The 13 Best Values in Fantasy Football Drafts
Philip Rivers, QB, San Diego Chargers
Look, I rarely advocate spending a draft pick on a quarterback who's going in the single-digit rounds, but if Philip Rivers is sitting there in the late-9th or early-10th round of your 12-team draft, it's not a bad idea to snag him.
Like I said earlier, you want upside with your quarterback selections. Drafting Matt Ryan isn't going to help you win a fantasy championship. Rivers, despite being 34 years old and turning 35 in December, can provide that upside.
Looking at what happened last year with and without Keenan Allen as perfect evidence.
| Yards/G | TD/G | FP/G | Avg Weekly Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| With Allen | 344.25 | 2.25 | 21.05 | 9.75 |
| Without Allen | 258.71 | 1.29 | 14.36 | 18.86 |
With Allen in the lineup last season, Rivers averaged top-five points per game numbers. Without him, Rivers was worse than a quarterback streaming option, giving fantasy owners just 1.29 touchdowns per game. He actually failed to throw a touchdown pass in three of his final seven contests (excludes Week 17).
I should note that, generally speaking, you want to target passers who will see positive game scripts -- favorites -- more often than not. And the Chargers may not be fantastic this year, which appears to be a knock on Rivers. But Rivers is one of very few quarterbacks who has played better as an underdog versus a favorite, so we shouldn't put much stock into that.
In shallower leagues, I'm much more inclined to snag a guy like Rivers as opposed to waiting longer on a Tyrod Taylor type passer because the opportunity cost isn't as high as it is in a deeper league.
