Fantasy Football Mock Draft: 10-team superflex

The founders of fantasy football had virtually every detail nailed down when our national pastime was invented way back in the pre-Super Bowl era, but the one aspect that’s never quite worked is QB scoring. It’s been broken from the start.

Quarterback is clearly the most important position in the NFL, by order of magnitude, but historically it’s been an afterthought in our game. Traditional fantasy scoring rewards volume over efficiency and rushing ability over everything. In reality, quarterback talent is remarkably scarce. In fantasy — at least in one-QB leagues — the position is easy to fill and highly replaceable.

Superflex formats don’t really solve the various quarterback scoring problems, but they do address the scarcity problem. In superflex, any of our starting positions can be filled by any RB, WR, TE, or QB. That is, it’s like a regular flex spot, except, uh… it’s super.

Given the scoring advantages at quarterback over other positions, superflex essentially requires two starting QBs. If you play in a league with 12 or more teams, every projected starting quarterback will be drafted in the NFL, as well as a few notable backups. If you miss the position, you’re doomed — no realistic chance of a waiver wire rescue. If you miss the position twice in that position there is a very good chance you’re going to spend 24 hours straight in a fast food restaurant next spring.

Recently the Yahoo fantasy crew got together for a 10-team, 15-round superflex mock draft using otherwise typical half-PPR settings. Our draft order looked like this:

• Then Titus

• Andy Behrens

• Kate Magdziuk

• Matt Harmon

• Collin Brennan

• Jason Klabacha

• My Castillo

• Dalton Del Don

• Tera Roberts

• Scott Pianowski

Here’s a look at the design board, round by round

Sadly, I won’t be bashing anyone’s draft decisions in this mock recap, as too many reputations have been ruined by my harsh but fair assessments in the past. Producer Collin was absolutely devastated by the half-PPR mock review that ran in May – and which was both personally and professionally useless. We can’t afford to lose him. nowso close to opening week.

Instead, let’s focus on the dramatic changes to the standard draft board that we often see in superflex, and our different strategic approaches to the quarterback position. Here are a few key QB-related details from our mock:

• Five of the top seven picks in the draft were quarterbacks;

• Six quarterbacks were drafted in the first round, followed by six more in the second round:

• By the end of the sixth round, 19 quarterbacks had been selected, with two more quarterbacks (Aaron Rodgers and Geno Smith) chosen early in the seventh round;

• Bo Nix and Justin Fields were both drafted in the tenth round, with Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff, Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams set to play in a typical ten-team league;

• Nine out of ten teams drafted a third quarterback.

So yeah, superflex is a different ballgame. It reshapes the board in a way that better reflects the way players and positions are valued within the NFL itself.

Of course, in a draft where six of the top ten overall picks are quarterbacks, you’re going to find some outrageous names after the first round. Tyreek Hill, Ja’Marr Chase, and Justin Jefferson were all sent to the second round in our mock, which seems wild. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Derrick Henry, and Saquon Barkley fell to the third round. Travis Kelce fell all the way to the sixth round, a round he hasn’t visited since the Alex Smith years in KC.

You’ll generally find that superflex managers take one of four different paths to address QB in their drafts, and three of those approaches are represented in our mock. Here’s a quick overview of those strategies:

QB double tap

Many managers don’t cheat when the rule allows for two starting quarterbacks, filling their QB slot in the first round and Q/W/R/T in the second. Three teams went that route in our mock, resulting in the following combos: Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow (Klabacha), Jalen Hurts and Jordan Love (Harmon), Anthony Richardson and Jayden Daniels (surprisingly, not Dalton. It was actually Mo.)

Each of those managers paid at least a small price in terms of running back and receiver quality. But in a relatively shallow format like a 10-team league, anyone can tell a compelling story about every player in their lineup. Two of our three double-tappers ultimately paired a QB with his primary receiving option. Harmon took Hurts in the first and AJ Brown in the third, while Klabacha built an extreme Chiefs stack with Mahomes, Kelce, Rashee Rice and Isiah Pacheco.

Two in the first four

Personally, my favorite way to attack a superflex QB is to lock up both spots by the end of the fourth round (or the fifth at the latest). To do otherwise, I’d have to have an almost fanatical belief in a specific QB who’s likely to be taken outside of the top 20. I opened our mock with Josh Allen in the first round, followed with Justin Jefferson in the second, and Caleb Williams in the third. Two other managers (Kate and Scott) followed a similar two-of-the-top-four path, while another (Tera) drafted her second QB in the fifth.

In general, I like to have the flexibility to grab value whenever and wherever it falls in a draft, without feeling like I’m abandoning a set-in-stone plan. If either Love or Burrow dropped a few extra spots, I’d have taken either in the second, and gone the double-tap route.

Hero QB

Similar to Hero RB, the basic idea here is that you fill one of your QB slots at the top of the draft with a high-ceiling player who has the potential to tear the game apart, then move on to other positions before selecting your second quarterback from everyone else’s scraps. If your second QB plays at a serviceable level all season, this approach gives you a real shot at winning the quarterback battle each week while also giving you a clear edge at receiver or running back.

This strategy isn’t for everyone, as it means you’re going to look at your opening week roster and see a pretty disgusting name in the super flex spot. But if you swing big and connect with your first QB, this plan can definitely win.

Producer Collin was the only manager to go this route in our mock, and it led him to a Lamar Jackson-Baker Mayfield combo. Between those two choices, Collin made his usual series of catastrophic mistakes, along with two or three accidentally good decisions had fun and did his best. Well done, big boy.

Zero QB

Unfortunately, no one in our mock opted to take this admittedly difficult path. Del Don briefly appeared to attempt such a roster when he drafted three non-QBs at the top. But cowardice overtook him and he selected Tua in the fourth round, then Kirk Cousins ​​in the sixth. An authentic Zero QB approach would have meant waiting until the sixth or seventh round to fill the position.

For this strategy to work, you really need to come across an unexpected success story: someone on the level of Jordan Love in 2023 or Geno Smith in 2022. I’ve gone this route occasionally in superflex leagues (with wildly varying results) when I’ve picked at or near the turn of a deep draft. At a certain point, you just can’t bring yourself to burn a first- or second-round pick on the overall QB10, so you start scrounging up your RB and WR values ​​and stubbornly refuse to draft the league’s most crucial position.

Again, Zero QB can succeed if you can find an absolute gem at the draft, or if you can snag a Hail Mary off the wire in the season. But that’s no easy feat. This is a low-probability approach that often stems from desperation, stubbornness, and stubbornness.

For those of you who enjoy scrolling through other people’s mock fantasy drills, the full team-by-team draft results are below. If you see an overwhelming favorite, feel free to praise the squad in the comments.