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Fantasy Football Discussion: Why Not Take Quarterbacks First?

Yes, it's very slow in the NFL right now, unless your favorite part of football are the lawsuits and countersuits. With training camp less than a month away, many of you are thinking about fantasy football. For those of you who are already thinking about fantasy football or who enjoy the most popular aspect of the NFL these days, let me pose a question for you: why do people still value running backs over quarterbacks with early picks in the first round of the draft?

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Funny enough, it's just the opposite of the real world, where quarterbacks and receivers are prized over running backs on draft day and in the free agent market. Yet, when fantasy draft time rolls around I can almost guarantee you the first few picks in your draft will be Maurice Jones-Drew, Arian Foster, LeSean McCoy and Ray Rice.

I understand that those guys are all valuable players. Many moons ago when I first started getting my ass handed to me every fall in fantasy football teams were still using primary backs as the center of their offense. Hell, I remember playing fantasy online before live scoring came about. That's like the Bronze Age in internet years.

But today's NFL is different, vastly different. Six quarterbacks threw for more than 4,500 yards last season. Nobody batted an eye about it. Barring injuries, I would guess that more quarterbacks will surpass that mark this season.

And look at the fantasy production of the top passers. Using standard scoring, Drew Brees posted less than 20 fantasy points only twice last year. LeSean McCoy topped 20 points in just three of his games last season. Who would you rather have?

Help me understand this, why are Brees, Brady, Stafford, Cam Newton, and Rodger not being drafted higher than the running backs?