I always wear Pittsburgh t-shirts.
I was on my honeymoon last week in Jamaica wearing a "Got Ben?" shirt around the resort my wife and I were staying at. (I'm such an obnoxious Pittsburgh fan. It's disgusting.) A bartender there looked at me, read the shirt aloud and said, "Who is Ben?" I went on to tell him who he was, the team he played for, and the multiple championships he's won over his career.
The bartender still didn't really get it -- I don't know how he would if he wasn't a football fan -- but he did hand me a Red Stripe.
Meanwhile, when you mention the name Ben to fantasy football owners, they know exactly who you're talking about. And this year, they apparently love him.
According to FantasyFootballCalculator.com, Big Ben has an average draft position in the early sixth round. That's entirely too high.
(By the way, if you do take fantasy football seriously -- let's be honest, you do -- and you're looking for a great place to play fantasy football this year, you should check out the Fantasy Football Players Championship. The FFPC is the leader in season-long fantasy football, paying out over $25 million in prizes since 2008. Just last year alone, the FFPC ran over 1,100 12-team leagues, paying out over $5 million in prizes. Leagues start as low as $35, and entry fees go up all the way to $10,000. Check it all out at MyFFPC.com.)
Last Season's Magic
Per our Living the Stream, where my cohost, Denny Carter, and I give quarterback, tight end and defensive recommendations each week during the football season. For those of you who are unaware of our streaming adventure last season, I documented it in an article back in January. If you hate reading, in summary, Denny and I went on The Rob Silver Show on the Fantasy Sports Network each week during the 2014 season, giving one quarterback recommendation that was owned in roughly 20 percent or fewer leagues. Rob would then tally our Quarterback Frankenstein's point total, showing how it compared to the rest of the quarterback field.
In the end, our streaming quarterback was a little better than Matt Ryan.
I bring this up because, in standard leagues, the quarterback position is mostly replaceable -- if you're not getting an elite passer, you might as well not get one at all.
This holds true for Ben Roethlisberger and his 2014 season. Even during the best year of his career, our streaming quarterback was on par with his weekly production.
| Week | Streamer | Points Scored | Roethlisberger Points | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carson Palmer | 21.06 | 17.40 | 3.66 |
| 2 | Geno Smith | 17.64 | 6.68 | 10.96 |
| 3 | Ryan Tannehill | 13.10 | 15.94 | -2.84 |
| 4 | Eli Manning | 32.10 | 22.36 | 9.74 |
| 5 | Blake Bortles | 5.04 | 12.72 | -7.68 |
| 6 | Joe Flacco | 32.24 | 11.82 | 20.42 |
| 7 | Carson Palmer | 16.12 | 16.90 | -0.78 |
| 8 | Carson Palmer | 21.16 | 44.78 | -23.62 |
| 9 | Ryan Tannehill | 28.22 | 35.70 | -7.48 |
| 10 | Mark Sanchez | 21.18 | 13.72 | 7.46 |
| 11 | Josh McCown | 20.32 | 10.48 | 9.84 |
| 12 | Josh McCown | 12.84 | BYE | N/A |
| 13 | Alex Smith | 12.72 | 26.20 | -13.48 |
| 14 | Shaun Hill | 16.42 | 27.90 | -11.48 |
| 15 | Johnny Manziel | 0.50 | 14.20 | -13.7 |
| 16 | Alex Smith | 13.84 | 12.40 | 1.44 |
The Frankenstein Denny and I compiled outscored Ben Roethlisberger in 7 of 15 relevant fantasy football weeks last year, "losing" one of those weeks by a measly 0.78 points. The streaming monster had eight top-12 performances (50.0% hit rate compared to Roethlisberger's 53.3% rate), while it ended with six top-6 performances (37.5% versus 26.7%).
Ben Roethlisberger, during his best statistical season ever, was replaceable through the waiver wire.
Avoid Big Ben's Cost
This isn't to say that Roethlisberger won't perform in 2015. The Steelers have one of the most potent offenses in the NFL now, and Big Ben's weapons have incredible ceilings.
This has everything to do with the idea that nearly every quarterback in fantasy football -- aside from the few elite ones -- is replaceable in standard leagues. And the only way Ben Roethlisberger will really live up to his draft cost is if he makes a statistical leap that he's never made during his 11-year career.
I'm not going to bank on that happening.