[brid autoplay=”true” video=”848445″ player=”10951″ title=”RZBL%20FB%202021%20FFF%20QBs” duration=”160″ description=”undefined” uploaddate=”2021-08-20″ thumbnailurl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/thumb/848445_t_1629421419.png” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/848445.mp4″]
It’s the holiday weekend and football season is right around the corner. Leagues everywhere are scrambling to set up their fantasy drafts before kickoff this week. Today’s article is going to help you prepare for your draft and help you plan when and how to draft your quarterbacks. The most common leagues are 10 or 12 team redraft leagues where you start 1 QB each week, so in those leagues, you want to have 2 starting quarterbacks when you walk out of the draft room. There are 32 teams in the NFL so you can do this with no problem, but you also don’t want to come out of your draft with Tyrod Taylor as your backup QB. What I’m going to break down for you here in this article is specifically where to target drafting your quarterbacks this year.
The quarterback position is a very important one when drafting your fantasy football team. What I will do here is break the quarterbacks into “pockets” and tell you what rounds to target each pocket in your draft. By formulating a plan in pockets, you don’t go on tilt if someone snipes the one player you were targeting from you. This season, I want to make sure that I have one of my top 7 or 8 QBs. The top few quarterbacks last season averaged around 25 points per game where the 12th highest QB with more than 5 starts averaged only around 18.5 points per game. Those 7 points can easily be the difference between winning and losing a week. Let’s look at the QB Pockets and nail down a plan on when to go after your guy!
Pocket 1 –Mahomes
This pocket is simple, it’s the best QB in the league. Mahomes is the clear number one QB and is sure to put up fantasy points on a regular basis. The issue here is that if you want Mahomes, you’re going to be paying a premium. To land Patrick Mahomes, you will have to pick him in the 2nd or 3rd round of your draft as he generally doesn’t slip below that. Some people are even still drafting him in the 1st round in home leagues. As enticing as he is, I am of the mindset to draft other positions in the early rounds so I won’t be paying up for this pocket. You certainly can, but if you do, just know that you will have some scrambling to do during the season, likely at the RB position.
Pocket 2 – Allen, Murray, Prescott, Jackson
This next pocket of QB’s is generally where I am landing my QB1. I have been targeting one of the QBs from this pocket and once I see them start to go, I try to pounce so I don’t miss out. I have been able to land one of these guys anywhere between rounds 4-6. In most drafts, Allen has been the second QB selected, making him the first of this group to go. He usually goes around the 4th round, so if you want Josh Allen, you may have to reach up and take him in the 4th. After Allen goes it is usually Murray and Jackson that go next right around the 5th round. Prescott usually slides in next around the beginning of the 6th round. I am usually looking to land Murray or Prescott myself with my next pick after I see Mahomes and Allen off the board to have a “lock and load” starting QB for almost every week of the season.
Pocket 3 – R. Wilson, Herbert, Rodgers, Brady
If I miss out on the Pocket 2, I will certainly be looking to land at least 1of the guys from this pocket. This is the last pocket of quarterbacks that I would be happy with as my QB1. This pocket generally goes somewhere in the rounds 6-8 range. If you want Wilson or Herbert you should go after them in the 6th or 7th, usually right around Dak Prescott. With the older veterans in Brady and Rodgers, I would shoot for around the 7th or 8th.
Pocket 4 – Burrow, Tannehill, Hurts, Stafford
At this point you should have drafted at least 1 QB already as your starter. If you played QB chicken and didn’t, you MUST look to land one of these QBs from this pocket and you may even want to grab 2 of them and play matchups. This is a pocket that generally goes in the rounds 9-12 range and overlaps draft positions a bit with the tier 5 pocket below. If you didn’t draft a QB1 yet, take one of these in round 9 or 10 and if you do have your QB1 already, you should consider one of these as a high end QB2 and a solid insurance plan in the 11th or 12th. Personally, I like Burrow and Stafford in this group for the volume floor I know I should get from them.
Pocket 5 – Lawrence, Fields, Lance, M. Jones, Roethlisberger, Ryan
The young and the old! This is a pocket that should only be in the QB2 conversation and is being drafted in rounds 11-14 in most draft rooms. The quarterbacks here have some decent upside, but likely aren’t going to put up the consistent weekly points that you want out of your QB1. Lawrence and Jones we know will be starting from week 1, but the question marks around when we will see Fields and Lance put a little damper to their upside. If you’ve drafted your QB1 in one of the top pockets and have a solid core of position players, you can grab one of these guys here as a high upside QB2 who can be a great value down the stretch. The aging veterans in Roethlisberger and Ryan are guys who you know will get volume as long as they stay healthy and can fill in if your QB1 goes down or misses some time.
Pocket 6 – Tagovailoa, Cousins, Mayfield, Darnold, Wentz, Z. Wilson, D. Jones
This pocket is the one that I would consider the last of the real QB2 options and rounds out my top 25. This pocket is a mixture of quarterbacks that have the starting job without much competition behind them to take the job from them. None of these guys are fancy or flashy, but they are starting quarterbacks in the league who can give you a baseline in points to fill in bye weeks for you. This pocket can be had generally in rounds 14-18.
As you head into your draft rooms and Zoom drafts, go in with a plan and use these pockets to be prepared to dominate! Hopefully, reading this article and having the quarterback position broken into pockets helps you to understand where you should be targeting the position in your drafts. If you are looking for breakdowns of the players, or rankings and projections, head over to Razzball.com and check out Rudy Gamble’s projections. You are always invited to follow me on Twitter @FantasyCoachJB and ask me any questions you may have on draft strategies, draft preparation, or anything else for that matter. Good luck and happy drafting!
