QB by committee.
I was just running some numbers. In one of my leagues, 12 teams, the first 12 QBs off the board in 2014 were: Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Tony Romo, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Jay Cutler, Phillip Rivers, Nick Foles.
At the end of the year, according to NFL.com standard scoring, Rodgers was the scoring leader with 354. seven of those 12 finished in the top ten among QBs in scoring. Romo, Newton, Cutler, Rivers, and Foles did not.
The next two QBs taken, backup QBs on fantasy rosters, were Ben Roethlisberger, and Joe Flacco. Roethlisberger, ended up finishing 5th in QB scoring. Flacco, 13th.
If you went the committee approach with Roethlisberger and Flacco, and plug and played, and made the right choice each week, you would have scored 358 points. Four more than the guy who takes Rodgers. The guy who took Rodgers then misses out on elite RBs, or Gronk/Graham in the draft.
Worst case scenario, you make the wrong choice each week, and you score 231 points from the QB spot, 17th best. Not great, better than Andy Dalton, just a shade under Cam Newton who was drafted as a teams #1 guy.
The actual total with smart guys like us probably lies somewhere in the middle of 231-358, the mid point being 294.5. That is good enough for 7th best scoring from the QB position. middle of the road in a 12 team league.
Also of note, 8 weeks, half of the year, Flacco or Roethlisberger outscored Rodgers.
What this tells me is if you don't get Rodgers, Manning, Brees, or Luck, might as well not even bother taking Rivers, Ryan, Romo, etc.... and counting on them as your QB1 every week, since you can easily match the production of the tier 2 guys with a committee approach.
The big question is, who is this years Roethlisberger, a guy who will go in the middle of drafts that will put up big points, and you can pair with unsexy Flacco who you know exactly what you're going to get.
My vote for this years Big Ben is Eli Manning. Beckham, Cruz, and they added James Jones. Donnell showed breakout potential as a TE, the experts feel he has the best receiving corp he has ever had, and has an OK enough line in front of him.
Rivers, Eli Manning, and Flacco are going 13th, 14th, 15th among QBs in NFL.com mock drafts. I think pairing Eli with either of those two and playing the matchups could pay off big if you wait until you fill the rest of your starting roster before drafting a QB, round seven or eight.