Fantasy Football: 6 Quarterbacks to Target in Two-QB or Superflex Leagues

If you're not getting as much enjoyment with one, a second could be significantly more fun.

A larger number of smaller, more experienced, or advanced fantasy football leagues are turning to a two-quarterback or "superflex" format for yearly redraft leagues in lieu of the standard, one-quarterback league we all grew up with that introduced us to the game.

What's the reason for this? Well, FanDuel Research's fantasy football projections can answer that a little bit. The growing surge of elite quarterback play has placed four quarterbacks -- such as top overall QB Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills -- above 350 projected fantasy points in standard QB scoring using its normal 17-game projection for all players.

Then, the gap between the QB5 (C.J. Stroud) and QB21 (Matthew Stafford) amounts to just 2.8 fantasy points per week on average. If you miss out on a top guy by one quarterback, the chances of winning your league plummet dramatically. The late-round quarterback strategy was fathered on this principle. You either want to be early or late, but someone is going to get stuck in the middle.

Superflex leagues allow for enhanced strategy in building out a quarterback room. You can fully invest in premium players with two top-15 quarterbacks as most superflex leagues start with a QB first overall. You can invest into two mid-range QBs to provide stability at the position while still prioritizing skill players in spots. Or, if in love with a sleeper or two, you can invest with two late-round QBs and gobble up the best running backs and wide receivers available in early rounds.

No matter which strategy you take to getting quarterbacks in this format, you need two darn good ones based on where you snag them. That's the purpose of this piece where we deviate away from the top of the board and look at QBs that could be sneaky QB1 or QB2 candidates that allow the rest of your roster to shine.

Note: A player's ECR comes from FantasyPros' expert consensus rankings data. The basis for rounds used in this piece is from 12-player superflex leagues.

Quarterbacks to Target in SuperFlex and Two-QB Fantasy Football Leagues

Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers

ECR: 18th (QB10)

If you're not in the top-four picks of the draft to land one of the marquee four or five QBs in our projections, the last thing you want to do is draft a replaceable asset in the back half of the first round. Awesome, high-floor options like Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott -- with minimal rushing upside -- need everything to break their way to crack this season's top five.

Instead, the goal is likely to take an elite skill player and wrap around to a quarterback in Round 2 that has some sort of top-five upside. To me, that's Jordan Love in this tier with Kyler Murray and Jayden Daniels as solid honorable mentions.

Love's roaring end to 2023 proved he can do it. After shaking out the early kinks in his first year as a starter, he completed 70.2% of his passes and was second among qualifiers to only the always-efficient Brock Purdy in expected points added per drop back (0.22 EPA/db) over his final eight games, per NFL's NextGenStats.

One of the major reasons he was third in fantasy points per game (21.9 FPPG) during this stretch was a rate of 2.25 passing touchdowns per game, which -- as my colleague Annie Nader pointed out -- probably doesn't stick through a new campaign where Green Bay also added goal-line hammer Josh Jacobs to the mix.

However, is that potential decline worth tumbling to QB10 from QB3 during the last significant action we saw? I don't think so -- especially when Love scampered for nine rushing touchdowns in college and might be more open to taking off as his confidence grows in the NFL. A couple more rushing scores could help offset the expected drop in passing TDs.

The target tree on numberFire's second-best schedule-adjusted passing offense a year ago is both wide and ambiguous. If you snag Love as your first QB in the second round, that's nice exposure to it without the guessing game.

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

ECR: 31st (QB16)

These next three quarterbacks are all former top-12 signal-callers that are longshots to crack that mark in 2024, but -- at the very least -- the path is there. All come in the third round or later, as well.

Trevor Lawrence is the first, which isn't the first time 2022's top draft pick has been "first". Injuries can cripple a superflex roster or force an aggressive more with free agency budget, so it helps firstly that Lawrence has missed just one game in his first three seasons, which propelled him to a QB8 finish in 2022.

Last season, T-Law experienced an odd year of variance. His 7.1 passing yards per attempt (YPA) weren't horrible, but he led the NFL in turnovers (21), which was a massive reason why he plummeted to the QB17 on a points-per-game basis (17.3 FPPG). Forgetting the negative fantasy points for them, they also took actual points off the board for Jacksonville.

He has enough ingredients to believe he can deliver a quality season. As I mentioned in the full Trevor Lawrence fantasy football outlook, Lawrence's offense was among the fastest and most pass-heavy in the league a year ago with both his head coach and offensive coordinator returning. He was quietly eighth among qualifiers in red zone rush share among QBs (22.9%). Though the team lost Calvin Ridley, deep threat Gabriel Davis and first-round pick Brian Thomas Jr. might better complement returning intermediate targets like Evan Engram and Christian Kirk.

If you believe in the former Clemson Tigers star's talent and potential, an extremely aggressive move could be to slot him as your QB1 with one of our deeper sleepers to come as the QB2. The skill players in that construction should be off the charts.

Geno Smith, Seattle Seahawks

ECR: 60th (QB22)

This week, new Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb grabbed headlines by referring to Geno Smith as "elite".

That word seems to take on a different meaning by each conversation and context, but anything close to "elite" at this draft slot will absolutely work for Seattle's gunslinger. After all, Grubb's high-powered Washington Huskies offense garnered a total ransom from 2023 of a CFP National Championship appearance, four total Day 1 or Day 2 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, and a promotion for both himself and head coach Kalen DeBoer. Perhaps we should trust his judgement.

Smith was the surprise QB10 in 2022 but seemed to wear the effects of a season that saw Pete Carroll and Shane Waldron ousted in 2023, posting a QB25 season on a points-per-game basis (15.7 FPPG). Nonetheless, it could have been far worse. Smith's 0.01 EPA/db still beat out Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow, and Kyler Murray. He was eighth in passing success rate (49.1%) among qualifiers.

The tools are still there for a Seahawks passing attack with elite weaponry in the form of D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba -- the final of whom was horribly misused in Waldron's offense. The team also has two solid tailbacks.

Considering his average draft position (ADP) is a rounding error from last year's dismal season, I'll make the proverbial wager that Grubb injects life, pace, and passing efficiency back into this offense.

Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers

ECR: 95th (QB27)

Our own Kay Adams joined the group of many buyers into the new-look Carolina Panthers earlier this week. In Charlotte, 2024 feels like the dawn of an entirely new age.

Carolina posted a bottom-two schedule-adjusted offense, per numberFire, each of the last two seasons, so they went to a recent expert in reclamation projects. At the helm of Geno Smith's 2022 season and Baker Mayfield's renaissance 2023 season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, new head coach Dave Canales seems to be the perfect man to turn Bryce Young around.

It's unknown exactly how much of the Panthers' 2023 struggles to score fell on Young's shoulders. His top target was Adam Thielen, who now might drop to third in the pecking order behind the newly acquired Diontae Johnson and first-round pick Xavier Legette.

The team also hopes to post better than a bottom-five running game after investing a second-rounder into rookie Jonathon Brooks, who seems to be recovering well after tearing his ACL last November. Pro Football Focus (PFF) also believes Young has a top-20 offensive line to work behind -- better than plenty of QBs in this range.

Last season was such a disaster for Young and the Panthers that it's also worth remembering that he was willing to use his legs to score a bit in college, posting seven rushing touchdowns in his final two seasons with the Alabama Crimson Tide. He didn't score at all on the ground in his inaugural campaign, so there's room for improvement from a fantasy perspective.

It's tough to project Young given all of the changes, but Mayfield went from 10.8 FPPG (QB43) in 2022 to 16.9 FPPG (QB19) in 2023 with Canales. Carolina's weapons aren't quite as superb as Tampa Bay's, but anything flirting with a top-20 finish in a healthy season at this ADP would be solid gold.

Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, Pittsburgh Steelers

ECR: 132nd and 190th (QB28 and QB32)

One strategy to superflex leagues is exploiting the quarterback competitions that will, naturally, fall to the end of the draft for a QB2 spot. Managers are less likely to take a player that might spend a good chunk of the season not in action. However, if it's a clear two-man competition, you can take both and occupy a bench position with the current backup. That's never been more evident than with this 2024 Steelers quarterback battle.

Russell Wilson is the expected starter, and his ADP is low enough to easily pair him with Justin Fields for whenever the former No. 2 overall pick might play. Either should be a solid fantasy asset so long as they're in action.

Wilson's exodus from the Denver Broncos had far more to do with his personality and contract than his play. In fantasy, Russ was actually the QB16 last year on a points-per-game basis (17.6 FPPG) after a "horrible" 2021 where he was the QB21 (15.6 FPPG). The issue came much more from getting paid like a top-of-the-league performer and posting -0.10 EPA/db or worse in both seasons.

Nonetheless, Fields is worth stashing even if Wilson delivers a passable season. From a fantasy perspective, the NFL's all-time single-game leader for rushing yards by a quarterback (178) has been tremendous despite iffy consistency passing the ball that forced the Chicago Bears to move on. He's posted consecutive top-12 seasons on a points-per-game basis thanks to his legs.

Ambiguity about who actually gets the nod here is scaring away managers, but if you can secure both, there's really nothing to worry about. This is even a spot where we'd prefer the backup for rushing upside. This is no situation like the Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, or New England Patriots' quarterback battles where we're unsure if either option can maintain some sort of relevance in fantasy football.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.