This article isn't about either of them though. I noticed something when doing my dynasty ranks. I have both these players high and yet I really disliked Bradford. You may know him by his popular name "Badford". Is that well deserved? For those of you in two quarterback or superflex leagues, it seems like it's worth finding out.
Let's begin with the negatives for Bradford. Since entering the league in 2010 he has ranked near the bottom of yards per pass attempt among quarterbacks who have attempted at least 200 passes. He finished 32nd overall in 2010, 32nd in 2011, 28th in 2012, 36th in 2013, *did not play in 2014*, 25th in 2015, and 21st in 2016. He has shown improvement but those stats definitely show he has earned his reputation as a game manager.
During that same span, he's never finished higher than the 18th best quarterback in terms of passing touchdowns. In fact, the most touchdowns he has ever passed for was 21 back in 2012. Not exactly an awe inspiring stat for fantasy purposes.
Now we're getting to the fun part! What if I told you there is a quarterback that everyone loves that was statistically similar to Bradford in 2015 and 2016? Derek Carr has an identical yards per attempt to Bradford over the past two years. Additionally, he has only slightly more yardage. Bradford passed for 3877 yards last year versus Carr's 3937.
I'm not here to convince you that Bradford is Carr's equal. Carr is obviously younger and plays in a better offense. Additionally, based on football results I now believe that raiders were better at "scoring" than vikings must have been.
However, I am here to cure you of the notion that Bradford is trash. Last year was his first in the Vikings' offense and he set the single season record in completion percentage! He ranked 16th in total yards. He even ranked 19th in touchdown passes! In case that wasn't enough for you, his int % ranked 4th best of all quarterbacks who attempted at least 100 passes.
Granted all of that only amounted to the QB23 in fantasy leagues. It was still good enough to finish ahead of rookie "sensation" Carson Wentz. There's also reason to hold out hope for an even better season.
Thielen just had his "breakout year". Diggs is still a young player who many (myself included) don't feel has hit his ceiling yet. Laquan Treadwell was a highly coveted player coming into last year's draft. He may have only had one catch but supposedly he was also injured. Add in the receiving prowess of Dalvin Cook and you suddenly have a very legitimate looking Vikings' offense.
Bradford may not have tales of his quarterback skills told in Valhalla, but he is currently the right man to helm the ship. At current ADP, Brian Hoyer is going off the board before Bradford. If you're in a two quarterback or super-flex league make a move for Bradford now. You'd be getting a QB2 at a bye week fill in price. When you're partying with Thor during your league victory parade you can thank me.
Until next time,
Rek
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