If you don’t draft Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers or Tom Brady, don’t worry. There will be some second-tier quarterbacks available in the middle rounds of your draft that will be able to lead your team to fantasy success.
Among this group are a couple of developing young starters, a first year starter and a couple of veterans who aren’t considered good picks normally.
Here’s FantasyKnuckleheads.com’s official QB rankings. And here’s a list of my five sleeper quarterbacks to keep an eye on in your league’s draft.
- Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions – Stafford is an excellent talent and has elite weapons at his disposal. The only concern when drafting him is his health. He’s shown that he’s pretty injury prone in his first couple seasons in the NFL. But, if he can stay healthy for a whole season, he could easily be a top-tier fantasy quarterback.
- Chad Henne, Miami Dolphins – Henne has a huge target in Brandon Marshall. 2011 will be his sink-or-swim season. If he’s going to make it as an NFL starter, he’ll need to show it this season. I predict he’ll take a step forward this season and become a pretty valuable second-tier fantasy quarterback.
- Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears – Call Cutler a baby, call him sulky, call him whiny. But, the fact of the matter is that he led the Bears all the way to the NFC Championship Game last season. He has one of the best pass-catching running backs at his disposal in Matt Forte. He’ll put up big numbers once again, but he’ll always have the stigma of being a quitter after last year’s NFC Championship Game.
- Matt Cassel, Kansas City Chiefs – The Chiefs have the NFL’s best running back duo in Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles. Eventually, that will start to pay dividends for Cassel. He already has Dwayne Bowe at his disposal. A solid No. 2 receiver would really boost Cassel’s value.
- Christian Ponder, Minnesota Vikings – Ponder is in the same boat as Cassel. He has Adrian Peterson, the best running back in the NFL. He also has Percy Harvin. If the Vikings re-sign Sidney Rice, Ponder will have a potent receiving tandem and could surprise some people by actually having a decent fantasy value. He could definitely be considered for a backup spot in later rounds.
