Tony Romo and Matthew Stafford: Fantasy football's power couple
Fantasy players averse to selecting a quarterback early in their drafts have plenty of other options available to them.
Perhaps they'll decide to wait on a third- or fourth-tier option like Derek Carr, or Philip Rivers, or Kirk Cousins. Maybe they'll wait even later and grab a couple of lottery tickets like Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota. Or it's possible they'll just settle for whoever is left among the final-round flotsam and jetsam, and opt to stream depending on weekly matchups.
Each approach has its merit - as does selecting two mid-range quarterbacks and alternating them depending on who has the better perceived matchup. It's a common practice, and one theScore's Jason Wilson discusses in his FrankenQB post we published earlier in the summer.
It can be difficult to assess the strength of a quarterback's schedule without knowing how personnel changes around the league have impacted opposing defenses - either for better or for worse. But we can make a determination, however flawed, using last year's defensive results - and when we do this, two mid-level QBs emerge as the perfect season-long tandem.
And since you've no doubt seen the two players featured in the photo accompanying this story, you know who I'm talking about.
Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo and Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford likely aren't going to win you a fantasy championship on their own. Both are seen as decent QB2s and can be had for a pair of picks late in the middle rounds, or for a combined $4-6 in most redraft auction leagues.
If you're feeling adventurous, however, you should have no trouble landing both - and that, my friend, could very well win you a fantasy title.
Here's a look at the teams each QB will face this season. They're broken down week by week, and include rankings based on fantasy points allowed to the quarterback position in standard scoring formats last season; the higher the number, the better the matchup:
| Week | Romo | Stafford |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NYG (29) | @IND (20) |
| 2 | @WAS (24) | TEN (28) |
| 3 | CHI (26) | @GB (16) |
| 4 | @SF (8) | @CHI (26) |
| 5 | CIN (3) | PHI (31) |
| 6 | @GB (16) | LA (8) |
| 7 | BYE | WAS (24) |
| 8 | PHI (31) | @HOU (12) |
| 9 | @CLE (29) | @MIN (11) |
| 10 | @PIT (17) | BYE |
| 11 | BAL (23) | JAC (27) |
| 12 | WAS (24) | MIN (11) |
| 13 | @MIN (11) | @NO (32) |
| 14 | @NYG (29) | CHI (26) |
| 15 | TB (25) | @NYG (29) |
| 16 | DET (22) | @DAL (8) |
| 17 | @PHI (31) | GB (16) |
I've bolded the superior matchup each week to make it easier to identify just how ridiculous this schedule is. Rostering Romo and Stafford provides the following benefits based on strength of schedule:
- Fourteen of your 17 matchups are against defenses that ranked 24th or worse in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks last season.
- Of your eight road games, five come against teams that finished in the bottom five in points allowed to QBs.
- You have zero matchups against teams that finished in the top 15 in the category, and only two that finished better than 22nd.
While this tactic may not be perfect - you do have to buy into strength of schedule as a predictive measure, which is dicey - it certainly beats a straight weekly quarterback stream, and could wind up being far superior to relying on an elite quarterback facing difficult stretches (take a look at Drew Brees' schedule, for example. It's brutal.)
If you're considering a FrankenQB approach, you can't do any better than this. Make it a priority to land Romo and Stafford, and you'll be blessed with a trove of terrific matchups all season long.