#Fantasy football owners should pass on middle-round quarterback options

In the third of a six-part fantasy draft preview series leading up the NFL season, Fantasy Insanity discusses which quarterbacks to draft when. Next week: running backs. 

The Madman is suffering from a bit of schizophrenia. We have warring factions doing battle in our head. 

On one hand, part of us wants to stick with our old, reliable norm, and draft quarterbacks late in our fantasy drafts. On the other, we are more open to taking QBs earlier in drafts than we used to be, and we like the value of those top QB options. 

Whether it is Patrick Mahomes in the third round (if he lasts that long), Josh Allen a round later, Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray in the fourth or Aaron Rodgers in the fifth — these are all players we are perfectly comfortable drafting. 

The only caveat is that there isn’t a running back, wide receiver or tight end we really like available instead. This is a scenario that occurs maybe half the time. The other half, we’re picking QBs much earlier than we have in the past. 

Yet, when we don’t go with our a Mr. Hyde approach, we fall back on our safe Dr. Jekyll plan. That we means we’re skipping a lot of the middle-round QB options. We don’t think the Justin Herbert-Tom Brady-Russell Wilson-Dak Prescott group is that much better than what we can get later, when the options at other positions in those middle rounds are better than their corresponding later options. 

When we wait, our favorite time to hone back in on QBs is immediately after the aforementioned group is off the board. This occurs most often around rounds 7-8. At that point, we put a target on Matthew Stafford. 

Of all the QB shuffling from team to team this offseason, his move is our favorite. He gets an offensive-minded coach in Sean McVay who did wonders with the much less talented Jared Goff. We like the tandem of receivers Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp better than any pair Stafford had at the same time in Detroit. 

As the 10th QB off the board on average, we like his chances to crack the top 6-7 in fantasy this season, making him a bargain. 

If we miss on Stafford, a checkdown to Joe Burrow, Matt Ryan or Ryan Tannehill is digestible even if not delectable. 

Our later-round took a hit when Carson Wentz went down. We like the upside of him reuniting with Frank Reich, having a strong offensive line and a stout running game. But with his injury, and injuries on the O-line as well, we have been forced to audible. Now, we are embracing more schizophrenia, splitting shares between Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Sam Darnold. 

We don’t like any of these as our No. 1 QB, but in most cases, we prefer to draft a backup — just in case of injury or to provide a platoon option if our other late- or middle-round QB doesn’t pan out as planned. 

Guys we’re avoiding, for various reasons, include Jalen Hurts, Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Kirk Cousins. Some we feel are overvalued, others not guaranteed ample playing time, others just lack confidence in ability, etc. 

Let the draft dictate which of the strategic split personalities to employ, and embrace the QB madness.