Over the last two weeks, I competed in a 72-team tournament hosted by DraftSharks.com. Teams are operated by a mixture of analysts in the industry and people who’ve won high stakes leagues – a quality field. In this group, I was surprised by some of the quarterback rankings.
Derek Carr in particular. I consider him to be a top-15 quarterback. He’s proven and he looks very likely to start 17 games, with his tendency to avoid hits. Yet he wasn’t picked higher than 20th among quarterbacks in any of the six leagues.
This Draft Sharks Leaguefield had a lot more interest in the high-risk youngsters at the position – Trey Lance and Justin Fields were picked higher than Carr in every draft, and Tua Tagovailoa was picked higher than him in most drafts. That was weird to me.
The contest in general, by the way, has a cool format. It’s a PPR best-ball league (with no moves or starting lineups), but with a few wrinkles to create more debate about the value of the positions. Tight ends get an extra half point per reception, supercharging their value. You must start three wide receivers, creating extra demand there. Running backs are always coveted. And there are two flex positions, with the ability to plug a second quarterback into one of them. With this format, I think a player from every position was selected in the first round of every draft. In maybe all of the drafts, two players from each position went in the first round (I think that’s a good thing).
I wanted to pick two quarterbacks I felt would be solid starters for the entire season, so I grabbed Matthew Stafford and Kirk Cousins with my choices in the third and fourth rounds. But when Carr was still sitting there in the ninth round, the opportunity to pick up a third quarterback to contribute in those two spots was too good to pass up.
I also added Jimmy Garoppolo with a late pick.
These are big leagues, with 12 teams each selecting 25 players. With no kickers or defenses, that’s 300 players chosen. There were 37 quarterbacks who got picked in all six leagues, and the average order is below. In the picks section, I put my own choices in bold.
| DRAFTS SHARKS INVITATIONAL (QUARTERBACKS) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | Draft positions |
| 1. | Mahomes, Patrick KC | 1 1 2 1 2 1 |
| 2. | Allen, Josh BUF | 2 2 1 2 3 2 |
| 3. | Jackson, Lamar BAL | 4 3 4 3 1 3 |
| 4. | Murray, Kyler ARI | 3 4 3 4 4 4 |
| 5. | Prescott, Dak DAL | 5 5 5 6 5 5 |
| 6. | Wilson, Russell SEA | 6 6 6 5 6 8 |
| 7. | Herbert, Justin LAC | 8 7 7 7 8 7 |
| 8. | Rodgers, Aaron GB | 7 12 9 8 7 6 |
| 9. | Brady, Tom TB | 9 8 10 9 10 9 |
| 10. | Stafford, Matthew LAR | 10 10 12 11 11 11 |
| 11. | Tannehill, Ryan TEN | 13 13 11 10 9 10 |
| 12. | Hurts, Jalen PHI | 11 9 8 15 14 12 |
| 13. | Burrow, Joe CIN | 12 15 14 14 13 13 |
| 14. | Lance, Trey SF | 18 14 13 16 12 14 |
| 15. | Lawrence, Trevor JAC | 15 16 16 12 15 15 |
| 16. | Ryan, Matt ATL | 16 11 19 13 16 17 |
| 17. | Cousins, Kirk MIN | 14 17 17 17 18 16 |
| 18. | Mayfield, Baker CLE | 19 18 18 18 20 19 |
| 19. | Fields, Justin CHI | 20 20 15 22 19 18 |
| 20. | Tagovailoa, Tua MIA | 17 22 20 23 21 20 |
| 21. | Roethlisberger, Ben PIT | 22 24 22 19 22 22 |
| 22. | Fitzpatrick, Ryan WAS | 21 23 21 21 24 26 |
| 23. | Carr, Derek LVR | 23 21 26 20 28 21 |
| 24. | Jones, Daniel NYG | 27 26 23 25 26 23 |
| 25. | Darnold, Sam CAR | 26 27 24 27 25 24 |
| 26. | Hill, Taysom NO | 25 19 29 28 27 28 |
| 27. | Wilson, Zach NYJ | 24 28 25 29 23 27 |
| 28. | Goff, Jared DET | 32 29 27 26 30 25 |
| 29. | Newton, Cam NE | 31 32 30 24 29 29 |
| 30. | Wentz, Carson IND | 30 25 28 30 31 31 |
| 31. | Watson, Deshaun HOU | 28 33 32 31 17 38 |
| 32. | Winston, Jameis NO | 29 31 31 33 32 30 |
| 33. | Jones, Mac NE | 35 30 35 32 35 33 |
| 34. | Bridgewater, Teddy DEN | 33 35 33 35 33 32 |
| 35. | Lock, Drew DEN | 34 34 34 36 34 35 |
| 36. | Taylor, Tyrod HOU | 38 38 36 34 36 37 |
| 37. | Garoppolo, Jimmy SF | 37 37 37 37 37 36 |
—Ian Allan