By Dan O’Shea
If you were able to draft Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady as your fantasy quarterback this year – or any year, really – you probably thought you were guaranteed fantasy success with at least one position.
However, for a variety of reasons, neither of these superstars has delivered a dominant performance through the first three weeks of the season – and let’s be clear, if a QB can’t deliver 20-point fantasy performances week in and week out, there is no reason to draft him in the first round.
Which QBs are doing better than Rodgers and Brady? Here’s a short, incomplete list:
Robert Griffin III, WAS: The rookie was not impressive in the preseason, but was anointed anyway, and now he’s earning the praise, throwing and running to more than 950 total yards and seven TDs in three games, with only one INT. He’s an obvious fantasy starter until some defense finds his weakness.
Andrew Luck, IND: Another rookie who in a brief sampling thus far has been increasingly impressive. Four INTs against five TDs give reason for pause to consider each week’s match-up before starting him, but so far it looks like Indy had the right idea in re-booting the franchise around him.
Christian Ponder, MIN: His offensive totals are not prolific, but four TDs against no INTs makes him a nice back-up choice and a potential waiver wire sleeper as we head into bye weeks.
Carson Palmer, OAK: Anyone who drafted him as a back-up, betting he could recapture some old magic this year after wobbling through a rusty half-season last year has gotten a nice payoff. His young receivers could earn him more second-half fantasy starts.
Andy Dalton, CIN: Helps that he gets to throw to fast-rising superstar A.J. Green, but only one of his six TDs has gone to Green. Dalton bounced back from a rough Week 1 assignment against Baltimore to be arguably the best fantasy QB of the last two weeks.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, BUF: He’s having a great opening stretch for the second season in a row, but last year he really went downhill as the season went on. He’s tied for the league lead in TD passes even though he’s averaging less than 200 yards per game, but with two RBs injured, he could be throwing more.
Joe Flacco, BAL: Forever a borderline fantasy starter – basically, if you were starting him, it meant you drafted every other position before QB – Flacco has apparently turned into Dan Marino, throwing for almost 400 yards last week. With an abundance of targets, including Ray Rice, Torrey Smith, Dennis Pitta and Anquan Boldin, he just may keep it up all season.
All of these guys have scored more fantasy points than Rodgers or Brady so far. Names of some of the other QBs doing better than Rodgers and Brady wouldn’t come as such a surprise (Drew Brees and Eli Manning, for example). Rodgers and Brady have a lot of weeks left to find their form, but how many losses will their fantasy owners compile in the meantime?
Expert Wire
* RotoInfo has some hot pickups for Week 4, including some QB replacements.
* Bleacher Report eyes fantasy replacements for Matt Forte. Look no further than Michael Bush.
* Fantasy Knuckleheads ranks the RBs for Week 4, with former Fighting Illini Mikel Leshoure working his way up.
–
Dan O’Shea is our man in fantasyland. He welcomes your comments.
Posted on September 26, 2012