Everyone knows that QB is the most crucial position in football, but it took the fantasy game quite a while to reflect that reality. Superflex may not yet be the dominant format for casual players, but it is for the hardcore among us, especially those who play dynasty.

So let’s talk dynasty SuperFlex startup strategy!

Two QBs At The Top

I’m not going to bother distinguishing between “two-quarterback leagues” and SuperFlex leagues for this article. In any SuperFlex league, you should be prepared to start two quarterbacks every week, barring an unforeseen roster emergency. Otherwise, you’re doing it wrong and putting yourself at a severe disadvantage.

With that in mind, signal callers should be the cornerstone of your dynasty franchise, just like they are in real life. Without that foundation, you’re on shaky ground.

That’s why I want to come out of every SuperFlex startup draft with the best pair of reasonably young QBs that I can get my hands on. So this is priority No. 1, with a bullet.

There are a few reasons for this. To begin with, QBs are scarce in SuperFlex leagues, just like running backs. More so, in fact, because two running backs from the same team can be viable fantasy options, whereas that never happens with QBs.

There are only 32 starting NFL QBs, which means not everyone in a 12-team dynasty league can have three of them – the amount of QB depth necessary to feel confident you’ll always have two starters available to you. The position gets even more barren when you factor in that the worst QBs tend to be only marginally better fantasy options than players at other positions. Ideally, in a 12-team dynasty league, you want to have two top-12 QBs and a third in the QB13-24 range.

However, it’s not just scarcity that makes QB the top priority in dynasty SuperFlex; it’s longevity. Unlike bell cow running backs, who only tend to be dominant for two to three seasons, the elite fantasy QBs can give you an edge over your competition for a decade or more. So, for example, if you drafted Tom Brady in a dynasty startup at the start of the millennium (and held onto him through his recent faux retirement), you’d still be reaping the rewards 22 years later.

The advantages of prioritizing QB don’t end there. Quarterbacks are also much less likely than players at other positions to suffer significant injuries or see their production rapidly decrease because of a sudden decline in opportunity. As a result, QBs are the most stable and durable fantasy assets, and it isn’t particularly close.

Build Out Your Roster With WRs Who Can Help Now — And Later

So what should you do after you’ve locked up two high-end quarterbacks? Let’s take a quick step back to look at the big picture.

The principle that dictates targeting two top-tier QBs is the same one that should also guide the rest of your draft: find as many players as possible who can help you win now and later. I want to put off choosing whether to prioritize the present or the future for as long as possible in a startup draft. I want to have my cake and eat it, too.

What that generally means in practice is that once you have two QBs, target early-round WRs over early-round RBs.

WRs have a much longer shelf life than RBs, and their value depends more on talent and less on their situation. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always prefer a WR tied to a star QB than one tied to a bad one, but good WRs can thrive more than good RBs can in so-so conditions, and receiver careers can span long enough to see their team context change dramatically. Like QBs, they’re also much less injury-prone than running backs.

Wide receivers generally don’t decline until age 33 or 34, so even wideouts in their late 20s can provide you with a decent three or four-year window to contend.

Older receivers will typically have much less trade value in the marketplace, which can become an issue if you reach a point where you want to rebuild. The goal should always be to get proven WRs who are as far away from that age-33 cliff as possible. Just realize there’s no shame, or error, in drafting some older WRs in the middle rounds. They may end up being exceptional values.

RB: The Final Puzzle Piece

Running backs are undoubtedly also key to contending, but don’t fall for the trap of burning your first couple picks on bell cow backs like you would in a single-QB redraft format. Instead, look at RB as the final piece to the puzzle. Once you have your QBs and WRs in place – your foundation – look for RBs in the mid-to-late rounds who have a chance to see a sudden increase in value, be it from getting more opportunity for touches as time goes by or from an injury on the depth chart above them.

This strategy is more appealing now that most fantasy leagues award points per reception. Even if your league only offers 0.5 points per catch, it still significantly boosts the value of WRs compared to RBs and substantially expands the number of RBs who are viable fantasy options.

Worst-case scenario, you swing and miss on the RBs you end up drafting. Even then, you can eventually trade draft capital for RBs once you know for sure that you have a contending team. There will always be retooling managers in your league who will want to cash out on aging RBs to accelerate a rebuild.

What This Means For 2022 Drafts

With my first pick in a 2022 dynasty startup, I’d be looking to lock down one of these eight QBs: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Dak Prescott, or Deshaun Watson. All eight are 28-years-old or younger (Dak is the only one over 26-years-old), and they all have finished as a top-5 QB except for Burrow, who should get there soon enough. If another one of this “Big 8” is still available when you pick in the second round, I would double down on QB.

If you happen to be picking towards the end of the first round and fall victim to a massive QB run where all of the “Big 8” get taken, I would happily pivot to WR and select either Justin Jefferson or Ja’Marr Chase, a pair of 22-year-olds who have already proven that they are top-5 fantasy wideouts. If they’re gone too, I’d less enthusiastically turn to CeeDee Lamb or Kyle Pitts.

If you don’t end up getting a quarterback in round one, it increases the urgency of addressing the position in rounds two and three. Here, I would look to pair a young, high-upside QB with a reliable veteran.

The young upside QBs I’d look at would be Trey Lance, Trevor Lawrence, Jalen Hurts, and Justin Fields. The veterans I’d target would be Russell Wilson and Matthew Stafford, both established QB1s in great offensive situations who should have at least four to five more years of fantasy viability. Aaron Rodgers would be my fallback option, simply because of his age (38-years-old).

Even if you do get one of the “Big 8” in round one, I’d aim for my second QB to come from this group.

In rounds four through seven, I’d aim to collect as many top wide receivers as I can get, starting with the ones who are furthest away from hitting the age curve. I’d also be open to delving into the RB market here, or even nabbing a third QB, if my positional tiers indicate that a major drop-off is coming at the position.

Once you reach the middle rounds, you’ll likely need to choose between older “win-now” players and younger guys who will take longer to pay off, if they ever do. There’s no wrong answer here, but I generally prefer to try to compete for the playoffs in year one, so I wouldn’t shy away from collecting players here who can make a significant impact for you over the next one to three seasons.

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Andrew Seifter is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his archive and follow him @andrew_seifter.