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Seth’s Notebook: Underrated Apps & Mobile QBs

by Seth Woolcock

STATE COLLEGE, Pa – Each day that passes has the potential to be a new page in our story. Memories made and lessons learned define our character.

At least that’s how I – Seth Woolcock – a 23-year-old overly optimistic writer, see it. The struggle I’ve found in today’s digital era is that it’s tough enough to catch your breath sometimes, let alone document the day’s moments and epiphanies.

Let’s face it. Humans have an average of 6,200 thoughts per day. Somewhere along the way, we’ve all probably stumbled across a brilliant, life-changing idea. But, likely, it was lost in the shuffle before we had the chance to write it down.

That’s in part why I’m on a mission this NFL offseason to keep and publish my personal digital journal. “Seth’s Notebook” – a spinoff of my longstanding column “Start, Sit & Seth” – will follow my spring/summertime adventures, detailing my favorite takes of fantasy football and lifestyle takes that come along the way.

There will be few to no interviews, no standard structure, just good writes and thoughtful notes about the real and fantasy world from a man finally finding his place in it all.

My Place (As of Feb. 22)

I concluded the season four finale of “Start, Sit & Seth” with one of the best cliffhangers the series has seen. I left my full-time job to pursue freelancing and fantasy sports content creation full-time.

This week I woke up able to kick it off with a full day of paid fantasy sports content creation. Though still not fully secure in my new way of life, I find myself at one of the most hopeful and peaceful chapters of my life.

Upon this temporary plateau, it’s hard to not see how far I’ve come. Four years ago, I was just a junior journalism major at a Pennsylvania state school, searching for an outlet to tell my story and help others. It led me to a fantasy sports industry I call home and a family of content creators at In-Between Media – scattered across the country – who also vow to help others in a unique fashion.

If you’re new to my writing or In-Between Media in general, I assure you there is fantasy football advice on the way, but until then, enjoy my other top takes since the conclusion of the 2021 fantasy football season.

Offseason Take No. 1: Underrated Appetizers Power Rankings

There’s been a lot of talks about gameday food recently with both the Super Bowl and Daytona 500 hitting airwaves in back-to-back weeks. Every good game-day chef knows the party begins and ends with the appetizers. And in honor of this inaugural edition of “Seth’s Notebook,” we’ll start, well, with the starters, power ranking the most-underrated appetizers.

5. Salsa con Queso:  Versatile, easy to make thanks to TikTok videos and the perfect role player to add some spice to any event.

4. Sliders:  Burgers, cheesesteak or my personal favorite, turkey with a ranch dip, sliders are by far one of the most slept on appetizers in the game today. They’re a perfect calorie-count filler that isn’t going to put you in a food coma.

3. Fried Pickles:  Don’t get me wrong, mozzarella sticks are still the likely 1.01 of the fried appetizers. But there is no one more deserving of being the runner-up than fried pickles. They might have quite the explosion of mac and cheese bites or jalapeño poppers, but the consistency is there just about any time, sometimes even making it the star of the show.

2. Cheese & Crackers:  Old fashioned? No. Some things just don’t go out of style, like the always-reliable cheese and crackers. They come to play no matter the setting (sharp or soft), and they’re an all-time great duo (or trio with pepperoni). It’s about time we show this classic some respect.

1. Veggie Trays:  Remember the day when Tupperware veggie trays weren’t considered retro, but instead the staple of every get-together? The all-time great is an easy crowd-pleaser with vegetable dips taking no time at all to develop. It holds up better than ever in today’s game, due to the rise in gluten-free cases. Perhaps, the disrespect ends and the comeback of this healthy yet delicious treat begins here.

Offseason Take No. 2: The Mobile Quarterback Isn’t Dead

Our starting quarterback in our fantasy lineups is as important as our appetizers on game day, as they usually have the widest range of outcomes from week to week.

On the surface, 2021 appeared to be dominated by the pocket passers. Joe Burrow and Matthew Stafford – both top-six fantasy QBs this season – secured themselves a spot in the Super Bowl. Prolific rushing quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson missed multiple games and the playoffs, while young mobile quarterbacks like Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts got banged up and became less effective down the stretch.

Non-mobile New England quarterback Mac Jones was the only rookie to sustain real success in year one as athletic rookie quarterbacks Justin Fields and Trey Lance, were somewhat lackluster when seeing the field.

Early 2022 redraft rankings are beginning to reflect this as well. Josh Allen and Murray are the only mobile quarterbacks inside Fantasy Pros’ Expert Consensus Rankings (ECT) Tier No. 1.

Allen is an anomaly, standing at 6-foot-5-inches and 237-pounds with the legs of a gazelle and trucking of a rhino. I also don’t necessarily view Murray as a full-on rushing quarterback anymore, considering he rushed for a career-low 423 yards on 88 total carries during the 2021 regular season and just twice for six yards in the Cardinals’ 34-11 Wild Card Round loss to the Rams.

This is leaving some of the prototypical rushing quarterbacks with the potential to become values in 2022 redrafts. Jackson is ranked at a fair value of QB6, but I’m more interested in the quarterbacks that fall outside of the current top two tiers, specifically Hurts, Lance and – to some degree – Fields.

Despite 2021 seeing the most dominance from pocket passers who have at least one alpha receiver, I still believe there is value to be had with the prototypical mobile quarterbacks. To help prove it, I researched the last 12 years of quarterback rushing data. Here are my findings:

Since 2010, we’ve had 16 NFL quarterbacks rush for more than 110 attempts in a regular season. Those quarterbacks are:

This means there are approximately 1.3 quarterbacks to exceed the 110-carry total every season. With 2010 and 2016 being the only years to not have a quarterback hit this mark and six QBs hitting it in the last two seasons combined, it’s safe to say that that number will only increase.

The reason I still want to take my shot on the quarterbacks that I project to hit this mark is simple. Those quarterbacks have averaged to finish as the QB5 on a points-per-game basis. 15 of the 16 quarterbacks have finished as a QB1 on the season. The only one who failed to was Newton in 2020, who tested positive for COVID-19 shortly into the season.

Ten of 16 seasons have led to top-5 overall fantasy finishes at the position, and three of them have resulted in the QB1 overall.

With this historical data in mind, I think it’s a sound strategy to skip on these top two tiers of quarterbacks this season. Instead, wait until later in the draft to target someone like Hurts, and pair him with another high-upside rushing quarterback like Lance or incoming rookie Malik Willis, who rushed for more than 1800 yards in his final two seasons at Liberty University.


Thank you for reading this edition of “Seth’s Notebook.” For more feel-good lifestyle & fantasy sports advice, find my regular column “Start, Sit & Seth,” podcast and me on Twitter, @Between_SethFF.

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