The modern NFL game is dominated by quarterbacks. The past 12 regular-season MVPs and 14 of the past 19 Super Bowl MVPs have been quarterbacks. Nine of the past 11 players taken first overall in the NFL draft have been quarterbacks. The single-season passing touchdown record has been broken three times in the past 21 seasons. And three of the most accomplished quarterbacks in history -- Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning -- achieved their best statistical campaigns within the past 18 seasons.
Beyond the awards and gaudy statistics accumulated by those who play the position, modern quarterbacks continue to captivate us with their athleticism. Mobile QBs have revolutionized the game, with players such as Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson capturing headlines and dominating the fantasy football landscape.
Allen has the record for most seasons with at least 375 fantasy points (doing so in each of the past five seasons) and is the league's reigning MVP. Jackson set the single-season scoring record for fantasy points by a quarterback in 2024, giving him two of the top four years on that list (2019).
These are performances to be celebrated and etched into our brains. The fantasy football experience reaches its apex when we amplify these memories. And that excitement is why I would implore you to make one simple change to your league this year: Start two quarterbacks instead of one.
Here's how you do it: Add a superflex slot to your league's lineup.
What is a superflex, you ask? Listed as an "OP" (offensive player) in ESPN leagues, the superflex slot can be filled by a QB, RB, WR or TE.
While you could simply add a second starting QB slot, adding a superflex instead is the recommended approach, particularly if your league has more than 10 teams in it.
Superflex leagues are effectively 2QB leagues -- the numbers bear out that a quarterback should be prioritized in that lineup slot -- but this option provides the flexibility of using a RB, WR or TE instead, in the event you run short on QBs in a given week due to byes or injuries.
NOTE: To add an OP slot to the starting lineup in your ESPN custom league, click on "LM Tools" and then "Edit Roster Settings." Adjust the dropdown menu accordingly and you're all set.
There are other rationales for the switch to start two quarterbacks as well.
It means a greater focus on QBs early in your draft
If we are to emulate the NFL game, shouldn't we be drafting top quarterbacks nearly as early as the game's best running backs and wide receivers?
Among the dozen or so fantasy football leagues in which I play, two of my favorites are superflex/2QB setups, one of which I've played for nearly 30 years. The shift in draft strategy demanded by such a format is a welcome challenge.
In a superflex format, it is absolutely legitimate to regard Allen or Jackson as the No. 1 overall pick (I personally rank Jackson first). In fact, it's not a difficult case to make that both of them, plus Jayden Daniels and Jalen Hurts, warrant consideration among the first five overall picks.
Naturally, more QBs become fantasy-relevant
It's not only about trumpeting the Allens and Jacksons of the league. It's also about elevating the lesser-known quarterbacks who aren't always worthy enough to crack a traditional fantasy lineup.
For example, over the final eight weeks of last season, Jared Goff was the highest-scoring fantasy quarterback in the league -- yes, Jared Goff! -- yet not once during that time was he started in more than half of ESPN leagues.
Meanwhile, Sam Darnold authored one of the position's most unexpected breakthrough stories in recent memory, finishing top 10 at the position for the week eight times and ninth in scoring for the season. Yet, only seven times was he started in greater than one-third of ESPN leagues, most of them during the fantasy playoffs.
In superflex leagues, however, both QBs were lineup mainstays for the near-entirety of the season.
Fantasy managers in superflex formats must embrace the challenge of scouting a wider scope of the position's player pool, including potentially foreseeing breakthroughs like Goff's or Darnold's. After all, Darnold was a known Week 1 starter (following J.J. McCarthy's season-ending injury) who led an offense with one of the most potent sets of receivers. Those who took a chance on him could have been the ones exclaiming, "Sam Darnold's 35-point Week 14 propelled me into my league's playoffs!"
Darnold wasn't the only such recent example. The past two seasons also brought us similar success stories like Jordan Love in 2023 and Baker Mayfield and Bo Nix last year, quarterbacks who were lightly drafted in standard fantasy leagues but made compelling cases for a closer examination.
Now flash forward at the position, to 2025: How will Justin Fields fare in his return to a starting role with the New York Jets? To what degree might C.J. Stroud rebound from a disappointing sophomore campaign? What can we expect from McCarthy in his return from multiple knee surgeries?
In standard leagues, these answers are mostly irrelevant come draft day, because none of the three makes a compelling enough case to be in a fantasy lineup in September. In those single-QB formats, we're better off saving the time we'd spend scouting those quarterbacks, and reinvesting it into painstakingly examining Bhayshul Tuten's path to prominence in the Jacksonville Jaguars' backfield, or Marvin Mims Jr.'s likelihood of finally breaking through in the Denver Broncos' receiver pecking order, because those and similar answers from other teams' running back and wide receiver depth charts provide more valuable insight into our late-round, bench and sleeper picks.
The likes of Fields, Stroud, McCarthy, etc. should have a more prominent place in my fantasy analysis. And in a superflex league, it's imperative to examine all 32 teams' quarterback pictures, right there alongside examining every team's third-string running back and No. 3 and/or slot wide receiver.
It means more points scored by your lineup
We all love more fantasy points, right? Last season, quarterbacks amassed 163 total games worth at least 20 fantasy points, an average of more than nine per week and more than the running back position scored as a whole.
In a 10-team league with one starting QB for each team, many of those 20-point performances go by the wayside. But with two starters, the vast majority of those games wind up counting toward some team's fantasy score.
Using ESPN's most-started percentages from 2024 to construct the 20 most probable starters in a superflex/2QB league, 83% of those 20-point efforts would've made the lineup cut, instead of the 49% that actually did in standard, single-QB play.
Let's all give quarterbacks their due, and have more fun playing fantasy in the process. This year, add a second starter to your lineup and make them the centerpieces of your roster.