I hate drafting quarterbacks early in fantasy football drafts.

I get why some people do it. Quarterbacks generally score the most points, so on the surface, it appears that quarterbacks bring the most value. As long as you’re not in a two-quarterback league, though, that thought process doesn’t lend itself to a quality draft strategy.

Quarterbacks put up big numbers every week, and some of them are ones that can be streamed. Running backs and wide receivers are harder to find on the waiver wire, and you have to own more of them for your team. If you whiff on one of those positions, your team is in far worse shape than missing on a quarterback.

I look for sleeper quarterbacks every season, so 2018 won’t be any different. Here are my early favorites for sleeper quarterbacks to consider in the 2018 fantasy football draft.

Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints

Finally, after years of passing on Brees, 2018 may finally be the year to put him on your fantasy football roster.

Unfortunately at the level you’re going to get Brees, he likely won’t be the same quarterback from just a few years ago. However, the new version is still able to put up major points, and won’t cost you near as much as he did in the past.

Early 2018 rankings have him pegged right around 100th in rankings. That doesn’t necessarily translate to average draft position, but if he stays near that level, or even creeps up into the late 80s, he would be worth the investment.

Brees is definitely in the twilight of his career, but he’s still a top-10 consistent fantasy football option. Even in a down year in 2017, he threw for the fourth-most yards, tallied the 11th-most touchdowns and was the ninth-highest scoring quarterback in fantasy.

Most importantly, among qualifying quarterbacks, he registered the most yards per pass attempt.

He’s more efficient and eliminating the mistakes that cost him at times earlier in his career. With the diminished rankings, comes increased value with Brees.

Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

He didn’t come close to what people believed in 2017, so naturally, he will tumble down the rankings and ADP charts in 2018.

That’s OK, because Prescott presents some major value in 2018. Everyone knew the Cowboys were going to take a step back in 2017. Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension created turmoil and the offensive line just didn’t perform at the ridiculous level it did in 2017.

And Prescott was only in his second season last year, so there were going to be some growing pains. Now in his third year, with a reinstated Elliott, I’m expecting more of what we saw in 2016. Prescott can score with his legs and arm in fantasy, giving him an edge on several of these sleeper quarterbacks. He’s also been a major contributor before in fantasy football, so you know he has ability.

Even with the diminished returns in 2017, he still notched 28 total touchdowns. He had an issue with turnovers, so as long as he can clean that up, he has the chance to be the top sleeper in the 2018 draft.

Derek Carr should be considered as a sleeper quarterback in the 2018 fantasy football draft. Flickr/Keith Allison

Derek Carr, QB, Oakland Raiders

Everyone is falling off the Raiders hype train. Remember when they would contend with New England for a Super Bowl spot in 2017? That didn’t work out so well, thanks to an offense that didn’t match up to expectations and a defense that had plenty of holes.

With those lower expectations, though, is an opportunity to draft Carr at a far reduced rate.

He’s going to be better. The Raiders are going to be better. And Carr will be a top-10 fantasy option in 2018.

This is an offense that utilizes the passing game as the dominant means of moving the ball, so Carr is going to have his fair share of volume. That volume didn’t register the kind of fantasy scoring many anticipated in 2017, but that should be a different story in 2018.

He’s been a major contributor in the past, and he revealed in the offseason that an injury earlier in 2017, may have affected him more than he led on during the season. Carr is a solid quarterback, so he’ll be back in 2018 with a better fantasy campaign.

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