Why targeting mobile QBs is a good fantasy strategy
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The quarterback has to run either resourcefully, and it's an add-on, or he runs aggressively.
And he may even lead his team.
And we've learned, people say, oh, what if my quarterback runs?
He's going to get hurt.
It really hasn't proven to be that big of a risk.
Most of these guys are smart; they slide.
They don't take the kill shots that you worry about.
So if these guys run dynamically, we may never know that Justin Fields is a great regular quarterback, but he could run for 1,000 yards.
That makes him a great fantasy quarterback.
Russell Wilson, back in the day, it was a big part of his game.
It really isn't anymore, but identify the guys who can run, the guys who may have five or more touchdown upsides in their bag.
They may run for 500, 600, 700 yards in the case of Fields.
I think you get to 1,000.
These are the players that scrambled more than 40 times last year.
Number one was Jayden Daniels, who was 75, not surprising.
Number two is actually Bo Nix at 50, but Caleb Williams was right there at 50 as well.
He's a guy who scored zero touchdowns on scrambles last year.
That's something to consider.
If he, if he breaks out, it will be because I think they make use of his mobility as a quarterback there in some of the improvisational nature of his game.
45 scrambles for Lamar Jackson, 45 for Drake May.
Despite the fact he did not play a whole season, Drake made 407 scramble yards last year, two more than Lamar Jackson, second only to Jayden Daniels in the NFL last year.
Brock Purdy scrambled 44 times last year, and Brock Purdy, this is a designed quarterback, had 0.8 EPA per design rush last year.
That was right up there with, uh, like that was right up there with some of the best in the league.
Uh, Baker Mayfield, actually, who scrambled 42 times, right behind Josh Allen at 43, had 0.83 EPA, uh, per designed rush.
So, like, that just again shows you what a, what a, like, I hate to use the phrase like sneaky runner that Brock Purdy is, but he's become a really, really good.
Like designed rush and scramble player as well.
So again, one more, Kyler Murray, no surprise, 41 scrambles last year.
But just honorable mention here to Bryce Young, who scrambled 37 times and obviously didn't get to that 40 mark that I'm talking about, but he would have had he not played a full game.
And he scored 4, he had a 14% rushing touchdown rate on scrambles last year.
So he was definitely not just a proactive scrambler, but a smart and decisive one in the like low red zone there.
So, man, I, I think those guys, like, yeah, these are some players, like, there are obvious ones, right?
Fields, we know.
Anthony Richardson, we know they're gonna, we're gonna boost those guys because they're big time rushers.
Even Boniks at this point, like, that's why he's going in the top 80 picks right now.
We know those guys are runners, but there's a few others in this list that I think people might not necessarily expect.
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