Footballguys.com has been publishing its Quarterback-By-Committee (QBBC) article for almost a decade now. For those fantasy players who like to wait on drafting their quarterback while stocking their team at the other positions, this is the article for you.

In most drafts, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Drew Brees will go off the board very quickly, with Matt Stafford and Cam Newton not far behind. Michael Vick, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning and Tony Romo seem to form the next tier, with Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger and Robert Griffin III rounding out the top 12.

So what should you do? At a minimum, you want to wait until at least 8 teams have selected their fantasy quarterbacks. That probably means holding off until round 6 or 7 before taking your first QB, although the exact draft results will depend on your league's structure.

By going the QBBC route, you can save your early draft picks and still get solid fantasy production by grabbing two quarterbacks who face bad defenses nearly every week of the year. That's what the QBBC system is all about.

The first key, of course, is to rank the defenses. I always start by adjusting last season's data on defenses for strength of schedule. I started with the adjusted FP rankings for each defense listed in the Rearview QB article. Then, with the help of Footballguys.com staffer Aaron Rudnicki, I made some adjustments to the defenses based on what's happened since the end of last season. The table below lists my rating for defenses for fantasy quarterbacks, listed from the toughest (the Jets) to the easiest (New England).

They key to the QBBC philosophy is to identify which defenses should rank in the bottom quarter of the league when it comes to stopping quarterbacks. Oakland, New England and Minnesota were juicy matchups for fantasy quarterbacks last year, and project as similarly enticing in 2012. Quarterbacks facing the Patriots and Raiders should be expected nearly 5 more fantasy points than they would against an average defense. Teams like Detroit, Green Bay, San Diego, Carolina, New Orleans, and Denver struggled last year against opposing fantasy quarterbacks, but there's another reason to like facing them this year: all of them have star quarterbacks. That could lead to a lot of shootouts in 2012.

Once we rank the defenses, it's easy to then figure out which QB pairings work based on schedule. When the QB is home, his opponents gets a +0.3 adjustment; when the QB is on the road, the adjustment is 0.3 in the other direction.

Finding the right QBBC pairing requires you to channel your inner Goldilocks. The top 5 quarterbacks are clearly too good to be QBBC candidates, and you can probably say that's true about the top 8 or 9 signal callers. And, absent breakout years, the bottom 12 quarterbacks are too bad to be QBBC candidates. Fortunately, there's a pretty easy strategy to follow this year.

Grab Matt Ryan and wait and see

Matt Ryan generally gets drafted after the top seven quarterbacks, but I've seen him selected in the 8 to 12 range at the position. But there are many reasons to love Ryan this year, including the fact that he has the easiest fantasy schedule of any quarterbacks. As the Falcons transition to a passing offense, and Julio Jones develops into one of the better receivers in the league, Ryan is poised to post big numbers. Ryan finished 8th last season and set career highs in passing yards and passing touchdowns.

The beauty of QBBC, of course, is that you don't need Ryan to break into Tom Brady or Drew Brees territory, although it would be nice if he did. You'll only play him when he has a favorable matchup, and can start another solid quarterback in the other weeks. Ryan's schedule pairs up well with the schedules of Josh Freeman, Jay Cutler, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck. Which quarterback you choose to pair with Ryan is up to you, and to some extent, your leaguemates. If Roethlisberger falls, he's probably the best bet. Most of the time, I think Freeman will be the best trade-off between value and upside, since he'll generally go a couple of rounds after Cutler and Griffin. Maybe you really like Andrew Luck; in that case, you can wait even longer to grab your second quarterback. Listed below is the combined schedule should you choose to go the Ryan/Freeman route:

Week 1: Tampa Bay vs. Carolina Panthers

Week 2: Atlanta vs. Denver Broncos

Week 3: Atlanta @ San Diego Chargers

Week 4: Atlanta vs. Carolina Panthers

Week 5: Atlanta @ Washington Redskins

Week 6: Atlanta vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 7: Tampa Bay vs. New Orleans Saints

Week 8: Tampa Bay @ Minnesota Vikings

Week 9: Tampa Bay @ Oakland Raiders

Week 10: Tampa Bay vs. San Diego Chargers

Week 11: Tampa Bay @ Carolina Panthers

Week 12: Atlanta @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 13: Atlanta vs. New Orleans Saints

Week 14: Atlanta @ Carolina Panthers

Week 15: Atlanta vs. New York Giants

Week 16: Atlanta @ Detroit Lions

In this schedule, you start Ryan for 10 of the 16 weeks. You end up with four games against the Carolina Panthers -- and Cam Newton -- which should feature some shootouts. You also get two games each against the Saints, Raiders, and Chargers, teams that all struggled to stop quarterbacks last season and are also likely to lead to high-scoring games. Games against Denver, Detroit and Minnesota are juicy, while you also will get Ryan against the Bucs (or if you so choose, Freeman against the Falcons). If your league plays a week 17 championship, you will get the second matchup between the Buccaneers and Falcons.

Non-Matt Ryan Pairs

What if you can't get Matt Ryan? Obviously, you can't guarantee that you'll be able to take him in each of your drafts. The table below shows how many FP/G easier than average the combined schedules are. So Denver and Jacksonville have a schedule that should yield 39 fantasy points more than if they had a perfectly neutral schedule. Of course, no one would actually take Peyton Manning and Blaine Gabbert and implement a quarterback-by-committee; the chart simply shows the value achieved by starting the quarterback with the easier matchup each week.

Overall Schedule Strength

Even if you don't believe in committees, or have no preset draft plan, it pays to know how tough of a schedule each team has. Matt Ryan has the easiest schedule in the league, and the whole NFC South has favorable matchups. Peyton Manning in Denver is set up for success if he can regain his old form. On the other hand, Tom Brady has the hardest schedule in the league – by far. In addition to four games against the Jets, Ravens and Texans, he has four games against the NFC West, which has quietly become one of the best defensive divisions. Brady then faces the Bills twice and the Titans and Jaguars. Outside of games against the Colts and Broncos, none of Brady's matchups look particularly "easy." Of course, he's Tom Brady, but this may be a reason to temper your enthusiasm on him.

Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to stuart@footballguys.com.