Fantasy Fallout: Record day for quarterbacks
-- Quarterbacks continue to up the ante, statistically speaking.
Week 12 featured 13 quarterbacks scoring at least 20 fantasy points, becoming only the third week in the sport's history that at least that many did so.
In Week 13 -- and remember, there's a game yet to be played Monday night -- 15 quarterbacks reached the 20-point fantasy plateau. That set an NFL record, besting the 14 who did it back in Week 2 of this season.
Taking it a step further, six of those 15 quarterbacks scored at least 30 fantasy points, which demolished the previous record of four in a week, which happened twice previously: In Week 14 of 2013 and Week 9 of 2015.
The 10th-best-scoring quarterback scored 24 fantasy points in Week 13, as sure a sign as ever that you need a top-scoring passer in order to be competitive in the 21st century game. To wit, the No. 10 weekly quarterback has averaged 19.4 fantasy points this season, and in five of the 13 weeks thus far, it required a 20-point week for a quarterback to crack the top 10.
But at the same time, the weekly identity of this top-scoring passer need not be a brand name. Using ESPN leagues' start percentages, let's illustrate, first the performance of the five most-started quarterbacks:
Next, here are the six quarterbacks to score 30-plus and their start percentages:
Using full-season statistics also demonstrates the abundance of fantasy production at the quarterback position at a discount price. Five of the current top 10 in total fantasy points this season were not even selected among the top 100 players in ESPN leagues: Carson Palmer (243 fantasy points, 135.1 ADP), Andy Dalton (234, undrafted), Blake Bortles (223, undrafted), Philip Rivers (219, 115.8) and Derek Carr (205, undrafted).
Now here's the fantasy owner's typical misinterpretation: Wait on quarterbacks. There's validity, again, to that strategy, but the misread is the "cruise control" mentality that creates. A fantasy team cannot be competitive without a high-scoring quarterback, so careful attention must be paid, not just at all stages of the draft/auction in order to secure the wisest-priced option, but also in season, when scouting weekly matchups. No longer can one coast on selecting Drew Brees in the fourth round, slotting him in weekly with a "but he's my starter" strategy. If you're passing up alternative, high-leverage matchups, you're leaving fantasy points on the table ... and that has been the case for well over a calendar year now.
Quarterbacks, quarterbacks, quarterbacks
This week's quarterback fantasy leaderboard creates an interesting chain, with five of the top six possessing historical ties to one another:
Mariota's game also was the third best by any rookie quarterback since 1960:
Those 35 fantasy points also gave Mariota 179 through his first 10 NFL games, all of which were starts. In fact, that tied him with Dan Marino for the seventh-most fantasy points by any quarterback in his first 10 career starts, since 1960.
While we're on the topic of rookies, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Jameis Winston now has a rookie-leading 196 fantasy points through his first 12 career games, which ranks eighth best among quarterbacks since 1960.
Brady, by the way, already had captured third place in NFL history in terms of career fantasy points. He passed Marino for that honor back in Week 9, and Brady's 3,654 fantasy points during his 16-year career now trail only Peyton Manning (4,538) and Brett Favre (4,178) on the all-time list.
What Brady did Sunday that most raised eyebrows, however, was catch a 36-yard pass. That's no typo: Brady had a 36-yard reception, which was worth three points in fantasy. It gave Brady at least three fantasy points each on passing, rushing and receiving plays, which is extraordinarily unusual. In fact, Brady is only the fifth quarterback since 1960 to manage at least two fantasy points in each department in a game:
You might recall Johnson's game: That was the one during which he threw a touchdown pass to himself .