picking a QB that high will expect to start him every week. Here is the list of expensive QBs.

Now, let's exclude some of the quarterbacks that would be too expensive for a backup. The theory here is that if you spend a fourth round pick on Roethlisberger, you can't afford to blow an eighth round pick on someone that will only start one game. For that reason, we'll exclude any quarterback that has an ADP among the first twelve rounds. That leaves us this list for our backup:

Now, let's look at each bye week and determine which of our possible backup QBs have the best combination of scoring ability and ease of opponent. For each bye week, you'll see a list of possible backups with their expected fantasy points scored for the week.

Week 4 - Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Matt Hasselbeck

Week 5 - Derek Anderson

Week 6 - Ben Roethlisberger

Week 7 - Donovan McNabb

Week 8 - Carson Palmer

Week 9 - Drew Brees

Week 10 - Tony Romo