6 Dynasty Offseason QB Stashes for 2023

Dynasty/Devy Leagues
1

The 2022 fantasy season is almost over. Soon, you will not need your handcuffs and ROS stashes any longer. Time to think about players you may want to add from your waiver wire and stash them during the offseason.

Let’s start with the quarterback position.

Mike White

He usurped Zach Wilson and played well enough to qualify as a potential starter in 2023. However, he’s a free agent after the season, so there’s no guarantee he remains with the Jets. And even if he does, I don’t think they are quite done with Zach Wilson yet.

White’s best chance is to get signed by a team that drafts a rookie QB who may not be ready to start right out of the gate. In deeper SFLEX leagues, that makes him a good offseason stash. But the chances are above 50% that he will not start the 2023 season as a starter for any team.

Brock Purdy

Mr. Irrelevant got a chance to start, and boy does he look good. And not only did he show that he is perfectly capable of moving the sticks for Kyle Shanahan’s offense. But reports also suggests the locker room loves him.

In just 3 games, Purdy has shown what Trey Lance couldn’t prove in 2 full seasons: that he is NFL-ready. If there is one coach in the NFL who has proven that draft capital won’t earn you anything on his team, then it’s Shanahan. If Purdy keeps playing well, he will have a chance to earn the starter role in 2023. That makes him stash-worthy in all SFLEX formats, and even some 1QB leagues, especially if you have Lance on your IR. Purdy was the #12 QB in PPG over the last 3 games played.

Bailey Zappe

It’s been a while already, but remember that Mac Jones got zappe’d early in the season. Zappe looked solid, with a QB rating of over 100 in 3 of his 4 games.

Mac Jones doesn’t show a lot of improvement over his rookie season. He’s not completely terrible, but he also doesn’t look like a QB who can lead this team into a new golden age. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pats will call an open competition for the starter job in the 2023 preseason, making Zappe a speculative stash in deeper SFLEX formats.

Tyler Huntley

Huntley will be an RFA after the season, and I expect them to bring him back. He is one of the best backups in the NFL, as he can utilize almost the full playbook Lamar has in his pocket. From a fantasy POV, that means Huntley is capable of putting up an almost similar score line when his number is called.

He remains a handcuff. But with Lamar getting older and more injury prone (as it is common for rushing QBs), Huntley is a very valuable handcuff. If you have Lamar Jackson, you need to stash Huntley in all formats. As a standalone player, he’s still a good stash in deeper SFLEX formats.

Gardner Minshew

Has the final chapter of Minshew Mania already been written? He had set the NFL on fire in 2020 and was subsequently signed by the Eagles, at a time when it was not clear yet if Jalen Hurts would make it in the NFL. He did, leaving Minshew stuck firmly on the bench.

He’s a UFA after the season, and it will be interesting to see if any teams will show interest in him, maybe as a bridge QB for a team that drafted a rookie QB. He’s a speculative stash for deeper SFLEX formats, as there is zero guarantee he will find a new starter job. But we all know what he can do if he does.

Jordan Love

Love is entering the final year of his rookie contract, with the Packers holding a 5th year option for 2024. And he’s still stuck behind Aaron Rodgers. Will Rodgers come back in 2023? If not, will Love be a good QB?

We don’t know. But the Rodgers era in Green Bay will end at some point. And Love looked improved when he played for a few drives against the Eagles in week 12. if the Love owner in your SFLEX league gave up on him, you might want to scoop him up and stash him. At the very least, you won’t have to wait for another 3 years to find out what Love is worth.

2

Where do next year’s rookie QBs fit into your dynasty plans?

Where would you draft them?

Are they not better options than the players mentioned?

How many QBs do you carry on a roster?

3

That is completely impossible to answer without knowing their landing spots.

Take Trevor Lawrence for example: he was handled as a generational talent, a potential top 5 QB right out of the gate. And then he got drafted by a terrible team, which quickly relegated him to an afterthought in 1QB leagues.

Some of them definitely are. But I cannot stash upcoming rookies on my team right now.

In my SFLEX league, we can roster 5. But players on TAXI and IR do not count against roster limits. So I indeed have 6 right now, and could even add a 7th.

Patrick Mahomes (starter)
Justin Herbert (starter)
Jordan Love (bench)
Gardner Minshew (bench, have him ever since his first game)
Bailey Zappe (TAXI)
Brock Purdy (TAXI)

I also had stashed Mitch Trubisky last offseason, but cut him after he was benched in Pittsburgh, to have room for a streamer. For a while, despite all my depth on the position, I only had 2 startable QBs. Which was a huge problem in week 8, when both Mahomes and Herbert were on BYE, and I subsequently lost to a weak team.

I sleep much easier now, knowing that I have Brock Purdy, whom I can start in the playoffs in case something happens to Mahomes or Herbert.

That’s also why I don’t add a 3rd bench QB yet. There aren’t any good options this year, anyway. Best is Cooper Rush, who isn’t a terrible option, but not a must-stash player, either.

In my 1QB league, we also allow 5 QBs. But in a 1 QB league, it would not make sense to stash that many. My starter is Daniel Jones, and since my intended QB1 was Trey Lance (who is on IR and does not count against roster maximums), I also stashed Brock Purdy on TAXI there. My backups were Andy Dalton and briefly Mike White, but I cut them both after I was out of playoff contention.

1 Like
4

I have 2 dynasty leagues, so here is where they are. Both leagues are superflex.

My main dynasty league:

Derek Carr
Jameis Winston (likely to be dropped before the draft)
Malik Willis
Cooper Rush

I will undoubtedly be adding a QB in the draft, even if it’s a 3rd round lottery ticket.

In my second league:

Derek Carr
Davis Mills
Cooper Rush
Tyrod Taylor
Jeff Driskel
Matt Corral (IR)

This league is a far worse situation, as I don’t have any meaningful draft picks, so I am literally waiting until 2024 to be able to grab anything useful. The best I can do is to troll the waiver wire and hope to grab a player before anyone else.

2 Likes
5

To make the QB draft question easier. How high have you seen a QB drafted in dynasty? On average, when do teams look for one?

Do your leagues not trade for picks during the season and off season before seeing the landing spots?

In keepers rookie QBs are not held in high regard. I have never seen any drafted other than the bottom third.

6

In SFLEX leagues: 1.o1, as it should be.
In 1QB leagues: mid 1st, around 1.06-1.10.

Depends on how good the rookie QBs are, and if there are any QB needy teams, of course. This year, Pickett was drafted at 1.06 in my SFLEX by a very QB-needy team, and in the 3rd round in my 1QB league.

Of course, they do. But you still don’t know what that pick will be worth until after the NFL draft. No amount of college scouting will change that.

Keepers is a completely different story. In keeper leagues, you will always find startable veterans in the mid draft rounds. In dynasty, you need to draft them. Even in 1QB leagues, it will be extremely expensive to trade for a top 10 QB. In SFLEX leagues, it will completely ruin you, as no owner will give up a top 10 QB unless you are ready to spend multiple 1sts and/or top players in return.

1 Like
7

It depends on how many players are kept each year. If you only keep 2 players, QB’s drop in value significantly. If you keep 8, suddenly top QB’s carry some value. You have the luxury of keeping a top 10-12 QB.

In my case, I can guaranty I’ll be keeping Jalen Hurts next year. The top 5 players of the season for our league?

  1. Josh Allen - 361 pts
  2. Jalen Hurts - 337 pts
  3. Patrick Mahomes - 331 pts
  4. Joe Burrow - 299 pts
  5. Justin Jefferson - 271 pts

On a side note, #6 is Geno Smith with 268 pts. Kudos to the Seahawks for seeing that.

I agree with what @ZakHH said, but I would add that most QB’s require patience. For every Justin Herbert, there are several guys like Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen who don’t pay off for a few years. But all my dynasty leagues are superflex, so QB’s come at a heavy premium. Draft early, or go home.

1 Like
8

After doing my QB research for 2023, I have to add a 7th name to this thread:

Kyle Trask

He’s the only QB the Bucs have signed for 2023, and they neither have an early draft pick nor a ton of free cap space. Maybe the Bucs will go after a free agent like Jacoby Brissett or Gardner Minshew, but Trask may also get a chance to compete for the starter role next year.