Fantasy Football: 10 League-Winning Strategies for 2016 Draft Day

Don’t Sleep on Quarterbacks

Every year, there’s a position that fantasy pundits suggest fantasy owners should wait on. They tack the word “zero” in front of it, and it’s the de rigueur strategy of the draft.

This year, Matthew Berry and others have espoused the Zero Quarterback strategy. Berry cites a litany of facts, not unlike the one’s I’ve put together above, that suggest quarterback is as unpredictable a position as any.

In fact, the likes of Blake Bortles, Carson Palmer and others makes waiting on a quarterback smart, thus allowing you to snatch other top-rated talent in the earlier rounds.

I’m not opposed to this strategy. There is definitely some value among second- and third-tier QBs. That said, I’m not sleeping on bona fide talent either. If I can get a player like Aaron Rodgers in the fifth round, I’m not hesitating.

Having one of the best signal-callers at the helm of your fantasy squad is critical, if for no other reason than you can only start one of them, and you don’t want to have to hem and haw over it every week.

Remember, it’s not a question whether or not Rodgers is better than the RB or WR you might be contemplating taking instead. It’s what is the points differential at the position, in this case QB, between great and good.

Position Points Differential (PPD) is key; I’ll be touching on it several times throughout the rest of this article.

In 2015, the spread between the No. 1 and No. 10 ranked player at QB, RB and WR was 102, 80 and 70, respectively. Said another way, having a better QB benefits your team more, by 20-30 points per year, than having a better RB or WR.

I have no problem waiting on a QB. Just don’t let top-tier talent sneak past you because you’re anchored to a “zero” strategy.

Next: Draft Two Tight Ends