Late Round Fantasy Football Quarterback Targets
Welcome to the second installment of our four part series that will be analyzing late round targets for each of the core positions of fantasy football. We will be digging deep in finding these late round values for you to gain a competitive edge in your PPR Fantasy Football Leagues.
With the NFL season less than 2 months away it’s never too early to start thinking about your Fantasy Football Draft. This series is targeting our five favorite players at each position that possess great upside compared to where they are currently being drafted. Note that ADP is taken from Fantasy Football Calculator, only players with an ADP of round 10 or higher for 10 team PPR drafts were considered. Our personal strategy involves targeting quarterbacks in the late rounds and mixing and matching your weekly starters based on matchups. Always remember to follow and tweet us @SteveZimkouski and @FantasyCPR for all your fantasy football news. Lastly, I want to give a special thanks to the team over @GhostDFSPicks and @jsandberg11 for their help on the research of this series. Now without further ado let’s get to the targets.
Patrick Mahomes
Kansas City Chiefs – Quarterback
ADP – 12.10 (120)
Patrick Mahomes will be the new leader under center for the Kansas City Chiefs with Alex Smith shipped off to the Redskins. Mahomes is a dual threat player that can supplement his passing stats with his ability to move the ball on the ground (22 rushing TDs as the Texas Tech starter). We only got to see Mahomes in week 17 last season but he looked strong playing with all Chiefs backups and managing to put up 299 total yards against a 1st team Denver defense. Mahomes will also be playing with a plethora of playmakers in Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Travis Kelce and Kareem Hunt. The addition of Watkins to pair with Hill will give the Chiefs one of the best deep threat combos in the league. The Chiefs were able to score the 6th most points per game last season mostly due to embracing more deep shots down the field. They now go from a QB who’s strength was the short passing game to a cannon armed QB in Mahomes and elite speed at the WR positions. The stars are aligning for Mahomes to put up a similar type fantasy season as Deshaun Watson before his season ending injury which is why he is our favorite late round QB target.
Marcus Mariota
Tennessee Titans – Quarterback
ADP – 13.10 (130)
Marcus Mariota had a large regression last year throwing for only 13 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. This was mainly because Mariota had fractured his fibula in week 16 of 2016 season and was dealing with a strained hamstring in week 4 in 2017 season. Mariota should improve on those numbers as he is coming in fully healthy for the 2018 season. The addition of new Offensive Coordinator Matt LaFleur who came from the Kyle Shanahan/Sean McCoy coaching philosophy should also help make the game easier and simpler for Mariota. LaFleur was a big part of Jared Goff’s improvement last season. Mariota who did have 5 rushing touchdowns last season should also improve on his 5.2 yards per carry and 20.8 yards per game rushing averages in the new system and with healthy legs. Mariota makes for a nice value as the general fantasy player will look at his 2017 stats and ignore the variables which show why he is a prime bounce back candidate.
Alex Smith
Washington Redskins – Quarterback
ADP – 14.06
If you forgot everything you knew about drafting a fantasy football team and I told you that you could draft a top 5 fantasy quarterback at the end of your draft, what would you say? Well that’s what Alex Smith was last season, a top 5 fantasy quarterback. Smith was finally given more freedom in the Chiefs offense last season and he set career highs across the board with 4,042 passing yards and a 104.7 QB rating. His success this year will ultimately be tied to the health of the Redskins best offensive weapon Jordan Reed. Reed has shown the ability to get open over the middle of the field and is also able stretch the defense when needed. Smith shouldn’t show much regression as Jay Gruden has led one of the better passing offenses in the league with Kirk Cousins at the helm the past few years.
Eli Manning
New York Giants – Quarterback
ADP – 14.07
When Odell Beckham Jr. was in the lineup last season Eli Manning threw for 8 touchdowns and 4 interceptions in 4 games. Beyond those numbers Manning averages 5.7 more fantasy points and 49.1 more passing yards per game with OBJ in the lineup. There should also be many complementary pieces to take the defensive attention off of OBJ with the emergence of Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard and the draft pick of Saquon Barkley. The Giants also come into the 2018 season with one the leagues toughest schedules which means they will have to be playing in catch up mode in majority of their games. That will give Manning some added negative game script/garbage time fantasy appeal.
Tyrod Taylor
Cleveland Browns – Quarterback
ADP – 15.03
Tyrod Taylor is finally free of the Bills offensive scheme that tried to make him more of a dink and dunk game manager when his strength is mobility and downfield passing. The running back additions of Carlos Hyde and Nick Chubb should also keep defenses honest and give Taylor more opportunities to use his legs. Taylor is also coming into a situation with the best weapons he’s ever had with athletic defense-stretching pass catchers in Josh Gordon and David Njoku. He will also have the reliable slot receiver Jarvis Landry on underneath routes as well as Corey Coleman as the 3rd or 4th option in the revamped Browns passing attack. The Browns are another team that should be playing from behind a lot that will create more opportunities for Taylor to use both his arm and legs. He has shown a tendency in the past to use games with negative hame scripts to his advantage with garbage time scoring.
Next: Team Preview: Houston Texans
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