Hasslebeck and Plummer

[Steel Curtain]

I know everyone has different theories and things that have worked for them in fantasy football. For me it has been drafting rb's, then wr's, and finding a great qb either late in the draft or off of waivers (Culpepper his first big year, Warner, Garcia, Grbec's big year in KC, Brooks). It just always seems like there are more breakout QB's then rb's or maybe I'm just able to predict breakout qb's better than I can other positions. Anyway, I know many people agree with this and that some disagree. My point is that this year I see 3 qb's that I think are going to have big years and can be drafted late. They are Trent Green, Hasslebeck, and Plummer. I plan on actually using two of my picks in rounds 6-10 to take two of these three and will platoon them unless one of them totally separates themselves. By doing this I will have 2 stud rb's (probably first 2 rounds) and 3 very solid wr's. Hasslebeck will definitely be my first qb taken. I just cannot see any reasons why he won't have a huge year. He outproduced every other qb by a lot in both yds. and td's over the last 7 games last year once he had all his weapons (a healthy jackson, a productive Alexander, an emerging K-rob). If there are any reasons why he won't continue to put up big numbers I'm not seeing them. If combined with Green in a platoon they will have some great matchups almost every week and be able to face Detroit (Green) and Arizona (Hasslebeck) in week 15 and 16. The platoon I want to focus on however is Hasslebeck and Plummer because Plummer can be drafted later than Green and with the weapons he has in Denver and with the right matchups, he should have success:
Week 1- Seatle vs. NO or Denver vs. Cincinatti (either matchup is favorable- both teams were in the bottom 5 teams last year in both passing yds. and passing td's allowed.).
Week 2- Seatle vs. Arizona or Denver vs. San Diego (again both teams suck against the pass)
Week 3- Denver vs. Oakland (This isn't one of the best matchups but Oakland did give up the 8th most passing yards per game last season. Woodson did miss some time however. The other matchup is Seatle vs. St. Louis)
Week 4- Denver vs. Detroit (Detroit gave up the 2nd most passing yards and 27 passing td's)
Week 5- Denver vs. Kansas City (Kansas City gave up the 3rd most passing yards and passing td's).
Week 6- Seatle vs. San Fran or Denver vs. Pittsburgh (Both teams finished in the bottom 12 teams for passing yards allowed- Pittsburgh 10th, San Fran 12th- however SF gave up 4 more passing td's)
Week 7- Denver vs. Minnasota- (Minnasota gave up the 4th most passing yards and the most passing td's- 33!)
Week 8- Seatle vs. Cincinatti- (Cincinatti gave up a decent 213 yds. per game passing but also gave up 30 passing td's- 2nd most in NFL)
Week 9- Seatle vs. Pittsburgh- (As much as it pains me to say so, this matchup edges out Denver vs. New England- I'm sure you can remember some guys having huge passing games vs's the Steelers last year- Brady, Gannon, Vick, Holcomb)
Week 10- Seatle vs. Washington (Although Washington was pretty tough against the pass last year led by Champ Bailey, they lost their defensive coordinator and more importantly their defensive line looks like it will struggle a lot this year)
Week 11- Denver vs. San Diego or Seatle vs. Detroit (San Diego gave up the most yards passing per game last season, but Detroit was right behind them and gave up one more passing td)
Week 12- Denver vs. Chicago (Chicago was 9th worse in yards given up and also gave up 24 passing td's)
Week 13- Denver vs. Oakland (Along with week 3, the only time during the regular season when the matchup isn't great)
Week 14- Seatle vs. Minnasota or Denver vs. Kansas City (It's like being asked to choose between getting to beat up Carrot Top or the Dell computer guy- both would be fun and easy)
Week 15- Denver vs. Cleveland or Seatle vs. St. Louis (Neither are great matchups but neither are horrible either. They both are middle of the pack passing defenses. I will just go with the hotter qb at this point)
Week 16- Seatle vs. Arizona (Edges out Denver vs. Indianapolis- Arizona gave up 6th most yards per game and the 3rd most passing td's- 29!)

[DUKE]

I chose the exact approach in two of my leagues this year. In one of them, I ended up w/ Hasselbeck and Plummer both.

[Transmogrifier]

Great first post!

I use the same exact approach in all my leagues except my keeper league. I'll look for that combination, too. Thanks.

[yoda83]

my plan has been green/hasselbeck. i used to be a LOT higher on hasselbeck, but i wasnt too impessed in that colts game. if you're going for him, make sure you keep an eye out. 12(?) starts as the QB of a "scrub" team and catching people napping is different than being the man all year long. same goes for maddox, for those considering him.

excellent post, curtain.

[Canadian Seahawk]

I agree with all, including the great first post!!!

[QB Kontraverzy]

Wow Steel Curtain, you really did your homework. Excellent post! This is especially helpful to me as I have both Hasselbeck and Plummer on my team. I employ the same strategy as you and was able to nab Hasselbeck in the 9th round along with Maddox in the 12th and Plummer in the 15th. Everyone else in my league thinks that I am weak at the QB position. Little do they know... hehe

[Steel Curtain]

Thanks a lot for the positive feedback. I've visited this site and just read all the posts for the last couple years. I don't know how long this site has been around but I can tell that the quality of information is a ton better this year. I finally felt that it was time I started giving some since I had been taking so much great info. I'm sure not everyone can agree with this post and am looking forward to some arguments being made against it.

[LTFalcon]

Steel Curtain

Please don't take this as an argument against your post cause it's not, but you did make a comment about not seeing how Hasselbeck would continue his performance from last year. And that is what I am referring to.

I too have Hasselebeck rated fairly highly after the obvious choices (McNabb, pre-injury Vick, etc.) But the one thing that causes me some concern is that all of his great performances came after the hawks were out of contention. I have to wonder how much of this game for him is a mental thing. Oh...there's no pressure on me now...well let's just have fun then...and that's when he plays awesome. I've watched him from now back to when he was mr. August with the Packers...he always seems to play best when there's not a lot on the line.

As soon as they get Jones back at the tackle position, Hasselbeck has all the weapons he needs to be a top QB, but my question is will he be able to close the deal when it's for all the marbles. That's the one thing he has never shown me yet, and that is all I need to become a true believer...I mean, Holmgren is a genius and he loves the guy for a reason right?

Anyway, just some thoughts...