This column was originally published in 2025, and has been updated for the 2026 season.
The modern NFL game is dominated by quarterbacks. The past 13 regular-season MVPs and 14 of the past 20 Super Bowl MVPs have been quarterbacks. Ten of the past 12 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 22 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 two decades.
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 Drake Maye capturing headlines and dominating the fantasy football landscape.
Allen has the record for most seasons with at least 350 fantasy points (doing so in each of the past six seasons). Maye exceeded 350 fantasy points in what was only his second NFL season, and he was the fifth-youngest quarterback to score that many.
These are accomplishments 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 and 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 as the No. 1 overall pick, and Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels and Maye as early-first-round selections. In fact, it's not a difficult case to make that six quarterbacks warrant first-round consideration, even in a 10-team league (adding Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts to this list).
Naturally, more QBs become fantasy-relevant
It's not only about trumpeting the Josh Allens 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 10 weeks of last season, Trevor Lawrence was the highest-scoring fantasy quarterback in the league, five times scoring in excess of 20 fantasy points and totaling 226.08. Yet only twice during that time was he started in more than one-quarter of ESPN leagues.
Meanwhile, Jacoby Brissett stepped in for an injured Kyler Murray beginning in Week 6 and scored at least 15 fantasy points in all but one of his 12 starts. Over that 13-week span, Brissett scored 227.24 points, sixth best at the position. However, not once all season was he started in at least half of ESPN leagues.
In superflex leagues, though, both QBs were lineup mainstays for the near-entirety of the season's second half.
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 Lawrence's or Brissett's. After all, Brissett had a history of decent production when tasked with filling in for the Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns in the past, and he was expected to take on a hefty passing load for an Arizona Cardinals team playing most of their games from behind. Lawrence, meanwhile, benefited greatly from the Jacksonville Jaguars' midseason acquisition of Jakobi Meyers.
Lawrence wasn't the only such recent example. The past three seasons also brought us similar success stories like Jordan Love in 2023, Baker Mayfield and Bo Nix in 2024, and Sam Darnold 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 2026: How will Kyler Murray fare in a new, passing-friendly offensive environment with the Minnesota Vikings, and can he remain healthy enough to capitalize in the role? Was Tyler Shough's strong finish when thrust into a starting role late last season a breakthrough or aberration? What exactly might Fernando Mendoza be as a rookie starter for the Las Vegas Raiders?
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 tracking Jonathon Brooks' health and his prospects of challenging Chuba Hubbard for carries in the Carolina Panthers' backfield, or painstakingly evaluating whether either rookie between KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston can emerge as a factor in a bad Cleveland Browns offense. 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 Murray, Shough, Mendoza, 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 168 total games worth at least 20 fantasy points, an average of more than nine per week and more than any other individual position scored as a whole (wide receiver was next closest with 167).
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 2025 to construct the 20 most probable starters in a superflex/2QB league, 80% of those 20-point efforts would've made the lineup cut, instead of the 43% 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.