What To Do With The QB's This Year?

When making a decision on what to do at QB this season, there are several different ways to go. If you want Tom Brady or Drew Brees, it’s going to cost you a very high pick. I have seen Brady as a top five pick in some drafts and Brees usually isn’t too far behind him. Manning usually comes off the board next, then Tony Romo, Donovan McNabb, Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, and Kurt Warner start to come off the board after that. After that group of guys, it becomes a “Take your Pick” of Matt Ryan, Matt Schaub, Carson Palmer, and Jay Cutler.

If you decide to wait on a signal caller this year, you can guarantee yourself a little more success at other positions like running back, wide receiver and tight end. By waiting you might not get a guy that is a consensus pick to be an every week starter, but with a little looking at the schedule for bye weeks, and favorable matchups, you can put a guy on the field with a great matchup every week. This article will help you know who to target no matter what route you decide to take, as we look at which QB’s to pair together to give yourself favorable matchups every week.

TAKING A QUARTERBACK EARLY:
If you do take Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Peyton Manning, you probably are going to start them every week and only need a replacement for their bye week. Here is a list of some late round quarterbacks to target if you take this approach. Some of these matchups might not look as great later in the season with injuries and other factors playing in, but right now when you are getting ready to draft, they look pretty favorable.

Tom Brady: Brady has his bye week in Week Eight, and that is probably the only week that you will be putting him on your bench. There are a couple of guys that you can target really late in drafts to pick up with good matchups for Brady’s bye week. One is Marc Bulger, and he had can be had really late, and in some cases could be a waiver wire pickup. Bulger is playing at Detroit in Week eight, so obviously he should be able to put up some fantasy points. The second guy I would consider is Joe Flacco. Flacco is playing at home vs. the Denver Broncos. The Denver Broncos couldn’t stop anyone last season, and I would expect some of that to continue this season, and Flacco could put up very serviceable numbers this week.

Drew Brees: Brees has a very early bye week in Week Five, and there are two guys here that can be had late. The first is Ben Roethlisberger who is playing a road game vs. Detroit in Week Five, and the other is Trent Edwards who will be at home vs. Cleveland. Both Roethlisberger and Edwards have 12 or more quarterbacks coming off the board before them, so if you spend that high pick on Brees, you can definitely wait to target one of these guys to fill in that one week.

Peyton Manning: Manning gets his bye in Week Six, and there are 3 guys who you can get at various stages in the draft that warrant consideration for you to pick up for that bye week. Matt Hasselbeck is playing at home vs. the Arizona Cardinals who gave up more passing touchdowns than any other NFL team last season with 36. If you don’t want to spend that high of a pick on your backup, then you can look at David Garrard who will be at home vs. the St. Louis Rams in Week 6. The last guy you can target is Peyton’s little brother Eli, who will be playing at New Orleans in Week Six. All of those guys have great matchups that you can plug in for Manning that one week.

USING AN EARLY TO MID ROUND PICK ON A QB:
If you decide to wait the first two or three rounds before you take a QB, you will probably end up with Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner, Tony Romo, or Donovan McNabb. Here are some guys to consider for their bye weeks, if you land one of them.

Aaron Rodgers & Philip Rivers: Aaron Rodgers & Philip Rivers both have their bye weeks in Week 5, and there are three guys to consider grabbing for that week. Ben Roethlisberger, who we already talked about is on the road in Detroit and should be able to produce. Trent Edwards is home vs. Cleveland and should have a decent game, while Joe Flacco is someone else you can get really late with a favorable home game vs. the Cincinnati Bengals.

Donovan McNabb & Kurt Warner: McNabb and Warner both have bye weeks in Week 4, and here are a few guys to consider picking up to give you a nice matchup for their bye weeks. Roethlisberger will be home vs. the San Diego Chargers who gave up nearly 250 passing yards per game last season and gave up 25 passing TDs. Shaun Hill could have a big game this week when he plays at home vs. division rivals, the St. Louis Rams. Finally you could consider Brett Favre who will be playing on Monday Night Football in Minnesota vs. his former team the Green Bay Packers. You have to think that Favre will be looking to really stick it to his former team and could have a really big game.

Tony Romo: Romo gets his bye week in week six and there are about three guys I would look to target to replace him that week. David Garrard can be had late and he will be at home vs. St. Louis. You can also get Eli Manning very late, and he will be on the road vs. New Orleans. Matt Hasselbeck will be at home to play the Arizona Cardinals, whom we talked about earlier.

USING A MIDDLE TO LATE ROUND PICK ON A QB:
This is usually my strategy in taking a QB, but if you are one of the last teams to draft your starting QB, then you need to be one of the first to draft your backup. Here is a list of guys that usually come off the board next, and who you might be able to pair them up with to have favorable matchups every week.

Matt Ryan: Ryan will have his bye week in week four, and there are three guys I would consider taking to pair with Ryan; Shaun Hill, Brett Favre, and Ben Roethlisberger. The thing to consider here when getting your QB to pair with Ryan is that the Falcons do have a much tougher schedule this season, and he has some tough matchups which you might want to consider when looking for a QB to pair with Ryan. In Week 4, it’s Hill at home vs. St. Louis, Favre on Monday Night in Minnesota vs. Green Bay, and Roethlisberger at home vs. San Diego. In some of Ryan’s tougher matchups this year where you might consider benching him, here are the same guys matchups. Week 9 vs. Washington – Hill at home vs. Tennessee, Favre on bye, Roethlisberger at Denver. Week 11 at the New York Giants – Hill at Green Bay, Favre at home vs. Seattle, and Roethlisberger at Kansas City. Week 12 vs. Tampa Bay who Ryan did not throw a single TD against last season , but did throw 4 interceptions – Hill at home vs. Jacksonville, Favre at Carolina, and Roethlisberger at home vs. Green Bay. This should help you make a better decision on who to pair with Ryan to give you good matchups every week. My vote would be for Favre. He has a great matchup in Week four vs. Green Bay, and when Ryan has to play the Giants and Eagles, Favre gets the Seahawks and Cardinals.

Matt Schaub: Schaub is a guy I really like and is starting to rise up a lot of draft boards. Due to his injury history I would consider getting a backup in the next few rounds after I drafted Schaub, and here are some of the guys I would consider; David Garrard, Kerry Collins, and Brett Favre. Schaub’s bye week comes in Week ten, and here are the other’s matchups that week: Garrard at the New York Jets, Kerry Collins at home vs. Buffalo, and Favre at home vs. Detroit. There are really only two games that can be considered bad matchups based on last season’s defensive passing stats and those are Schaub’s two games vs. Tennessee. Tennessee only allowed 12 passing touchdowns with 20 interceptions last season, and Schaub had only one touchdown and 3 picks, averaging 230 yards in his two games vs. the Titans last year. He plays the Titans in Week two and again in Week eleven. Here are the matchups for the guys I would target to pair with Schaub. Week 2 – Garrard at home vs. Arizona, Kerry Collins at home vs. Houston, and Brett Favre at Detroit. Week 11 – Garrard at home vs. Buffalo, Kerry Collins at Houston, and Favre at home vs. Seattle. I would suggest that you target Brett Favre as the guy to pair with Matt Schaub. In Schaub’s bye week and two games vs. Tennessee, Favre has two games vs. Detroit and one vs. the Seahawks. If you draft Schaub, I would look to wait a few more rounds, grab Brett Favre and be set at the QB position.

Jay Cutler: Jay Cutler’s bye week is in Week 5, and there are two guys that I would look to pair up with Cutler; Matt Hasselbeck or Joe Flacco. In week 5 Hasselbeck is home vs. Jacksonville while Flacco is home vs. Cincinnati. There are a couple of games that I would consider benching Cutler and those are week two vs. Pittsburgh and Week 15 at Baltimore. In Week 2 Hasselbeck is at San Francisco while Flacco goes to San Diego. In Week 15 Hasselbeck is home vs. Tampa Bay, while Flacco is home vs. Chicago. Flacco might not be on anyone’s radar, but is a good guy to consider to pair with Cutler based on his matchups when Cutler has bad ones. Flacco did nearly top 3,000 yards as a rookie, and could have a decent season, and you can get him very late if you decide to pass on Hasselbeck.

Carson Palmer: Palmer has his bye week in week 8, and also has a few bad matchups throughout the year with two games vs. Pittsburgh and two games vs. Baltimore. There are two quality options that you should consider when drafting Palmer; Matt Hasselbeck and Trent Edwards. Starting with Palmer’s bye week, Hasselbeck is at Dallas, while Edwards is at home vs. Houston. For the two games vs. Pittsburgh, Hasselbeck gets a home game vs. Chicago and a road game at Arizona. Edwards gets a home game vs. New Orleans and a road game at Tennessee. For the two games vs. Baltimore, Hasselbeck gets both games at home, one vs. Jacksonville, the other vs. Detroit. Meanwhile Edwards gets Cleveland at home for one, but has his bye week in the other. If you want to back up Palmer with Hasselbeck you will probably have to do it soon after you take Palmer, while if you decide to back him up with Edwards, you can probably wait just a little bit longer.

There are obviously a lot of different ways that you can go when deciding to take a QB this season, and hopefully this will help you to make up your mind, and give you a clear strategy when you get to your draft. Do you feel comfortable going into the season with a combination of Matt Schaub and Brett Favre, knowing you can load up in the first five rounds on running backs and wide receivers? Or are you going to jump on Brees or Brady in the first couple of rounds and wait to get your other skill positions? The choice is yours, but at least now you have a plan.