2k7 Quarterback strategies

[-Mojo Jojo-]

I'm curious how people are dealing with QB's in this game. Having a killer QB seems to be as critical as ever to winning titles, but there are lot fewer of them now and they seem pretty hard to come by. What are you doing about that? Trading up to the top pick? Getting by with a 50 rated QB? Finding booms?

I'm about 25 seasons into a career and have spent the last 10 of those without having a QB rated higher than 52. I had the second pick in the draft after my first season, traded up to first and drafted a QB who developed to 65 rating and led my team to a ton of wins and a couple bowl victories. After he retired my team was good enough to win 8-10 games a year even without a decent QB (keeping me out of the top end of the draft), but I don't seem to be able to get into the top echelon without one. I've drafted 2-3 QB's each every one of those seasons including at least 3 first round picks (most late in the round, one I traded up to the 12th pick for) and at least as many second round picks. None has really panned out. I haven't had much luck trying to trade up to the top picks to get the really highly rated prospects... I'm at a loss.. Anyway, I'm curious what other people are doing in this situation, or if I'm alone on this?

[dbd1963]

I got lucky and found a guy in the 3rd round that boomed up to an 85, this while my star QB was in his final two seasons. I wound up trading the 85 guy for a can't miss #1 pick QB. As it happens, they are fairly equal in stats, except the #1 pic guy is a much better runner (you can get an idea in another thread just how good he is, it's titled "unbelievable finish").

So I did both -- got lucky with a boom and traded up. But if I hadn't had the boomer to trade I don't think I could have gotten into the #1 pick.

You may well ask, why even bother to do that trade at all? The 3rd rounder got hurt for 4 games and I began to dread the prospect of seeing him on the bench every year. But he hasn't ever been hurt since.

[Cringer]

I just won a title with this guy at QB.....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/Cringer/Project2.gif

As you can see he was a late first round pick, and I was pretty disappointed with his ratings after the draft. It was something like 23/57 or so. His future potential has dropped ever since then and is now down to 44. In his three years (started 14 games as a rookie, 14 in year two, and 16 this season) as the starter he has thrown for over 3000 each year. He is 68-48 in TD and INTs.

So I am not going to worry to much on my QB stategy I guess.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've done well in a few quick sim careers without a stud QB, but if the QB is under 60 or so, I think either a truly great running attack or a great defense is needed. I've never had an elite QB yet, but once McNabb retires in my current dynasty, I plan on trading up to get a high pick in the draft and hope that he doesn't bust.

[dj_morton]

I've had a lot of sucess with a great HB who can catch the ball and a great DL. I'm a big fan of the screen pass.

[Cringer]

I've done well in a few quick sim careers without a stud QB, but if the QB is under 60 or so, I think either a truly great running attack or a great defense is needed. I've never had an elite QB yet, but once McNabb retires in my current dynasty, I plan on trading up to get a high pick in the draft and hope that he doesn't bust.

In all fairness I do have a pretty good running game (my RB is over 1500 the last two seasons). In this playof run that ended with a title though it wasn't exactly over-powering. He had 306 yards in three games with only 1 TD (thanks Jim for adding playoff stats to player cards, I love it).

My defense is pretty good too. Though my stud DE was out since mid-season with a high ankle sprain, so I was surprised to see my defense keep up the play like they did.

edit: One thing that has helped my QB is a pretty good receiving group. I am strong at TE, and WR Greg Jennings is a monster. Some younger guys are making some big plays for me though not real consistent yet.

[Masked]

I've had 4 consecutive strong seasons in my current career including one bowl win (and three poor postseason showings). My team has been lead by a strong running game and a great defense. My QB is rated 41/41 (former 1st round pick). He had one great year with a QB rating of about 100, but the rest of the time he has been in the low 80's. I keep trying to replace him (due to poor playoff performance), but none of my draft picks or FA's have panned out.

Without the burden of an elite QB salary, I've been able to keep my defense and running game fairly intact (plus got a lucky draft pick to replace the 11 year vet RB whose ratings had tanked), but I think the window closes after the current season when my LT, DE, and DT contract's run out.

A 41/41 QB got me a bowl win, but I can only wonder if a 60/60 would have resulted in a dynasty.

[larrymcg421]

In my Dolphins career, I traded three first round picks for a guy that looked like a can't miss prospect. He came out of camp with 61 potential. Certainly not what I expected. He has now maxed out at 60/60 and has had three straight years of 90+ QB ratings, but his inconsistent play has hurt us in the playoffs. I've tried almost every year to draft a replacement QB, with no luck.

[Caratacus]

I took over the Raiders and picked up an undrafted QB I had interviewed, his potential rating was about 47 or 48. After training camp he had dropped to 43, after some injuries and bad play early on I threw him in and he started the last nine games and came out with a 82.9 QB passer rating. To cut a long story short, at the start of his fifth season his rating was upto 63/63 and he took us to the superbowl (lost to the Giants and a 90+ rated Manning).

His back up who I drafted in the 5th round the same year has dropped from 51 potential to 33 over the years, with a current in the mid twenties, he has started 9 games due to injuries (6 in my superbowl season) and has put up very good numbers. The only thing I can see as a downside is that he will have the odd shocker of a game, maybe not as often as Grossman, but when he stinks he stinks (2 bad games in the 9 he's played).

Note: I have an OL built for the run and my recievers are 55 and 54 rated, nothing special. I have a decent ground game, but not league leading by any means and he had a 92.0 passer rating in his last season with a 67.1% completion rate.

[Vince]

In my Dolphins career, I traded three first round picks for a guy that looked like a can't miss prospect. He came out of camp with 61 potential. Certainly not what I expected. He has now maxed out at 60/60 and has had three straight years of 90+ QB ratings, but his inconsistent play has hurt us in the playoffs. I've tried almost every year to draft a replacement QB, with no luck.


Is his name Jeff Garcia? Why on earth would you want to replace him after three straight years of 90+ QB Ratings?

[amdaily]

I took over Tampa in 2007 and took a QB 1st overall after trading up from 1(2). Ended up playing for 13 season with a current rating around 75. Took me to the playoffs 9 times and the FOF Bowl 5 times, before retiring early after winning MVP in the FOF Bowl.

Only had a 1,000 yard rusher 5 times in those 13 season and won despite my QB averging 3,200 yards.

In any event, I found a former 1(17) 8th year QB with ratings of 35/65 sitting in FA. Being a mentor with high intelligence I signed him as a backup, a role he fulfilled for 2 seasons before taking the reigns after my veteran retired.

He's bolstered my passing game, averaging 3900 yards in 2 seasons as a starter while posting a 95 QB rating. He's only rated 51/65 after 2 full seasons of being a starter. Now in his 11th season, I'm hoping he'll go the distance to 16 or 17.

[larrymcg421]

Is his name Jeff Garcia? Why on earth would you want to replace him after three straight years of 90+ QB Ratings?

The QB rating is nice and all but it doesn't really tell the whole story. Haag would have two or three terrific games (like 19-23, 345, 3 TD) and would follow it up with a series of dreadful outings (10-24, 144, 3 INT). This kind of play made it difficult for us to advance far in the playoffs. Plus, most of his good numbers came on long throws to great receivers. He was not very good at short passes, which made it hard for us to control the clock.

[Vince]

The QB rating is nice and all but it doesn't really tell the whole story. Haag would have two or three terrific games (like 19-23, 345, 3 TD) and would follow it up with a series of dreadful outings (10-24, 144, 3 INT). This kind of play made it difficult for us to advance far in the playoffs. Plus, most of his good numbers came on long throws to great receivers. He was not very good at short passes, which made it hard for us to control the clock.
Damn...I know how it feels to have that sort of up-and-down performance at QB.

Everett 'Aces' Glenn (http://www.fof-ihof.com/player/player.php?playerid=1426)

[Autumn]

Damn...I know how it feels to have that sort of up-and-down performance at QB.

Everett 'Aces' Glenn (http://www.fof-ihof.com/player/player.php?playerid=1426)

Is your name Lovie?