Fantasy Football For Cool People: Quarterbacks
August 9th, 2007 by NextRound
Since the H-Man’s arrival we’ve been getting you primed for college football, but don’t worry we haven’t forgotten about the NFL. Or, more importantly, Fantasy Football.
Quarterbacks are always a tricky subject when it comes to FF. That’s why we’re a big fan of dissecting who’s out there, who’s overvalued, and who’s undervalued.
Let’s rip the lid off the QB situation.
ESPN’s Top 5 Fantasy QB’s:
1) Peyton Manning
2) Carson Palmer
3) Drew Brees
4) Tom Brady
5) Mark Bulger
NextRound’s List of Overvalued QB’s (with ESPN’s rankings):
6) Donovan McNabb – coming off serious knee injury; no WRs to throw to.
8 ) Vince Young – guy throws like he’s trying to flick dog poop off his hand.
9) Philip Rivers – LT scores too many TDs.
11) Eli Manning – no accuracy; team drama always outweighs team focus.
13) Jon Kitna – not sure Matt Millen is aware what an offensive line is or what it can do.
If you don’t get one of the top 5 guys on your squad don’t make the mistake of going after one of these overvalued QBs. Instead, try to pick up a QB later in the draft. There is a lot of value floating around in the later rounds.
NextRound’s Top 5 QB’s With Late Round Value:
5) Joey Harrington (ESPN Rank: 22)
Projected Value Rounds: 14-16
Alright, before you stop reading this article give us a chance to explain. Harrington has talent (not just musical talent) but has never been put in a good situation. This year is no different but at least he is use to it by now.
The Falcons Defense sucks. New Head Coach Bobby Petrino loves to throw it all over the field so he should really enjoy the second half of games this season. Luckily, Harrington has extremely underrated mobility and should be able to avoid the inevitable pass rush.
We are not sold that Roddy White and Michael Jenkins are busts at WR. Instead, we think it may have been the fact that Mick Vick can’t pass for shit.

4) Alex Smith (ESPN Rank: 20)
Projected Value Rounds: 11-13
Alex Smith played pretty well last year after a terrible rookie season (58.1% completion percentage; 2980 yds; 16 TDs). Not great, but not terrible.
The thing we like about Smith is that he should be around in late rounds because he still carries a stigma of crapiness from his miserable rookie year. Also, Smith’s weapons are much improved over last season. WR Darrell Jackson comes over from Seattle and a healthy Vernon Davis should be dominate at TE.
Finally, Frank Gore had a massive season last year, but most people overlook his 485 yards receiving. Between Gore and Davis expect the 49ers to convert a lot of extra 3rd downs this season giving Smith more chances to rack up points.
3) Ben Roethlisberger (ESPN Rank: 14)
Projected Value Rounds: 9-11
As a disclaimer, WE HATE THIS MEATHEAD.
However, apparently Ben realized he’s a bit of a jackass and has been working really hard to improve his game this offseason. The Steelers don’t have a smash mouth running attack anymore so they’ve decided to open the offense with Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, and Cedrick Wilson at WR. With the absence of the inside running game we expect Ben to toss a lot of play action touchdowns to TE Heath Miller around the goaline this season.
This is all despite us wanting to punch Big Ben in the cranium.
2) Jay Cutler (ESPN Rank: 15)
Projected Value Rounds: 8-10
Jay Cutler might have the strongest arm in the league. And with the acquisition of Travis Henry at RB, Cutler is going to get the opportunity to throw against one on one coverage.
Great news considering Javon Walker is one of the most underrated WR’s in the NFL. Walker has elite talent. Cutler also has two good possession receivers in Rod Smith and Brandon Stokley who will keep drives alive. Last year Cutler played pretty well as a rookie despite the Broncos only implementing a partial playbook. This year expect Cutler to thrive.
1) Matt Leinhart (ESPN Rank: 12)
Projected Value Rounds: 6-8
Leinart looked pretty decent last year despite having absolutely no offensive line. The Cardinals finally addressed that problem this off season.
Leinhart should feel like he is back at USC with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin at WR. We expect Edgerin James to be a much bigger part of the passing game this season. And TE Leonard Pope should really improve over his stats as a rookie.
This offense has potential to be Playstation good. Not to mention, with the recent alimony settlement against him, Leinart should play motivated.













Bowl Picks:
Overall Record: 9-11 (3 Unit), 8-6 (2 Unit), 7-1 (1 Unit), -2.7 Units







